Pirooz Eghtesady, MD, PhD, FACC, FCCP, is cardiothoracic surgeon-in-chief at St. Louis Children’s Hospital (SLCH); chief of the Section of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, in the Department of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM); and co-director of The Heart Center, St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Eghtesady’s laboratory is located in the newly developed BJC Institute of Health within the Washington University School of Medicine campus. His research focus is on the pathogenesis of congenital heart diseases, with particular emphasis on aortic stenosis and hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Research includes clinical and epidemiologic studies to better understand the etiology of these defects. Simultaneously, translational studies using animal models are under way with the goal of developing clinically applicable protocols for fetal cardiac intervention and surgery, and to better understand the mechanisms underlying in utero evolution of congenital heart defects.