Lyubomyr Bohuta, MD, PhD

Fetal Care and Treatment Center, VAD Program, Cardiac Surgery, Heart Failure Program

On staff since December 2020

Children's Title: Cardiac Surgeon

Academic Title: Associate Professor, Surgery

Language (Other than English): Russian, Ukrainian

"I knew I wanted to be a surgeon from the time I was ten years old when I underwent surgery for appendicitis. The surgeon taking care of me was a friend of my grandfather, and I remember thinking I wanted to be like him when I grew up. Now I have the most gratifying, difficult, and impactful job I could think of, and I wouldn’t have it any other way."

• Biography

  Dr. Bohuta’s primary area of interest is pediatric cardiac surgery with special focus on neonatal surgery and surgery in low-weight patients. His primary site of practice is Seattle Children’s Hospital. Originally from Ukraine, where he graduated from Lviv State Medical University. After completing his training in general surgery,

  Dr. Bohuta spent over 10 years at Ukrainian Children’s Cardiac Center, Kyiv. Over this period, he was able to progress from junior fellow to a leading surgeon and Head of one of the Departments. During his training, Dr. Bohuta also spent 18 months as a fellow at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. He obtained his PhD back in Ukraine performing clinical research focused on anomalous pulmonary veins.

  In 2015, Dr. Bohuta moved to Denmark, where he worked for 2 years as a Faculty member at Aarhus University Hospital. Following that, he joined world-famous Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, UK, where he served for 3.5 years as a Consultant Surgeon and one of the leaders in complex neonatal cardiac surgery.

  Dr. Bohuta is excited to join University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital to contribute his knowledge and extensive experience to the program. He also enjoys being so close to the beauties of Pacific Northwest with his family.

• Patient Testimonials

  • Jessye Snohomish, WA 03.20.24

    Months before our son was born, we understood that a very serious heart defect meant he would undergo a series of heart procedures and surgeries. The Fetal Care team at Seattle Children's did an excellent job preparing us - and yet when, at four months old, it came time for the first surgery, we still found ourselves uneasy. When we were told Dr. Bohuta would be our son's surgeon, I set out to learn everything I could about him - and I was pleased with everything I read. What impressed me more than his significant skill and experience, however, was the obvious respect and admiration the CICU staff, cardiologists, and other surgeons at SCH had for him. Everyone on our son's team - people we had come to appreciate and whose opinions we valued - spoke of him with great respect. I had researched our son's condition and the necessary procedures obsessively, and I was grateful that Dr. Bohuta was so diligent to be sure he had answered all our questions before the surgery. His answers were never quick or casual, but thoughtful, intentional, clear, and direct. In God's providence, our son encountered completely unexpected and unforeseeable complications coming out of surgery and in the days immediately following. Dr. Bohuta remained an active voice in our son's care long after surgery was complete. We were at Seattle Children's for 30 days and Dr. Bohuta checked in on us everyday he was on campus. He continued to answer my questions and this gave me confidence to ask my own and voice my thoughts regarding the care our son received. Now, nearly six months since surgery, our little man is doing fantastically well. People are shocked when we tell them his story. Our son will require further surgeries and we are so grateful to know that he will be in Dr. Bohuta's very capable hands. We thank God everyday for Dr. Bohuta and all the rest of the amazing people at Seattle Children's who have cared for, and continue to care for, our son.

  • Jimmy Seattle, WA 03.11.24

    Dr. Bohuta is the rarest combination of kindess, mastery, and humility. My family would recommend him to any child needing a heart surgery. When our baby was 6 months old, Dr. Bohuta operated on his heart to patch a large ASD and relieved pressure on the pulmonary artery. The surgery and subsequent recovery went better than our most optimistic expectations. Thanks to Dr. Bohuta and CICU team’s amazing skills, our baby only needed 4 days in hospital for the open heart surgery. Aside from scary stitches on his chest, our baby now looks and acts just like regular 9 month old kid. He just started crawling around the house and cause trouble. In addition to having skills, Dr. Bohuta is kind and humble. During the pre-op, we asked him hard questions such as “Do you still have energy to operate on our baby after waking up early to safe this other new born’s live?”. He listened and addressed our concerns to put our minds at ease. Another example is that after we left hospital, he called me personally to explain certain metric on a heart echo report so that I don’t misinterpret and became worried. Dr. Bohuta, words can’t express our gratitude.

  • Tessina Orting, WA 03.11.24

    Our newborn needed to have open heart surgery on day three of life for a complex heart defect. As first time parents, we were absolutely terrified. When we met with Dr. Bohuta the evening before our son’s surgery, we were taken back by how modest and sincere he was. You often hear of surgeons being cold, but this was not our experience with Dr. Bohuta. You could tell that he deeply cares about his patients and takes his job seriously. Dr. Bohuta was realistic with what we should expect, straightforward, hopeful and confident. Unfortunately, later that evening I was admitted into the hospital for pre-eclampsia, meaning my fiance and I were unable to be at Seattle Children’s the day of our son’s surgery. We were devastated to not be there, but we put our full trust in Dr. Bohuta and his team. They kept in contact with us the day of the surgery and when we got the call that our son had made it out of surgery successfully, we cried the happiest tears and were finally able to breathe again. Dr. Bohuta is extremely talented, it truly is incredible that he can work on such tiny hearts- our baby boy was growth restricted, born at 37 weeks and was only 5 lbs on the day of his surgery. Dr. Bohuta truly worked a miracle for our family and our son was able to recover quickly and without complications. He graduated out of the CICU four days after his surgery and we were on our way home in under two weeks. It has been five months and all of our son’s follow up echos have come back great. Our cardiologist has been extremely impressed with how well he’s recovered thanks to Dr. Bohuta. If you’re in need of a cardiac surgeon for your child, we highly recommend the thoughtful, talented and humble Dr. Bohuta to you and your family. It is because of his life-saving skills that we are a family. We are forever grateful and forever indebted to him.

