UF names Dr. Daniel Meldrum the new chief of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery

Daniel Meldrum, M.D., chief of the division of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery.Daniel R. Meldrum, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.H.A., joined the University of Florida department of surgery’s division of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery as a professor and chief on March 1. He will care for patients at Shands at UF medical center.

Meldrum comes to UF from Indiana University School of Medicine and Indiana University Health, where he was a professor of cardiothoracic surgery. He joined Indiana University from the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2002. Meldrum completed surgical training at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and graduated Alpha Omega Alpha from Michigan State University’s College of Medicine.

His clinical expertise is in coronary artery bypass grafting, valve surgery, aortic surgery and thoracic oncology. His research expertise is related to adult stem cell research and gender differences in heart disease.

“We are delighted that Dr. Meldrum will bring his unique skill set and leadership to the division of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery,” said Kevin Behrns, M.D., chair of the UF department of surgery. “He is well-recognized nationally for delivering expert, high-quality, personalized patient care, along with making numerous novel discoveries that have advanced cardiac surgery. He is poised to lead the group to remarkable innovative achievements in clinical care, research and in training the next generation of thoracic and cardiovascular surgeons.”

During training at the University of Colorado, Meldrum earned a National Institutes of Health National Research Service Award.

He has authored more than 250 original publications, received several NIH grants, including three RO1 grants, and served as mentor for multiple training grants from the NIH and American Heart Association. He received the Indiana University Board of Trustees Teaching Award in 2008 in recognition of his commitment to medical student and resident education.

He has served as a regular member of the NIH Myocardial Ischemia and Metabolism study section and as a member of the AHA Radiology and Surgery study section. He also has served as a temporary reviewer for multiple other NIH and AHA study sections and as a member of the NIH Right Heart Working Group. He is the associate editor of the Journal of Surgical Research and the senior associate editor of the journal Shock.

He is the immediate past-president of the Society of University Surgeons and has served on the executive councils of that organization, the Association for Academic Surgery, the Shock Society, the Surgical Infection Society and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. He also is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and the American Surgical Association. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American Heart Association and was a Lt. Colonel in the United States Army Reserve.

Meldrum said the opportunity to lead UF’s division of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery “is an exciting opportunity to be involved in an already outstanding program.”

“I look forward to working with everyone to build upon the great progress that already has been made by my predecessors,” he said.