Dr. Michael J. Mack is a world-renowned cardiothoracic surgeon and visionary leader in cardiovascular medicine with over four decades of clinical excellence. He currently serves as the Medical Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery for Baylor Scott & White Health and Chairman of BSW The Heart Hospital in Plano, Texas, where he has established one of the nation's premier cardiac surgery programs. Dr. Mack earned his medical degree from St. Louis University before completing an Internal Medicine residency at the University of Minnesota and surgical training at the University of Texas Southwestern. Throughout his distinguished career, he has held numerous leadership positions including President of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons in 2011 and Vice Chair of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, where his election in 2022 marked the beginning of a two-year term before assuming the Chair position.
Dr. Mack has performed over 7,000 cardiac surgeries, with more than 3,000 involving intricate heart valve procedures, establishing him as a pioneer in minimally invasive cardiac interventions and transcatheter valve therapies. His critical contributions to the landmark SYNTAX Trial comparing percutaneous coronary intervention with coronary artery bypass graft surgery fundamentally transformed treatment approaches for complex coronary artery disease. Most significantly, Dr. Mack played a pivotal role in the PARTNER Trial that explored the safety and efficacy of transcatheter aortic valve replacement, helping to establish TAVR as a standard of care for patients with aortic stenosis. With over 400 peer-reviewed publications, his research has bridged the traditionally separate domains of interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery, creating a new paradigm of collaborative care for cardiovascular patients that has significantly improved outcomes for high-risk individuals.
As a distinguished leader who has served on the Board of Trustees of the American College of Cardiology Foundation and chaired multiple professional societies, Dr. Mack has profoundly shaped the field through his commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. He co-founded the Cardiopulmonary Research Science and Technology Institute in 1996, demonstrating his longstanding dedication to advancing cardiovascular research through innovative partnerships between surgeons and cardiologists. Dr. Mack currently serves as Director of the Cardiovascular Service Line at Baylor Scott & White Health System and Chairman of the Baylor Plano Research Center, where he continues to foster the integration of surgical and interventional approaches to patient care. His leadership in establishing multidisciplinary heart valve teams has become the gold standard across healthcare systems nationwide, ensuring that patients receive comprehensive evaluations and the most appropriate treatment options based on collective expertise rather than specialty silos.
