The surgeon makes an surgeon in operation room with blood operation.

Cardiac Surgery

The Division of Cardiac Surgery is dedicated to excellence in patient care, research and teaching. There is a strong academic commitment to clinical excellence and innovation, to research, and to teaching. The faculty members are all geographic full-time University appointees, and there is an exciting and growing research program in both basic science and clinical medicine.

Highlights

  • 8 full time cardiac surgeons based at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute

  • 2 full time cardiac surgeons at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario

  • 2 PhD scientists working in the area of cardiovascular tissue engineering

  • 1,700 open-heart procedures are performed annually at the Heart Institute

  • Complex adult cardiac surgery for Eastern Ontario and Western Québec performed exclusively at the Heart Institute

  • Many referrals from elsewhere in Ontario and across Canada

  • Largest heart transplant centre in Canada

  • Congenital heart surgery is performed at the CHEO for pediatric patients and at the Heart Institute for adults

  • The surgical procedures use state-of-the art techniques for the treatment of diseases of the heart and thoracic aorta

cardiac surgeons operating in the OR

  • Specific clinical expertise includes:

    • mitral and aortic valve repair (referral and international postgraduate teaching centre)

    • transcatheter aortic valve implant (TAVI) and mitral repair (Mitraclip)

    • minimally invasive coronary surgery (MICS CABG) (referral and international postgraduate teaching centre)

    • minimally invasive valve repair (MICS MVr) and replacement (MICS AVR) (referral and international postgraduate teaching centre)

    • ventricular assist device (VAD) implantations

    • pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE)

    • coronary artery bypass, multiarterial, both on-pump and off-pump, both conventional and minimally invasive

    • electrophysiology surgery

    • complex aortic reconstruction

    • mechanical circulatory support

    • heart transplantation

Undergraduate Education

Faculty members in the Division of Cardiac Surgery are involved in the University of Ottawa's undergraduate medical degree program, participating in teaching in the block curriculum, as well as clerkship seminars (during the third and fourth years of the medical degree program). As part of their surgical clerkships, medical students from other universities may take their electives at the University of Ottawa through our Division of Cardiac Surgery.

Contact the Cardiac Surgery Undergraduate Program Administrator in the Office of Education. 

Postgraduate Education

Our Cardiac Surgery Residency Training program currently has 7 residents in training. The program provides a rich academic and clinical environment, both at the uOHI and at CHEO.

Contact the Cardiac Surgery Postgraduate Program Director or our Office of Education.