Gary Kopf, MD

In Memoriam
1945-2026

Dr. Gary Kopf was a board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon. He devoted more than four decades to the care of patients with congenital and acquired heart disease.

Dr. Kopf graduated from Columbia College majoring in Physics. He received his medical degree from Harvard University (cum laude). He trained in General Surgery and Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Children’s Hospital of Boston. Dr. Kopf spent two years at the National Institutes of Health doing research on perinatal physiology.

Dr. Kopf was a member of the American Association of Thoracic Surgery, The Society of Thoracic Surgery, the American College of Surgeons, and the Congenital Heart Surgeons Society, among many other organizations. He was listed as one of America’s Top Doctors, New York’s Best Doctors, and America’s Top Surgeons for many consecutive years.

Dr. Kopf was also interested in biomedical ethics and is a member of the Adult and Pediatric Ethics Committees at Yale-New Haven Hospital, the Technology and Ethics Working Group, and the End of Life Issues Study Group at the Yale Bioethics Center.

He earned Healthcare Ethics Consultant Certification through the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, becoming among the first in the health system to receive the HEC-C credential.