About

Brandi Braud Scully, MD, is an assistant professor of surgery in the division of pediatric cardiac surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She practices at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. Dr. Scully received her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in 2012, where she completed the medical student research track and obtained a Master of Science in Bioengineering from Rice University. Her research during her time at Rice was conducted in the Grande-Allen Integrative Matrix Mechanics lab under the advisement of Dr. Jane Grande-Allen and Dr. David L.S. Morales. She completed her residency in general surgery at Baylor College of Medicine from 2012 to 2018, focusing on pediatric thoracic transplantation research at Texas Children’s Hospital. Subsequently, she completed a residency in cardiothoracic surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital from 2018 to 2021, followed by a fellowship in congenital cardiac surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital from August 2021 to May 2023. Dr. Scully’s research primarily focuses on surgical ethics. She completed the ethics track at Baylor College of Medicine and served as an affiliate member of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy there until 2018. She was a Hecht-Levi Postdoctoral Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics from 2019 to 2021 and a Cardiothoracic Ethics Forum Scholarship recipient in 2019. She has been involved with the Surgical Ethics Working Group at Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics from 2021 to 2023. Dr. Scully is a diplomate of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery and actively participates in professional organizations including The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association, Women in Thoracic Surgery, and the Association of Women Surgeons. She is also a member of the Standards and Ethics Committee for the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and the Human Values and Ethics Committee at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Surgery
• Internal medicine
• Anesthesia
• Cardiology

Selected publications

• Ethics of Precision Medicine and Cardiothoracic Surgery

  Thoracic surgery clinics/Thorac. surg. clin. · 2025-08-05

  reviewSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Late Repair of Native Pulmonary Valve for Severe Pulmonary Regurgitation After Transannular Patch Repair in Tetralogy of Fallot

  Annals of Thoracic Surgery Short Reports · 2025-05-17

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Despite advances in surgical repair of tetralogy of Fallot, long-term complications such as pulmonary regurgitation occur frequently. We present a case of a 10-year-old boy who underwent transannular repair of tetralogy of Fallot at 6 months of age. Chronic severe pulmonary regurgitation necessitated late primary repair of his pulmonary valve with resection of the transannular patch, improving his right ventricular function. Postoperative recovery was uneventful. This case underscores the importance of high-resolution preoperative imaging in guiding surgical management and timely intervention for complications after repair and highlights an alternative strategy to minimize the need for repeated valve replacements.

  PublisherDOI

• Empathy in the era of artificial intelligence: Coexistence or competition?

  Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery · 2025-07-02

  letterOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Should a Seemingly Opioid-Impaired Surgeon Be Reported?

  The Annals of Thoracic Surgery · 2024-03-16

  editorialOpen access1st author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Yasui operation: A single institutional experience over 30 years

  JTCVS Open · 2023-07-17 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  Objective: The Yasui operation was introduced in 1987 for patients with 2 adequate ventricles, a ventricular septal defect, and aortic atresia or interrupted aortic arch. Despite promising early outcomes, left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO) remains a long-term concern. The purpose of this study is to report our institutional experience with the Yasui operation. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all patients undergoing the Yasui operation between 1989 and 2021. Results are reported as median with interquartile range (IQR). Results: Twenty-five patients underwent a Yasui operation (19 primary), at 11 days (IQR, 7-218 days) of life and weight of 3 kg (IQR, 2.8-4.1 days). Fundamental diagnosis was ventricular septal defect/interrupted aortic arch in 11 patients and ventricular septal defect/aortic atresia in 14. Follow-up was 96% (24 out of 25) at 5 years (IQR, 1.4-14.7) with 92% survival. Freedom from LVOTO reoperation was 91% at late follow-up with 2 patients requiring baffle revision at 6 and 9 years. Latest echocardiogram showed 100% of patients had normal biventricular function and 87% (20 out of 23) less than mild LVOTO at 5 years (IQR, 2.3-14.9). Diagnosis, aortic valve morphology, and material used were not predictors of LVOTO. Freedom from right ventricle-to-pulmonary artery conduit reoperation was 48% at a median of 5 years (IQR, 1.4-14.7). Conduit type was not a predictor of reintervention. Conclusions: The Yasui operation can be performed with low morbidity and mortality in patients with 2 acceptable-size ventricles and aortic atresia or interrupted aortic arch with severe LVOTO. Despite some burden of reoperation, midterm reoperation for LVOTO is not common and ventricular function is preserved.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Should We Rely on AI to Help Avoid Bias in Patient Selection for Major Surgery?

