Over the years, vascular, cardiothoracic, and general surgeon Dr. Chris La Mendola has played a key role at St. Francis Hospital and Heart Center in Nassau County, New York. A 1985 graduate of the Stony Brook University Medical Center, Dr. La Mendola earned his MD there, followed by a residency in surgery at New York University (NYU) Langone Medical Center. During this time, Dr. La Mendola completed an intensive course of clinical training, studying under such notable surgeons as Frank C. Spencer, conducting two years of research in internal mammary artery blood flow, and earning election as Senior Surgical Resident, Chief Resident, and Executive Chief Resident in General Surgery. Before moving on from NYU in 1994, Dr. Chris La Mendola fulfilled a two-year fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery, and for a short while, demonstrated his field expertise as the head of the Bellevue Hospital Center’s trauma team in Manhattan. Joining the staff at St. Francis Hospital and Heart Center in 1994, Dr. Chris La Mendola has led a career marked by pioneering achievements in several procedures, most notably off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery. To date, Dr. La Mendola has performed over 1,500 off-pump procedures for patients in and around the greater New York metropolitan region, making him one of the most practiced surgeons of this procedure. Dr. La Mendola also commands a high degree of expertise in minimally invasive surgical techniques for aortic aneurysm repair, mitral valve repair, and aortic valve replacement. A member of such professional organizations as the Nassau County Medical Society, the Medical Society of the State of New York, and The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Dr. Chris La Mendola also holds fellowships in the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American College of Surgeons (ACS).