Heart surgeon at Mary Washington resigns, to depart March 1

Dr. Pyongsoo Yoon, the cardiac surgeon at Mary Washington Hospital, has resigned. Yoon gave notice in August. Hospital officials confirmed his departure yesterday. Yoon will continue to care for cardiac surgery patients until March 1.

Dr. Pyongsoo Yoon

“Our commitment to our cardiac surgery program remains strong. There will be no interruption in services or care,” said Kathleen Allenbaugh, hospital spokeswoman.

Allenbaugh said hospital officials are interviewing now for two heart surgeons, one to replace Yoon and the other to fill the vacancy created when Dr. John Armitage departed in May. Yoon arrived at Mary Washington last year and became director of the program when Armitage left.

Yoon is one of the highest paid employee-doctors at the hospital. He earned $542,907 in 2009, according the tax return that the hospital files with the IRS each year.

The hospital contracted with the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville to supply back-up coverage for Yoon after Armitage left. That back-up coverage will continue, Allenbaugh said.

Allenbaugh said she was not sure what Yoon’s plans are.

(For more on Yoon’s departure, see the story in tomorrow’s paper. An earlier posting about the U. Va. surgeons can be found here. A post on Yoon and the Mary Washington heart surgery program can be found here. A March newspaper story about Armitage’s departure can be found here.)

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