Why Choose Us for Heart Care?

When facing a heart problem, it's important to go where the experts are -- right from the start.

Comprehensive Care

At the University of Chicago Medical Center, our heart and blood vessel experts offer the full spectrum of heart care services, from developing heart-healthy action plans for patients at risk for disease, to performing complex angioplasties and surgical procedures, including transplantation. In addition, our specialists are available for emergency care 24 hours a day. Our physicians, surgeons, pharmacists and nurses work in teams to develop the best treatment plan -- be it prevention, medical therapy, catheter-based treatment, surgery, or combination therapy.

Highly Respected Physician Team

Several of our physicians are internationally recognized for their expertise, and many are included on "best doctor" lists. Our physician team includes cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, pediatric cardiologists, pediatric cardiac surgeons and critical care specialists. Heart experts on staff here include:

• Stephen Archer, MD, a highly respected physician-scientist who is focused on turning breakthrough discoveries from the laboratory into advanced patient care. He has pioneered new treatments for pulmonary hypertension.
• Michael Davidson, MD, and Matthew Sorrentino, MD, are nationally known leaders in preventive cardiology, working to help people avoid a first heart attack or to prevent a repeat cardiac event
• Valluvan Jeevanandam, MD, a cardiac surgeon who has performed more than 1,000 heart transplants, and is an expert on mechanical heart assist devices
• Roberto Lang, MD, who helped develop three-dimensional echocardiographic imaging, a technique that helps physicians assess heart function
• Elizabeth McNally, MD, PhD, an internationally known cardiovascular geneticist who studies and can diagnose inherited forms of heart and aortic disease
• Jai Raman, MD, M Med, PhD, a recognized expert in minimally invasive surgery for heart valve disease, and a leader in the development of new surgical solutions for heart failure
• Stuart Rich, MD, who is internationally known for his research of pulmonary heart disease, having led the development of many new treatments for pulmonary hypertension

» Learn more about our heart care experts

Our Specialty: Complex and High-Risk Care

Our heart experts often take on challenging cases that other physicians and hospitals won't touch. For example, University of Chicago Medical Center heart surgeons regularly perform successful surgeries on people considered outside the traditional criteria for surgery--including older adults, and those with other, non-cardiac health problems. We're home to one of the most experienced electrophysiology teams in the Midwest, and we often care for people with very complex and difficult-to-treat arrhythmias. Our electrophysiologists and interventional cardiologists use state-of-the-art tools, including the Stereotaxis system that uses powerful magnets to guide catheters through the heart, an approach that enhances patient safety during treatment. This standard of excellence holds true for all of our heart care programs.

Nationally Recognized

U.S.News & World Report ranks our cardiology and cardiac surgery programs among the best in the nation.

A Leader in Heart Surgery

Our cardiac surgery program is quickly becoming one of the largest and most successful programs in the region. This tremendous growth is due to the specialized expertise of our team of cardiac surgeons. These surgeons are:

• Offering treatments to people who previously had no options for care
• Developing breakthrough procedures to treat heart failure, atrial fibrillation and more
• Achieving a remarkably high success rate with complex, high-risk surgeries
• Performing many types of surgeries using minimally invasive techniques that require no cutting of the breastbone, which speeds recovery, lessens pain, reduces the risk for infection, and leaves much smaller scars, compared to open-chest procedures

At the Forefront of Heart Research

We're proud to be one of the oldest National Institutes of Health-funded cardiovascular research program in the nation. Our physician-scientists benefit from millions of dollars in annual research support to study heart disease. These experts translate knowledge from their research into improved patient care on a daily basis.

Physicians at the University of Chicago Medical Center are involved in numerous research studies of promising medications, devices and diagnostic methods. Because of this, our patients often gain access to new treatments available through clinical trials --treatments not widely available at other hospitals. » Learn more about our heart research

Certified Experts

All of our physicians are board-certified or board-eligible. Our nurses are certified in advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) or pediatric advanced life support (PALS), and many have obtained additional critical care nurse training.

Multidisciplinary Care

People who come to us for care can take comfort in knowing that our heart physicians work side-by-side with many of the nation's best physicians in other specialties, including cancer, the neurosciences, geriatrics, pediatrics, transplantation and more. So if you have a non-heart-related problem, there's always someone here to consult and assist with your care.