Skip to Main Content

Yale Appoints Dr. Marc Pelletier Chief of Cardiac Surgery

October 28, 2024

The Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS) are pleased to announce the appointment of Marc Pelletier, MD, MSc, FRCSC, as Division Chief of Cardiac Surgery for the Department of Surgery, Section Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH), and Physician-in-Chief of Cardiac Surgery for the Heart and Vascular Center of YNHHS, effective March 1, 2025.

Dr. Pelletier will join Yale from University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University, where he served as Chief of Cardiac Surgery and Director of the Heart Surgery Center at UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute. His appointment follows an extensive search process with input from stakeholders across Yale's health system.

“Dr. Pelletier is highly regarded as a triple threat academic physician leader, excelling in clinical care, research, and education, and leading with purpose and compassion. Everyone on our search committee commented not only on his aptitude, but his authenticity and warmth; we are delighted to welcome him to our community,” said YSM Chair of Surgery and YNHH Surgeon in Chief, Nita Ahuja, MD, MBA, FACS.

A graduate of McGill University, Dr. Pelletier completed advanced training in cardiothoracic transplantation and ventricular assist devices at Stanford University. His clinical interests include trans aortic valve replacement surgery (TAVR), minimally invasive mitral valve and coronary bypass surgery using arterial grafts, as well as aortic and heart failure procedures. He has previously served as Director of the TAVR program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and as the Division Head of Cardiac Surgery at the New Brunswick Heart Centre in Canada.

In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Pelletier is the lead PI on several industry-funded clinical trials and a prolific researcher, having authored over 130 peer-reviewed publications in high impact journals including Circulation and The New England Journal of Medicine. A respected educator, Dr. Pelletier was recognized for his efforts with the prestigious Larry Cohn Outstanding Teacher Award in 2018. His leadership includes chairing the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada's cardiac surgery examination board from 2014 to 2018 and being named Specialist of the Year by the Royal College in 2014.

"We extend our gratitude to Dr. Raul Guzman and Dr. Peter Gruber, who have led our cardiac teams in an interim capacity for the past 14 months, and to the search committee, especially Drs. Daniel Boffa and Mehra Golshan, for their efforts," said Dr. Ahuja. "Please join us in welcoming Dr. Pelletier and his family to Yale."


Search Committee Members: Dr. Anna Bader, Dr. Daniel Boffa, Dr. Karen Gibbs, Dr. Mehra Golshan, Dr. Raul Guzman, Dr. Peter Gruber, Dr. Judith Lichtman, Francine LoRusso, Dr. Andrew Notarianni, Dr. Eric Velazquez