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Meet Our Team - Craig Smith, MD, FACS
Chief, Divsion of Cardiothoracic Surgery Columbia
University; Professor
of Surgery Columbia University College of
Physicians and Surgeons
Dr. Smith received his baccalaureate degree from Williams College (Phi Beta Kappa), and received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University, where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha. He received his postgraduate training in general surgery with a Fellowship in vascular surgery at the University of Rochester. After completing his residency in cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia Presbyterian, Dr. Smith joined the Columbia faculty in 1984 as Associate Director of the Columbia Presbyterian Heart Transplant Program, which grew to be the most active program in the United States. He later inaugurated a successful program in heart-lung and lung transplantation that remains the major program in the region. Dr. Smith was appointed Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Columbia in 1996, and is Professor of Surgery in the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University. In June 2004, Dr. Smith was honored as New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center’s “Practitioner of the Year”.
Dr. Smith’s research interests have included the physiology of single lung transplantation in pulmonary hypertension, assessment of pharmacologic agents for hemostasis during cardiac surgery, and the role of angiogenesis in transmyocardial revascularization. He pioneered cardiopulmary bypass techniques that allow neurosurgeons to approach otherwise inoperable intracerebral aneurysms under deep hypothermia with circulatory arrest. He shares patents in percutaneous transmyocardial revascularization and percutaneous delivery of angiogenic agents to myocardium. He is the site Principle Investigator an ongoing trial of robotic mitral valve repair and is actively involved in developing unique applications of robotic technology. Dr. Smith performs more than 350 operations per year, predominantly valve repair and replacement, coronary bypass procedures, and operations involving the thoracic aorta. |
