Department of Thoracic Surgery

Professor of Surgery

Harvard Medical School

Senior Associate in Cardiac Surgery

Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA

A leader in the field of pediatric cardiovascular surgery and cardiac transplantation for more than 25 years, Dr. Mayer today brings insights into the emerging Medicare and private insurance reimbursement crisis that hospitals and surgeons face.

A 1972 graduate of Yale University School of Medicine, Dr. Mayer completed his internship and residency in surgery at the University of Minnesota Hospital & Clinics in Minneapolis, followed by a fellowship in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery there.

Following his post-doctoral training, Dr. Mayer served as chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the Keesler USAF Medical Center and staff surgeon at the University of Alabama Medical Center. He joined the Harvard Medical School faculty in 1984 and was appointed senior associate in cardiovascular surgery at Children’s Hospital Boston in 1989. In 1996, he was named professor of surgery at Harvard.  Dr. Mayer is the first Tommy Kaplan Chair in Cardiovascular Studies at Children’s Hospital Boston.

Dr. Mayer’s research focuses on the short and long-term outcome of the Fontan and arterial switch operations, tissue engineering of cardiovascular structures, and cardiac transplantation. A prolific author, he has published more than 345 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals, including the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Pediatric Cardiology, Circulation and the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

Dr. Mayer was President of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons in 2007 and serves on numerous committees and boards.  He is currently the Chair of the STS Finance Committee, a Director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, a member of the American College of Cardiology Surgeons’ Council, and is on the board of directors of the American Board of Medical Specialties.

In 2010, Dr. Mayer received the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Distinguished Service Award. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery.

Mimi Eckhard - Media Services, Section of Surgical Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Ctr.