Randall B. Griepp 2015 Visiting Professor - Joseph S. Coselli, MD

Named in honor of Randall B. Griepp, MD, Emeritus Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at The Mount Sinai Hospital, where he served as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery from 1985 to 2001. The Randall B. Griepp Visiting Professor is a chosen physician leader in the field of aortic disease and education.

The History of Aortic Surgery: Pioneers and Prophets

Presented by Joseph S. Coselli, MD

Cullen Foundation Endowed Chair
Professor and Chair, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery
Baylor College of Medicine
Chief, Adult Cardiac Surgery, Texas Heart Institute
Houston, TX

About Dr. Coselli

Dr. Coselli holds the Cullen Foundation Endowed Chair and is Professor and Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). He serves as Chief of Adult Cardiac Surgery at Texas Heart Institute (THI) and Associate Chief of the Cardiovascular Service at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas. He is also Associate Director of the Thoracic Surgery Residency Program at THI/BCM and directs the Aortic Fellowship Program at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Coselli specializes in the evaluation and surgical treatment of diseases of the aorta, and was mentored by the pioneering aortic surgeon, E. Stanley Crawford. A Houston native, he received an introduction to cardiothoracic surgery from Dr. Cooley, and as a surgical resident, was instructed by Dr. DeBakey; years later, Dr. Coselli among others, helped to facilitate a reconciliation between these pioneering giants of their field. He has performed more than 7,000 repairs of the aorta and more than 2,900 repairs of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms, for which he is world-renowned. He has published more than 360 medical manuscripts and delivered nearly 500 presentations in 27 countries. In 2008, Dr. Coselli was coeditor of the book Aortic Arch Surgery: Principles, Strategies and Outcomes published by Wiley-Blackwell.

Dr. Coselli has served as President of the Texas Surgical Society (2008), the Michael E. DeBakey International Surgical Society (2010), the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association (2011), and the Denton A. Cooley Cardiovascular Surgical Society (2012). Currently, he serves as President-elect of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery.

About Dr. Griepp

Dr. Randall B. Griepp is the Emeritus Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital, where he served as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery from 1985 to 2001.

His best-known contributions to the field of cardiac surgery were heralded by a high-school science project, in which 15 year old Randall Griepp designed an experimental model to measure metabolic rate of a goldfish at different temperatures, winning first prize in the 1956 San Francisco Science Fair.

Dr. Griepp went on to receive a Bachelor of Science degree from the California Institute of Technology, and his Doctor of Medicine degree from Stanford University Medical School. He returned to Stanford in 1968 after a medical internship at Bellevue Hospital in New York, to train in general surgery and cardiac surgery under Dr. Norman E. Shumway who had performed his first heart transplant (the 4th in the world) at Stanford 6 months earlier. Dr. Griepp performed his first heart transplant on January 1st 1970, and went on to lead the Stanford heart transplant team during these formative years, producing outcomes and publishing research that helped to establish heart transplantation as a reliable clinical option.

While at Stanford Dr. Griepp described the benefits of topical hypothermia in myocardial protection; developed a technique for total arch replacement using deep hypothermic circulatory arrest; and also participated in the early development of mechanical assist devices. His research and clinical work continued at State University New York where he was appointed Chief and then Chairman of Cardiothoracic Surgery, and then Mount Sinai Hospital where he joined the faculty as Chairman in 1985. His other seminal contributions to the field of cardiac surgery include identifying the optimal approaches to selective cerebral perfusion and spinal cord protection; use of trifurcation graft for arch replacement; and elucidating the national history of aortic aneurysms.

Dr. Griepp trained over 40 chief residents and fellows in cardiothoracic surgery at least 15 of whom have served as Chairman or Chiefs in cardiac surgery; and he is the founding director of the Aortic Symposium, serving as director from 1988 to 2012.

Dr. Griepp met his wife Dr. Eva Botstein Griepp, a pediatric cardiologist, during his internship at Bellevue, and they went on to collaborate on his laboratory and clinical research, as well as the Aortic Symposium. Their son, Matthew Griepp, MD recently graduated medical school.