DIVISION DIRECTOR
FACULTY
DIVISION DIRECTOR
RESOURCES
James K . Kirklin , MD , is professor and director of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery and holds the John W . Kirklin Chair of Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham ( UAB ). He graduated from Ohio State University in 1969 , where he excelled as a springboard and tower diver , twice receiving All-American honors . Dr . Kirklin received his MD from Harvard Medical School in 1973 as a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society . After completing general and cardiothoracic surgery residencies at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1979 , he pursued additional training at Boston Children ’ s Hospital and UAB . Dr . Kirklin was appointed assistant professor of surgery at UAB in 1981 , director of cardiac transplantation in 1986 , professor of surgery in 1987 , and in 2006 was named director of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery . Consistently cited in “ Best Doctors in America ”, Dr . Kirklin ’ s clinical interests focus on surgery for pediatric and adult congenital heart disease , heart transplantation , and mechanical circulatory support .
Prior to being named division director , Dr . Kirklin held the UAB Endowed Chair of Cardiovascular Surgical Research . His many research interests involve cardiac transplantation , mechanical circulatory support , and outcomes research in cardiac surgery . He and his colleagues at UAB established the Cardiac Transplant Research Database in 1990 , which generated the first multi-institutional collaborative research in heart transplantation , producing numerous seminal publications over a 20-year span . In 1993 , Dr . Kirklin and his UAB research group initiated the Pediatric Heart Transplant Study Group , which continues to lead the field in multiinstitutional studies . Currently he is principal investigator of the $ 15 million NIH-sponsored national Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support ( INTERMACS ).
Dr . Kirklin is past-president of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation ( ISHLT ) and a member of numerous academic societies . He served as editor of the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation from 2000 through 2009 , and he is principal editor of the ISHLT Monograph Series , for which 9 books have been published to date . He was first author on the premier textbook on heart transplantation and co-author of the 4th edition of the Cardiac Surgery textbook . He has authored more than 500 scientific publications . In 2014 , Dr . Kirklin was the first recipient of the ISHLT Distinguished Educator Award . UAB has honored him with the establishment of the James K . Kirklin Endowed Chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery and the James Kirklin Visiting Professorship .
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