Vivek Rao is a Canadian cardiac surgeon and researcher. He was the youngest faculty member ever to join the University of Toronto cardiac surgery division, and, later, the second youngest chief of cardiac surgery ever appointed at the

University Health Network University Health Network (UHN) is a public research and teaching hospital network in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest health research organization in Canada and ranks first in Canada for total research funding. It was named Canada's ...

Division of Cardiac Surgery. After attending

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an elite, Single-sex education, all-boys, private school in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as the country's most prestigious University-prep ...

, Rao studied medicine at Queen's University at Kingston. He completed his medical and surgical training at the

University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine The Temerty Faculty of Medicine (previously Faculty of Medicine) is the medical school of the University of Toronto. Founded in 1843, the faculty is based in Downtown Toronto and is one of Canada's oldest institutions of medical studies, being ...

, including PhD training (’94-97), working under the supervision of

Richard D. Weisel Richard D. Weisel, is a Canadian-American cardiovascular surgeon and a professor of surgery at University of Toronto. He is the current editor-in-chief of the '' Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery'' and the current director of the Card ...

in the Surgical Scientist Training Program. He completed a fellowship in cardiac transplantation and mechanical circulatory support at

Columbia Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools, Cornell University and Columbia University. The hospital comprises seven distinct campuses located in the New ...

. Rao is the Munk Chair in Advanced Cardiac Therapeutics at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre,

Toronto General Hospital The Toronto General Hospital (TGH) is a major teaching hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the flagship campus of University Health Network (UHN). It is located in the Discovery District of Downtown Toronto along University Avenue's Hospit ...

, and Senior Scientist in the Division of Experimental Therapeutics at the Toronto General Research Institute. Rao is credited with building Canada's largest Advanced Heat Failure Program. He was also the first cardiovascular surgeon in Canada to implant

HeartMate A ventricular assist device (VAD) is an electromechanical device for assisting cardiac circulation, which is used either to partially or to completely replace the function of a failing heart. The function of a VAD differs from that of an artifici ...

, a mechanical heart technology he imported from his experience under

Dr. Mehmet Oz Mehmet Cengiz Öz (; born June 11, 1960), known professionally as Dr. Oz (), is an Turkish American former professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia University, television presenter, author and former political candidate. The son of Tur ...

of the "Dr. Oz Show" in New York. He is a Fellow of the

Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (french: Collège royal des médecins et chirurgiens du Canada) is a regulatory college which acts as a national, nonprofit organization established in 1929 by a special Act of Parliament to o ...

. Rao was named to Canada's Top 40 Under 40.

References

External links

PubMed search for Vivek Rao
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Vivek Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian cardiologists Canadian surgeons Upper Canada College alumni University of Toronto alumni Queen's University at Kingston alumni Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada