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BryanLGH Heart Institute
BryanLGH Medical Center is the region’s leader in providing high-quality care for those suffering from heart and vascular disease. Our renowned team continuously seeks the latest treatments and diagnostic testing, including echocardiography, vascular technology and interventional cardiology. Because of this dedication, our program achieves outcomes consistently higher than the national average for returning you to an active, functional life. And through our mobile outreach teams, we are able to provide many diagnostic services to patients in the comfort of their own communities.
BryanLGH Cardiothoracic Surgery
BryanLGH Cardiothoracic Surgery practice focuses on delivering the very best surgical techniques and most up-to-date technology in the operating room. Two cardiothoracic surgeons with more than 50 years of combined surgical experience comprise the surgical team assisted by highly qualified physician assistants and an advanced practice nurse.
BryanLGH Cardiothoracic Surgery physicians are Edward P. Raines, MD, and David Hughes, MD. Physician assistants are Derek L. Howell, PA-C, and Lance Krueger, PA-C. Nancy Steckelberg, APN, serves as advanced nurse practitioner.
The Practice
Over the years Drs. Raines and Hughes have proven to be innovators in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery. They bring to the Midwest such procedures as heart valve repair, the pulmonary autograft (tissue) aortic valve replacement (Ross procedure), minimally invasive cardiac and thoracic surgical approaches and robotic and endoscopic techniques. They are expertly skilled at performing many cardiovascular and cardiothoracic surgical procedures.
Assuring that patients are at the center of their service, the cardiothoracic surgeons at BryanLGH discuss with patients and their families the full range of surgical options in order to choose the approach that will result in the best outcome. They have an interest in developing and using the newest surgical procedures so that their patients return to as normal a lifestyle as possible.
The Surgeons
 | Edward P. Raines, MD, FACS, JDCardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeon |
Specialties
- Ross Procedure - autograft (tissue) cardiac valve replacement surgery
- Minimally invasive cardiac surgery
- Robotic thoracic surgery
- Endoscopic vein/radial harvest surgery
- Mitral valve repair
- Cardiac assist device implantation
Education
- Juris Doctor, University of Nebraska College of Law
- Medical Degree, University of Nebraska Medical Center
- Resident and Chief Resident, General Surgery, University of Utah Affiliated Hospitals, Salt Lake City
- Cardiothoracic Fellowship, University of Utah Affiliated Hospitals, Salt Lake City
Board Certifications/Memberships
- Board Certified, American Board of Surgeons
- Board Certified, American Board of Thoracic Surgery
- Cardiothoracic Surgery Network
- International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery
- The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
- Nebraska Medical Society
Dr. Raines is renowned for his surgical expertise and technique. His use of the Ross Procedure in valve replacement surgery and his success using minimally invasive approaches to heart and chest surgery when indicated, places him at the forefront in his area of expertise. He is among fewer than 10 surgeons in the country successfully performing the Ross heart valve replacement surgery. He is a pioneer in Nebraska in heart and lung transplantation and in the use of artificial heart assist devices as bridge to transplantation and as destination therapy. He has been the principle investigator of several national research studies in cardiac surgery and artificial hearts. He is intimately interested in and an advocate for his patients and promotes best practice standards in the surgery suite and in patient follow-up care.
He is an instrument-rated pilot and a member of the Lincoln Municipal Airport Authority Board, and in his leisure time drives race cars.
 | David Hughes, MDCardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeon |
Specialties
- Valve surgery
- Coronary artery bypass graft surgery
- Atrial fibrillation surgery
- Aorotic root surgery
- Surgical treatment of lung cancer
- Adult pulmonary surgery
Education
- Medical Degree, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
- Resident, General Surgery, University of Michigan Hospitals, Ann Arbor
- Fellowship, Cardiovascular Surgical Research, Texas Heart Institute, Houston
- Resident, Thoracic Surgery, University Hospital, Ann Arbor
Board Certifications/Memberships
- Board Certified, American Board of Surgery
- Board Certified, American Board of Thoracic Surgery
Dr. Hughes's career includes various interests and landmarks. He was always interested in science and planned to specialize in kidney transplantation. However, during his first year of medical school he met Dr. Denton Cooley, who first successfully performed a human heart transplant in the United States. Watching the pioneer heart surgeon perform open heart surgery caused Dr. Hughes to change the direction of his practice to thoracic and cardiovascular surgery. During his fellowship he helped investigate the potential for nuclear-powered artificial hearts.
For the past three decades at Creighton University and Clarkson Hospital, he has served as Chief of the Cardiac & Thoracic Surgery Division at Creighton University School of Medicine. He has directed the student resident program in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery and chaired the Department of Surgery's Committee on Research at Creighton University School of Medicine. He has served as assistant clinical professor of surgery, Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, at the University of Nebraska Medical School, and was Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Clarkson Hospital, Omaha.
An Oklahoma native, Dr. Hughes has a great love of music, composing songs and performing jazz and rock and roll favorites on keyboard and guitar. He is a pilot who flies both helicopters and his own plane.
Practice Assistants
 | Derek L. Howell, PA-C |
Derek graduated with a bachelor of science degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Allied Health Science School, Dallas, where his area of emphasis was physician assistant studies. He also attended Northlake College and the University of Texas at Arlington, studying computer science engineering as well as prerequisite courses for physician assistant certification. At Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas, he majored in electrical engineering.
He is certified by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants and holds a physician assistant license in the state of Nebraska.
Derek has served as a physician assistant in the field of cardiac surgery since 1999. He is a member of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, the Association of Physician Assistants in Cardiovascular Surgery and the Nebraska Academy of Physician Assistants.
 | Lance Krueger, PA-C |
Lance attended the University of Colorado and graduated with a bachelor of science degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Physician Assistant program in 1986. He is certified by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants and is licensed by the state of Nebraska.
With more than 20 years experience as a physician assistant, he served at Syracuse Cardiac Surgical Associates, Syracuse, New York and with the Nebraska Heart Institute and Lincoln Orthopedic Center, both in Lincoln.
 | Nancy Steckelberg, RN,BSN, MSN, NP |
She completed her nurse practitioner certification at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 2003. Nancy began her position with BryanLGH Cardiothoracic Surgery in 2007.
Nancy received her diploma RN from Bryan Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, her bachelor of nursing degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and has a master of science in nursing from Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan. Along with her expertise in the care of heart patients, Nancy is known for her compassion and the individualized attention she gives every patient and their family members.
Office Location:
Bryan Medical Plaza, Suite 601
1500 S. 48th St.
Lincoln, Nebr., 68506
Phone: 402-481-8430
