After her fellowship at UAB roughly 12 years ago, Dr. Sara J. Pereira has returned to the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery as an associate professor.

After her fellowship at UAB roughly 10 years ago, Dr. Sara J. Pereira has returned to the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery as an associate professor.

Dr. Pereira is a Northern California native. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1992 and the University of California Irvine School of Medicine in 1997. She completed her residency in general surgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 2002 and a fellowship in thoracic surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2005.

Dr. Pereira has returned to the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery after nearly 10 years in private practice in Colorado. She specializes in all aspects of adult cardiac surgery and enjoys re-operative surgery, aortic surgery and minimally invasive cardiac surgery. She looks forward to resident teaching and advancing the thoracic residency program at UAB. Her research interests include quality improvement and clinical outcomes in adult cardiac surgery. She is certified by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery.