Nicklaus Children’s Hospital welcomes world-renowned congenital heart surgeon, Kristine J. Guleserian, MD, to The Heart Program. Dr. Guleserian supports The Heart Program’s robust congenital heart surgery offerings.
Dr. Guleserian brings with her a wealth of experience in congenital heart surgery as well as pediatric heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support. Prior to joining The Heart Program, she served as Surgical Director of Pediatric Cardiac Transplantation at Children’s Medical Center/University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where she held the post of Surgical Director of the Adult Congenital Heart Surgery Program. Her achievements include:
- Performing a heart-liver transplant in the world’s youngest patient, a 3-year-old with familial homozygous hypercholesterolemia in 2006.
- Performing a heart transplant in the world’s smallest and youngest patient, a week-old, 5-pound baby in 2007.
- Implanting a pacemaker in the world’s smallest and youngest patient, a 32-week premature neonate weighing less than 4 pounds in 2008.
- Implanting a total artificial heart in the world’s smallest and youngest patient, a 9-year old with complex congenital heart disease in 2013.
Board certified in thoracic and congenital heart surgery, Dr. Guleserian operates on neonates, infants and children, as well as adolescents and adults with congenital heart defects. She has established a global presence as a founding member of the World Society of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery, and for her work with professional organizations, including the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Congenital Heart Surgeons’ Society, International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, International Society for Nomenclature of Paediatric and Congenital Heart Disease, Southern Thoracic Surgical Association, and Women in Thoracic Surgery.
Dr. Guleserian earned her medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine after graduating from Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She completed her general surgery residency at Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University Alpert Medical School in Providence and her thoracic surgery residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. She then pursued fellowships in congenital heart surgery, cardiovascular tissue engineering and cardiac pathology at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Her clinical interests include cardiac morphology and pathology, minimally invasive cardiac surgery, such as mini sternotomy and video-assisted thoracic surgery, complex aortic arch reconstruction, heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support of the failing heart. Dr. Guleserian’s book, Surgeon’s Story, is expected to be released in January 2017.
The Heart Program at Nicklaus Children’s, a world leader in pediatric cardiology and cardiovascular surgery for the care of children with congenital heart disease, serves as a beacon to families confronting the reality of a child or newborn with a heart defect. The Heart Program offers the most innovative and least invasive approaches to the treatment of congenital heart disease, including many first-in-the-world procedures that were pioneered right here by The Heart Program’s own internationally renowned cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons.
About Nicklaus Children's Hospital, Where Your Child Matters Most ™ (2025)
For 75 years, Nicklaus Children's has stood as a beacon of hope for children and families across the state of Florida and beyond. Nicklaus Children's Hospital is South Florida's #1 nonprofit, freestanding specialty licensed hospital exclusively for children serving close to 70 percent of children in the Miami metropolitan community. In addition, Nicklaus Children's offers care within NCH North Hospital in Naples, Jupiter Medical Center's De George Pediatric Unit and select Baptist Health Hospital pediatric emergency units. The hospital and its network of more of nearly 35 outpatient care locations offer lifesaving care in in Miami-Dade, Broward, Martin, and Palm Beach counties. These outpatient locations include an array of urgent care, pediatric primary care, and subspecialty care centers and are either hospital-based or outpatient locations under Nicklaus Children's Pediatric Specialists, LLC (NCPS). Providing a pipeline of future physicians and groundbreaking research, Nicklaus Children's is an academic and clinical affiliate of Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. Nicklaus Children's is home to centers of excellence including the Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute, the Nicklaus Children's Orthopedics, Sports Health and Spine Institute, Nicklaus Children's Neuroscience Institute and Nicklaus Children's Heart Institute. The 325-bed hospital is renowned for excellence in all aspects of pediatric medicine, with many programs routinely ranked among the nation's best by U.S. News & World Report since 2008. Nicklaus Children's also includes a nonprofit physician practice subsidiary with over 40 specialties, and an ambulatory surgery center.