The Cardiothoracic Surgery Center for Clinical Research (CCR) of the Emory University School of Medicine conducts high-impact clinical and translational research and develops and investigates new techniques and technologies in cardiothoracic surgery to inform evidence-based practice.
Cardiothoracic surgeon scientist Dr. John Puskas founded the Emory CCR in 2005. Dr. Puskas was an early advocate of off-pump CT surgery, and had an important role in validating such procedures as off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery. With an impressive cadre of faculty investigators and robust staff support, he developed the CCR into a highly active research center. Dr. Puskas left Emory in March 2014 to join Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital, and Dr. Michael Halkos took over as the CCR's scientific director.
As a member of the Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN), a consortium of adult cardiac surgery centers supported by the NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the CCR participates in multi-institutional prospective randomized trials that evaluate new surgical methods, technologies, devices, and innovative pharmaceutical and bioengineered products.
The CCR has served as the national or international PI site for several FDA IDE trials, ranging from innovative transcatheter aortic valve replacements to reduced anticoagulation for mechanical heart valves. CCR scientists have also conducted landmark, investigator-initiated, randomized controlled trials in stroke prevention, endoscopic vein harvest, and off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting, and have enrolled patients in many multicenter clinical trials in cardiac and thoracic surgery.
Division Chief
Michael E. Halkos, MD, MSc
Dr. Michael E. Halkos is an experienced academic cardiac surgeon scientist, with expertise in minimally invasive cardiac surgery, including robotic mitral and coronary surgery, and hybrid revascularization. He is currently Professor and Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Emory University, overseeing 32 faculty surgeons and scientists at 8 Emory-owned or affiliated hospitals. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the Emory Heart and Vascular Center and he is Director of the Cardiothoracic Center for Clinical Research. His clinical focus is on robotic-assisted mitral valve surgery, robotic-assisted coronary artery bypass surgery, hybrid coronary revascularization, and mitral valve repair techniques.
Dr. Halkos has published over 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals and given over 200 invited lectures and abstract presentations at international and national meetings. He also serves as the Program Director for the Cardiothoracic Surgery residency program at Emory University. Emory Healthcare currently performs 3,000 adult cardiac surgical operations and 1700 thoracic surgical cases annually. The congenital cardiac surgery program is one of the largest in the country with over 700 pediatric and neonatal cases annually.
The Carlyle Fraser Cardiothoracic Research Laboratories serve as our primary focus for basic and translational research in cardiothoracic investigation. There are currently 3 cardiac surgeon-scientists and 2 Phd basic scientists in the Carlyle Fraser Laboratories with a focus on innovation and translational science in major areas of cardiothoracic surgical investigation. These include biomechanics of aortic aneurysms and aortic dissections, heart and lung transplant rejection mechanisms, biomarkers to identify ways to mitigate transplant rejection, mechanisms of right ventricular failure, structural heart disease and congenital cardiac surgery. Investigators currently work in a multidisciplinary fashion with other investigators at Emory University as well as the Georgia Institute of Technology. The goal of the Carlyle Fraser Laboratories is to be the leading academic cardiothoracic institution in the United States with excellence in basic and translational research.