  The AMA Journal of Ethic · 2022-08-01 · 25 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Many regard iatrogenic injuries as consequences of diagnosis or intervention actions. But inaction-not offering indicated major surgery-can also result in iatrogenic injury. This article explores some surgeons' overestimations of operative risk based on patients' race and socioeconomic status as unduly influential in their decisions about whether to perform major cancer or cardiac surgery on some patients with appropriate clinical indications. This article also considers artificial intelligence and machine learning-based clinical decision support systems that might offer more accurate, individualized risk assessment that could make patient selection processes more equitable, thereby mitigating racial and ethnic inequity in cancer and cardiac disease.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Early Experience With Reverse Double Switch Operation for the Borderline Left Heart

  Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery · 2022 · 12 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Medicine
  • Cardiology
  • Internal medicine
  PublisherDOI

• Palliative care in lung transplantation

  Annals of Palliative Medicine · 2021-06-11 · 9 citations

  reviewOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The role of palliative care in lung transplantation has grown exponentially in the past two decades. From assisting with evaluating and optimizing candidates for transplant, to playing a crucial role in patients requiring extracorporeal cardiopulmonary life support (ECLS) as a bridge to lung transplant, perioperatively, or even during their first year post-transplant, palliative care has been shown to be an effective if underutilized tool in the armamentarium used to care for lung transplant patients. For patients being considered for primary transplantation and for lung transplant recipients, palliative care can decrease symptom burden and help to lessen the psychological distress experienced by patients and family members. For older patients listed for transplant, palliative care can help address cognitive impairment, depression, and frailty. Patients listed for lung re-transplant also benefit from palliative care involvement to address frequent symptom exacerbations, hospitalizations, and higher morbidity and mortality. Even for organ donors and their families, palliative care can facilitate communication and provide support to the family. While palliative care use in lung transplantation may be gradually increasing, further work is necessary to optimally integrate palliative care into lung transplantation. Barriers to lung transplant patients receiving palliative care are multifactorial and include physician, patient, and institutional factors. The potential role of palliative care in every aspect of lung transplantation has made a knowledge of palliative care principles crucial for the lung transplant practitioner. In this review, we will clearly delineate the potential benefit of palliative care for the perioperative lung transplant patient and make an argument for its increased use in this patient population.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Epstein-Barr Virus Predicts Malignancy After Pediatric Heart Transplant, Induction Therapy and Tacrolimus Don’t

  The Annals of Thoracic Surgery · 2021-09-23 · 10 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• A Small‐Town Heart

  The Hastings Center Report · 2020-11-01 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  Melanie presented at twenty weeks of gestation to an obstetrics clinic in a critical access hospital in rural Vermont. She was excited to undergo routine fetal ultrasonography, but her obstetrician gave her grave news: the ultrasound revealed hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a devastating congenital heart defect. Initially, Melanie agreed in general to pursue surgical care for her fetus-a three-stage process that has somewhat uncertain results and could only be done in tertiary care facilities far from her home in Vermont. A week later, while the maternal fetal medicine and pediatric cardiology units made arrangements with colleagues in Boston, Melanie began having second thoughts. An ethics meeting was called to discuss conflicting clinician reactions to Melanie's dilemma. Most of the clinicians were stunned that the patient would change her mind. What advice should the ethics consultant offer the team about caring for Melanie?

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Charles D. Fraser

  Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas

  20 shared

• David L.S. Morales

  Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

  10 shared

• Katherine Giuliano

  Johns Hopkins Hospital

  9 shared

• Pedro J. del Nido

  Harvard University

  8 shared

• Sitaram M. Emani

  Harvard University

  8 shared

• E. Dean McKenzie

  Baylor College of Medicine

  7 shared

• Jeffrey J. Kim

  6 shared

• Jeffrey G. Jacot

  University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

  6 shared

Awards & honors

• Hecht-Levi Postdoctoral Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Berman I…
• Cardiothoracic Ethics Forum Scholarship (2019)