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Profile

Kirk Kanter MD

  • Department of Surgery
    Professor Emeritus
Head shot of Kirk Kanter

Overview

Dr. Kirk Kanter joined Emory in 1988 and went on to have an illustrious 33 year career during which he performed approximately 11,200 cases, 416 of which were transplants, with pediatric heart transplants being 246 of that number. As an academic, he trained more than 100 residents, and received $6,444,216 in direct funding for his research.

His research interests included cardiac assistance and replacement, the surgical management of congenital heart disease with an emphasis on early correction in infancy, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for the management of postoperative cardiac failure in infants, and mechanical circulatory assistance.

Dr. Kanter directed the heart transplant program at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) at Egleston from 1988-2021, and served as chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the facility from 1990-2013 and 2018-2019.

In 1988, he was part of the Emory surgical team that performed Georgia's first domino heart transplant. That same year, he performed the state's first pediatric heart transplant. In 1993, he performed Georgia's first lung transplant.

Under Dr. Kanter's guidance, CHOA at Egleston began offering the Stage 1 Norwood procedure for hypoplastic left heart syndrome in 2000; by 2005, the service was achieving some of the best outcomes with the procedure in the country. In 2008, he performed the first pediatric Berlin Heart surgery in Georgia.

Academic Appointment

  • Professor Emeritus, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine

Education

Degrees

  • MD from Albany Medical College
  • BS from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Research

Publications

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