Dr. John Rousou Joins Board of Trustees at American International College

SPRINGFIELD — Dr. John Rousou has joined the board of trustees at American International College (AIC). In a career dedicated to cardiothoracic surgery, Rousou was chief of the Cardiac Surgery division at Baystate Medical Center until his retirement in 2018.

Graduating with an undergraduate degree in biology from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, Rousou received his medical degree from the American University of Beirut Medical School in 1970. Following an internship at the university, he relocated to the U.S., completing a residency in general surgery at the University of Rochester in New York, and a residency in cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago, where he was also an instructor.

Rousou and his associate, Dr. Richard Engelman, initiated the Cardiac Surgery program at Baystate Medical Center in 1978. He served as chief of the division from 2001 until his retirement. Combined with his responsibilities at Baystate Medical Center, Rousou served as assistant professor of Surgery at Tufts University School of Medicine and assistant clinical professor of Surgery at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

In addition to the boards of Surgery and Thoracic Surgery, Rousou was a member of the American Heart Assoc., the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Hampden County Medical Society, and the Council on Cardiovascular Surgery. He is a member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and the American Assoc. for Thoracic Surgery, and is a fellow with the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Chest Surgeons. He had multi-year affiliations with the International Cardiovascular Society, the International Society for Artificial Organs, and the International Society for Heart Transplantation.

Rousou and his wife, Maria, have three adult children Dr. Anthony Rousou, a cardiac surgeon practicing at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield; Dr. Laki Rousou, a thoracic surgeon at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield; and Zachary Rousou, an architect practicing at a firm in Manhattan, N.Y.