Constantine Mavroudis was born in Thasos, Greece on July 19, 1946, the son of a naturalized American citizen, and moved to New York City in 1947. He grew up in Jersey City and attended public schools where he participated in boy scouts, varsity sports (football, fencing, baseball), and student government. He was graduated from Rutgers University (1968) where he studied biological sciences and art. He was captain of the fencing team and represented the United States in the Martini and Rossi World Invitational Tournament (1968). He was graduated from The University of Virginia School of Medicine (1973) and completed General Surgery Training (1973–1979), Thoracic-Cardiovascular Training (1979–1981), and was a Research Fellow (1976–1977), all at The University of California–San Francisco. His first faculty position was at The University of Louisville School of Medicine (1981–1989) where he became Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and rose to the rank of Professor of Surgery. He was recruited to Children’s Memorial Hospital-Northwestern University, The Feinberg School of Medicine in 1989 as the Willis J. Potts Professor of Surgery, Division Director of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief. During 2008–2011, Dr. Mavroudis served as chair of the Department of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery with a joint appointment in the Department of Bioethics at the Cleveland Clinic. In 2012, he was recruited to Florida Hospital for Children in Orlando where he became Professor of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Site Director, Johns Hopkins Children’s Heart Surgery. Dr Mavroudis is well recognized in his field, both nationally and internationally. He has published over 500 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He is the Editor of the standard textbook, Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, now in its 4th Edition, and Editor of Atlas of Congenital Heart Surgery, 1st Edition. In addition, he has served as editor or co-editor for six other textbooks. He has served as Deputy Editor for Congenital Heart Surgery, Annals of Thoracic Surgery. He is a member and has served in leadership positions in the major Thoracic Surgery professional organizations. He is a Past President of the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association (2002) and Past President of the Congenital Heart Surgeon’s Society (2004–2006). His practice attracts patients from the United States and abroad because of his expertise in the fields of complex congenital heart repairs, arrhythmia surgery, coronary artery surgery in children, and adult congenital heart interventions.Dr Joseph Dearani is Chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Mayo Clinic and Professor of Surgery in the Mayo College of Medicine. He grew up in Norwalk, Connecticut and completed his undergraduate education at Fordham University in New York City. He received his medical degree from Georgetown University and completed his surgical residency atthe Georgetown University Hospital. During that interval, he spent two years as a surgical research fellow at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He went on to complete a Thoracic Surgery residency from 1993 to 1996 at the Mayo Clinic. He did a Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Fellowship at Loma Linda University in southern California before starting on the staff at the Mayo Clinic in 1997 and becoming Chair of the Department in 2011. Dr Dearani’s clinical interests include the surgical management of children and adults with congenital heart disease. He has specific expertise with Ebstein anomaly, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, as well as a wide array of complex congenital heart defects. He is the author or co-author of approximately 450 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 36 book chapters. His research interests include innovative techniques for complex congenital heart disease, heart failure, regenerative medicine and stem cell therapies from the newborn to the adult.
