Panel Discussion

Kristine J. Guleserian, MD, Director of the Congenital Heart Surgery and Co-Director of the Congenital Heart Center at Medical City Children’s Hospital in Dallas, TX. Dr. Guleserian is from Boston, Massachusetts where she earned her medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine after graduating from Harvard College with a degree in the Classics. She completed her general surgery residency at Brown University School of Medicine in Providence, RI followed by her Thoracic Surgery Residency at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO and then returned to her hometown of Boston where she completed advanced fellowships in Congenital Heart Surgery, Cardiovascular Bioengineering Research, and Cardiac Morphology at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. 

She holds leadership roles within the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS), Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), and Congenital Heart Surgeons Society (CHSS). Dr. Guleserian previously served as the Chair of the STS Workforce on Congenital Heart Surgery. She is a founding member of the World Society of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery (WSPCHS) and serves as a member of numerous national and international professional societies and committees including: International Society for the Nomenclature of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease (ISNPCHD), Southern Thoracic Surgical Association (STSA), American College of Cardiology, (ACC) American Heart Association (AHA), and Women in Thoracic Surgery (WTS). 

Among numerous awards and accomplishments, Dr. Guleserian continues to be named a Top Doctor by U.S. News & World Report and Best Pediatric Specialist in Cardiothoracic Surgery by D Magazine for over a decade. Her book entitled “Surgeon’s Story” was published in 2017. 

She is the first woman to lead a congenital heart program in the United States.

Sitaram Emani is Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Complex Biventricular Repair Program at Boston Children's Hosptial. 

I am a postdoctoral research fellow at the Congenital Heart Surgery Department in Texas Children's Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine.   

Elisabeth Martin MD MPH, clinical assistant professor in pediatric and congenital heart surgery at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford University. Special interest for complex pulmonary artery reconstruction, including patients with Williams and Alagille syndromes, as well as unifocalization for pulmonary atresia, VSD and MAPCAs. 

Medical degree at Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 2011, Seoul, Korea

Internship at Samsung Medical Center, 2012, Seoul, Korea

Military medical officer at Republic of Korea Army, 2012-2015

Residency (Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery) at Samsung Medical Center, 2019, Seoul, Korea

Fellowship (Cardiac surgery) at Samsung Medical Center, 2021, Seoul, Korea

Fellowship (Pediatric cardiac surgery) at Asan Medical Center (2021-present), Seoul, Korea

Professor Igor E. Konstantinov graduated from the Military Medical Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1992 and obtained his PhD from the University of Toronto in 2004. He has been Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at the Royal Children's Hospital and full tenured Professor of the University of Melbourne since 2008. He is also Director of the Melbourne Centre for Cardiovascular Genomics and Regenerative Medicine.