Dr. Michael Teodori Joins UA Department of Surgery as Director of Congenital and Pediatric Cardiac Surgery
October 12, 2009
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Michael Teodori, MD, a renowned specialist in surgical treatments for highly complex heart problems in newborns and children, has joined the University of Arizona Department of Surgery as clinical professor of surgery and director of Congenital and Pediatric Cardiac Surgery.
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Teodori,” said Rainer Gruessner, MD, UA Department of Surgery chairman. “He has established a national reputation as a superb pediatric cardiac surgeon. The UA Department of Surgery and University Medical Center will have the largest and most respected program for diagnosis, treatment and repair of children’s heart defects in Arizona.”
Dr. Teodori spent 19 years in Phoenix, first in private practice, then joining Phoenix Children’s Hospital in 2002. Dr. Teodori is responsible for the development of the Children’s Heart Center at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where he performed 70 percent of Arizona’s pediatric heart surgeries a year.
As a pediatric cardiac surgeon, Dr. Teodori works with children ranging from newborn infants to teens who have congenital heart defects. He is one of an elite corps of highly skilled pediatric cardiothoracic surgeons nationwide who are able to perform complex surgeries on some of the tiniest and most fragile patients who suffer from birth defects like hypoplastic left heart syndrome and transposition of the great arteries. Many of these infants would die if not treated in the first hours or days of life.
For more than 15 years he has donated countless hours to Gift of Life – Arizona, a program that organizes open-heart surgeries for needy children in the state and around the world.
A native of Pittsburgh, Dr. Teodori received his undergraduate degree in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He earned his medical degree from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and completed residency training in general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Teodori arrives as University Medical Center prepares to open Diamond’s Children’s Medical Center.
“The arrival of Dr. Teodori is a great asset to our community and represents the kind of world-class pediatric specialists we can now recruit because of Diamond’s Children’s,” said Fayez K. Ghishan, MD, head, UA Department of Pediatrics, and director, Steele Children’s Research Center. “Our faculty is thrilled that Dr. Teodori has joined the University of Arizona.”
"We are so excited with the recruitment of Dr. Teodori as we prepare for the opening of Diamond Children's Medical Center at UMC in 2010,” said Vicki Began, RN, MN, vice president, UMC Women and Children's Services and Emergency Services. “Dr. Teodori was recruited to Tucson to meet the needs of our cardiac surgery patients and families from Tucson and Southern Arizona. We no longer have to send moms whose babies have been diagnosed with a cardiac defect to Phoenix. We have the expert, Dr. Teodori, right here to care for them."
“I’m very excited about coming here, particularly with the opening of Diamond’s Children’s Medical Center,” said Dr. Teodori. “I feel very invigorated by the positive environment. We will build a pediatric heart program as a center of excellence.”