Thoralf M. Sundt

Thoralf M. Sundt, III, M.D. Thor Sundt, MD, is the Churchill Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Cardiac Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. He co-directs the Corrigan Minehan Heart Center at MGH, and has been appointed the Director of the Cardiac Surgery Clinical Service for Mass General Brigham. Dr. Sundts clinical focus has been on surgery for the correction of acquired cardiovascular conditions in adults. He is an internationally recognized thought-leader on thoracic aortic diseases, having written and lectured extensively on the subject. He is also widely recognized as an expert in reparative procedures for valvular heart disease as well as the use of arterial conduits to improve the long term durability of coronary bypass procedures.

His research interests have ranged from organ transplantation to the genetics and genomics of bicuspid aortic valve disease. He has received funding by the National Institutes of Health, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Mayo Foundation for this work. Most recently, he collaborated with investigators in the disciplines of human factors and systems engineering to improve the safety and efficiency of healthcare delivery. On a national level, he was the first chair of the Workforce on Patient Safety for the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. He has served in numerous executive roles, including surgical director for cardiac transplantation at Washington University in St. Louis, surgical director of the Thoracic Aortic and Marfan Clinic at the Mayo Clinic and vice-chair of the Department of Surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Dr. Sundt is a Past-President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery.