John Kucera is a 4th year resident currently in the Turek Lab. His work in the lab this year has centered around the impact of Galactose-alpha-1, 3-galactose, otherwise known as Alpha Gal, on outcomes following aortic valve replacement. He has been enrolling patients in a prospective trial in concert with working with a large animal model to achieve the primary goals of the Alpha Gal study. His clinical interests are primary adult cardiac surgery, namely minimally-invasive approaches to aortic and mitral valve replacement. He is currently in the U.S. Navy and will be returning to Walter Reed following this year. He is very excited to be working in the Turek Lab and honored to have been given this opportunity at Duke.