TGH Brooksville Completes County's First Heart Surgery, Ending Need to Travel to Tampa

Tampa General Hospital's Brooksville campus has completed its first cardiothoracic surgery, a milestone that means Hernando County residents with serious heart conditions no longer have to drive to Tampa for the operation. The hospital announced the achievement on August 24, 2026.

The inaugural procedure combined three things in one operation: a single-vessel coronary artery bypass graft, a mitral valve repair, and atrial appendage clipping. It's the kind of complex, multi-part heart surgery that until now had only been available at larger hospitals farther south.

The new program is the product of a partnership between TGH Brooksville, TGH Spring Hill, Tampa General's academic medical center on Davis Islands, and USF Health. Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Charan Mungara joined the Brooksville team to lead the program day to day, working alongside Dr. Benjamin Mackie, vice president and co-chief of the TGH Heart & Vascular Institute, and Dr. Lucian Lozonschi, director and chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Tampa General and the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Why it took an academic health system

Heart and lung surgery isn't something a hospital adds overnight. It requires surgeons, cardiologists, anesthesiologists, critical care staff, and specialized equipment all working in sync, plus the infrastructure to handle complications when they arise. Building that in Brooksville meant drawing on resources from Tampa General's main academic hospital and USF Health rather than starting from scratch.

Stacey Brandt, executive vice president and chief administrative officer at Florida Health Sciences Center | Tampa General, framed it as proof of what an academic health system can extend into smaller communities. Bobby Ginn Jr., senior vice president and president of TGH Brooksville and TGH Spring Hill, called the effort a result of local teams and academic-medicine resources coming together, and said the bottom line for patients is simpler: advanced cardiovascular care is now available right in Brooksville.

Julie Lallanilla, cardiovascular services market director for TGH Brooksville and TGH Spring Hill, helped prepare the hospital's staff and infrastructure for the launch, according to the hospital.

What it covers going forward

The program is meant to handle ongoing care for coronary artery disease, heart valve disease and complex aortic conditions, not just one-off cases. Mungara said the first procedure is a foundation for a fuller cardiothoracic surgery program in the community, one built around a team approach rather than a single surgeon operating in isolation.

For Hernando County families, that shift matters most in emergencies and in the weeks of recovery that follow major heart surgery, when driving an hour or more to Tampa for follow-up visits can be its own burden. The hospital has not detailed which specific procedures beyond the inaugural surgery will now be offered routinely in Brooksville, or how quickly the program plans to scale up.

Residents with questions about cardiac care options at TGH Brooksville can find provider and location details through TGH Brooksville's official site.

This story is developing, and we'll continue to follow how the cardiothoracic program grows. For more on this and other stories, visit Hernando County Community Website or follow us on Facebook. Have thoughts on what this means for local health care? Join the conversation in our Community Forum. You can also read more healthcare stories from around Hernando County.