  • Melinda Bellingham, WA 10.10.23

    There's no doubt that knowing your child has to have open heart surgery is terrifying. After meeting Dr. Bohuta for our pre-op appointment, we left having full confidence that our 2 year old was in great hands. He explained his recommended procedure to correct her PAPVR in terms we could understand and was confident, but humble. Surgery went as smoothly as you could hope as a parent with recovery being fast and smooth. If you have to put your trust for a scary experience in anyone's hand, Dr. Bohuta is that person. We're endlessly grateful for his expertise and skills. We now get to watch our toddler grow stronger and more energetic by the day!

  • Maranda Snohomish, WA 07.18.23

    We met Dr. Bohuta the day before our two day old daughters complicated open heart surgery where he explained her procedure and what to expect. We could never have imagined in that moment how important he would become to us. Because of his exceptional skill in what he does, our daughter is alive today. Through out our stay at SCH he would consistently check in on our daughter and we could feel his genuine care. We were so impressed by his kindness and humility in the amazing work he does of saving lives. Words cannot begin to express our level of gratitude towards Dr. Bohuta and the CICU team, we are forever grateful.

  • Arvind Redmond wa 06.07.23

    We are deeply indebted to Dr. Bohuta and the whole team at SCH for saying our 7-day-old baby’s life. He was rushed to SCH with multiple heart defects that were causing him to barely be able to breathe. Within 48 hours he was operated upon by Dr. Bohuta and his team, and baby responded really well to the surgery. Dr Bohuta was super communicative, informative and so kind. He followed up multiple times before and after surgery o make sure all our questions were answered. And of course he is one of the best in the business - the surgery went beautifully and our infant is on the mend! Words cannot express our gratitude enough for all of the angels at SCH and Dr. Bohuta.

  • Samantha Bellingham, Wa 12.06.22

    Lyubomyr is such a kind and gentle soul. He operated on my 12 year old for her heart transplant and the surgery was flawless. My daughter had no complications and barely had any bleeding post op. He also did not use any blood products on her during a 10 hour surgery which is unheard of!!! I would recommend him to anyone who is needing heart surgery!!!

  • Isabel Lynnwood, WA 12.02.22

    We cannot put properly into words how grateful we are to have had Dr. Bohuta as our daughter’s surgeon at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She was just 4 days old when she needed her lifesaving open heart surgery. Dr. Bohuta met with my husband and I prior to the surgery to go over the procedure. The surgery was a complete success and we are so incredibly humbled to have our little girl with us and to Dr. Bohuta for his amazing work.

  • Nisone Bonney Lake, WA 01.23.22

    Dr. Bohuta performed open heart surgery to repairs several heart defects on our son when he was just one week old. Before we were SCH patients he even took the time to meet with us via video conference to discuss the surgery and possible procedures in detail and answered every question we had. We believe due to his skill and the Grace of God our baby’s surgery went extremely well and he recovered so much quicker than we had anticipated. It’s hard to believe without the operation he wouldn’t be with us today. Our family is eternally grateful to Dr. Bohuta and the entire heart team for giving our son a fighting chance.

  Recommend Lyubomyr Bohuta, MD, PhD

• Publications

  Other Publications

  • Bohuta L, McMullan MD
    Early aggressive intervention might improve outcomes of postoperative mediastinitis in children.
    33948659 European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery, 2021 May 8 : 59(5)957-958
  • Khambadkone S, Burch M, Fenton M, Derrick G, Thiruchelvam T, Karimova A, Bohuta L, Hsia TY
    Melody Valve in Aortic Position to Facilitate Mechanical Circulatory Support as a Bridge to Cardiac Transplantation.
    31568748 The Annals of thoracic surgery, 2020 May : 109(5)e325-e327
  • Mykychak YB, Bohuta LY, Ivanov YY, Pozniak YV, Khanenova VA, Babliak OD, Yemets IM
    Cerebral Thromboembolism From Ligated Blalock-Taussig Shunt in an Adult Patient.
    26694281 The Annals of thoracic surgery, 2016 Jan. : 101(1)361-3
  • Ostras O, Kurkevych A, Bohuta L, Yalynska T, Raad T, Lewin M, Yemets I
    Prenatal diagnosis of left pulmonary artery-to-pulmonary vein fistula and its successful surgical repair in a neonate.
    25873833 Texas Heart Institute journal, 2015 April : 42(2)169-71 PMCID:PMC4382888
  • Barozzi L, Brizard CP, Galati JC, Konstantinov IE, Bohuta L, d'Udekem Y
    Side-to-side aorto-GoreTex central shunt warrants central shunt patency and pulmonary arteries growth.
    21958799 The Annals of thoracic surgery, 2011 Oct. : 92(4)1476-82
  • Bohuta L, d'Udekem Y, Best D, Alexander P, Barozzi L, Butt W
    Outcomes of second-run extracorporeal life support in children: a single-institution experience.
    21871288 The Annals of thoracic surgery, 2011 Sept. : 92(3)993-6
  • Bohuta L, Hussein A, Fricke TA, d'Udekem Y, Bennett M, Brizard C, Konstantinov IE
    Surgical repair of truncus arteriosus associated with interrupted aortic arch: long-term outcomes.
    21524457 The Annals of thoracic surgery, 2011 May : 91(5)1473-7