Greetings from Dr. Michael E. Halkos
Welcome from the Program Director
The cardiothoracic surgery residency of the Emory University School of Medicine is one of the most long-standing and successful academic-medical programs of its type in the country. Osler Almon Abbott, MD, who performed Georgia’s first successful intracardiac procedure for a patient with mitral valve stenosis at Emory University Hospital, initiated the residency in 1963.
From that point forward, our program leadership has been focused on and dedicated to education and clinical excellence in both our traditional residency and integrated residency programs. Both trainees and faculty alike have experienced the superb guidance of other Emory CT Surgery Program Directors:
Charles Ross Hatcher, Jr., MD (1971-1990) – performed Georgia’s first successful “blue baby” open heart procedure and went on to complete the state’s first double, then triple valve replacements.
Robert A. Guyton, MD (1990 – 2017) – established a legacy training program with more than 5% of all practicing cardiac surgeons in the U.S. having trained at Emory. Dr. Guyton started the integrated residency training program in 2012.
Allan Pickens, MD (2017-2022) – implemented the minimally invasive thoracic surgery and thoracic oncology service at Emory University Hospital Midtown. Dr. Pickens also served as the Director for Perioperative Services at Emory Midtown and chaired the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee for the Department of Surgery which established a scholarship for elective rotations for students underrepresented in surgery.
As the only academic health system in Georgia, Emory provides unique opportunities for residents and surgeons alike. One of many strengths of the Emory program is that our educational mission is not dependent on one or even a few educators or surgeons. We have over 20 practicing surgeons in our group and all of us are dedicated to teaching the next generation of cardiac and thoracic surgeons; that is a pre-requisite for being a faculty surgeon at Emory.
Our faculty are diverse, versatile, and at the top of their respective specialties. Our research is innovative, relevant, and impactful. Emory Surgery consistently ranks in the Top 10 nationally for NIH research funding. Our trainees have the opportunity to learn from the best as they rotate between multiple facilities, encounter hundreds of patients and virtually every condition, and perform a wide spectrum of both traditional and cutting-edge procedures.
I am a product of this training, having completed a Cardiothoracic Surgery Research Fellowship with the prestigious Carlyle Fraser Heart Center during my general surgery residency from 2002-2004, and having trained in the traditional Cardiothoracic Surgery residency from 2006-2009. When presented the opportunity to stay at Emory for my career, I immediately accepted and have never looked back. I have served in associate program director roles since 2012, for both the I6 and traditional 5+3 programs. In 2017, I was appointed to lead the division as the Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Emory. Now, in 2022, I follow in the footsteps of those great faculty educators and mentors mentioned previously, as I assume the role of Program Director and have the opportunity to lead the training programs into the next era.
We invite you to learn more about our programs via website searches, visiting elective rotations, and networking at national conferences and hope that you will explore Emory and the city of Atlanta as an opportunity for your own training. We look forward to all of the talents you will bring to our profession and I promise you that we will do everything we can to ensure that you leave our program ready to practice independently and to be among the next generation of leaders in cardiothoracic surgery.
Sincerely,
Michael E. Halkos, MD, MSc
Chief and Professor, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery
Program Director, Thoracic Surgery Residency Program
Emory University School of Medicine and Emory Healthcare