MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – WVU Medicine Children’s, in close collaboration with the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute, announced today (May 28) that M. Sertac Çiçek, M.D., has been named the new professor and chief of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery. He will join WVU Medicine from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, this summer.
“We are very excited to have Dr. Çiçek join the WVU Medicine Children’s family and bolster our outstanding pediatric cardiothoracic surgery program,” Amy L. Bush-Marone, R.N., B.S.N., M.B.A., C.N.O.R., chief operating officer for WVU Medicine Children’s, said. “As the state’s only provider of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery, it is our responsibility to ensure that no family ever has to leave the state or region to find life-saving care for their child, and the addition of Dr. Çiçek to our team will help us do just that.”
Dr. Çiçek will assume the role of chief of Pediatric and Cardiothoracic Surgery from Robert Gustafson, M.D., who has held the position since 1984.
Dr. Gustafson, affectionately known as “Dr. Gus” by his patients and colleagues, is a Keyser native and two-time graduate of WVU. During his tenure, he has treated close to 15,000 patients from across the state, country, and around the world. He has received dozens of accolades for his work, including the Children’s Miracle Achievement Award from Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and the West Virginia State Distinguished Service Award – the highest civilian award given by the governor.
Throughout his career, Gustafson has been involved in more than 20 professional societies and more than 80 institutional, state, national, and international committees; served as principal or co-principal investigator on more than 50 grants and contracts; delivered more than 100 national invited lectures and presentations; and published more than 110 abstracts, original peer-reviewed articles, and book chapters.
Çiçek completed his medical education at Ankara University and the Gülhane Faculty of Medicine in Ankara, Turkey, graduating summa cum laude in 1985. He then completed a five-year residency in cardiovascular surgery in Ankara, followed by fellowships in cardiac surgery and transplantation at the Texas Heart Institute and the Mayo Clinic and in pediatric cardiac surgery at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Çiçek returned to his home country to establish several pediatric and adult cardiac surgery programs at hospitals throughout Turkey, including the Siyami Ersek Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Training Hospital, one of the largest heart centers in Europe, where he also served as the physician-in-chief.
He then served 10 years as director of the Heart and Vascular Care Center at the Anadolu Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Istanbul. Under Çiçek’s leadership, this program rapidly grew from 200 cases to more than 1,000 cases per year, achieving excellent outcomes across the full spectrum of pediatric cardiac surgery, including complex congenital operations.
Çiçek was recruited back to the Mayo Clinic as professor and senior associate consultant in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery in 2017.
Çiçek is an internationally recognized leader in congenital cardiac surgery. He is a Fellow of American College of Surgeons, American College of Cardiology, and American College of Chest Physicians. He is a member of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS), Society of Thoracic Surgeons, European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, Association for European Pediatric Cardiology, Asian Society for Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery (ASCVTS), European Congenital Heart Surgeons Association (ECHSA), Congenital Heart Surgeons Society, and World Society for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery (WSPCHS).
He served on the Councils of ASCVTS and WSPCHS, as well as the Steering Committee of the World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, the Board of Directors of ECHSA, and the Membership and Education committees of AATS. Çiçek served as the Chairman of Seventh World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, which is considered to be the one of the highest honors in the pediatric and congenital cardiac profession. He serves on multiple editorial boards and is an associate editor of World Journal of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery.
For more information on WVU Medicine Children’s, visit WVUMedicine.org/Childrens. For more information on the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute, visit WVUMedicine.org/Heart.