Lars Georg Svensson is a

cardiac surgeon Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to cor ...

and the chairman of the heart and vascular institute at

Cleveland Clinic Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit American academic medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an Ohio nonprofit corporation established in 1921, it runs a 170-acre (69 ha) campus in Cleveland, ...

. He is the Director of the Aorta Center, Director of the

Marfan Syndrome Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a multi-systemic genetic disorder that affects the connective tissue. Those with the condition tend to be tall and thin, with long arms, legs, fingers, and toes. They also typically have exceptionally flexible joints a ...

and Connective Tissue Disorder Clinic, and is a professor of surgery at

Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine Case Western Reserve School of Medicine (CWRU SOM, CaseMed) is the medical school of Case Western Reserve University, a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It is the largest biomedical research center in Ohio. History On November 1, ...

and

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

. He is also the Director of Quality Outcomes and Process Improvement for the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and Affiliate Cardiac Surgery Program at Cleveland Clinic.

Early life and education

Born in

Barberton, South Africa Barberton is a town in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa, which has its origin in the 1880s gold rush in the region. It is situated in the De Kaap Valley and is fringed by the Makhonjwa Mountains. It is south of Mbombela and east of Johann ...

, Svensson completed his undergraduate studies at Treverton College in Mooi River,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and earned his medical degree and Ph.D. from the

University of Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. He received his training in the fields of cardiology and general surgery at the Johannesburg Hospital. He completed a residency in cardiothoracic surgery from

Baylor College of Medicine Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a medical school and research center in Houston, Texas, within the Texas Medical Center, the world's largest medical center. BCM is composed of four academic components: the School of Medicine, the Graduate Sc ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and completed fellowships at Baylor and

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Career

Throughout his career, Svensson has contributed to the advances in the field of

cardiovascular surgery Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to corr ...

. Among Svensson's contributions include modifying the technically demanding operation of replacing the

aortic arch The aortic arch, arch of the aorta, or transverse aortic arch () is the part of the aorta between the ascending and descending aorta. The arch travels backward, so that it ultimately runs to the left of the trachea. Structure The aorta begins a ...

(the "elephant procedure") to make it safer; extensive research on

paralysis Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 50 ...

after aortic surgery that has led to reduction of paralysis risk to less than half; illustrated that certain methods of doing arch surgery can reduce the risk of

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

by 40%; illustrated techniques to reduce the risk of

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...

after

aortic The aorta ( ) is the main and largest artery in the human body, originating from the left ventricle of the heart and extending down to the abdomen, where it splits into two smaller arteries (the common iliac arteries). The aorta distributes ox ...

surgery; simplified a method for preserving a patient's aortic valve and reimplanting it at the time of surgery so that patients (particularly young patients) do not require a valve replacement; developed a minimally invasive approach (the "J incision") for performing

keyhole A lock is a mechanical or electronic fastening device that is released by a physical object (such as a key, keycard, fingerprint, RFID card, security token or coin), by supplying secret information (such as a number or letter permutation or passw ...

valve and aortic surgery; and has been involved from the beginning on the research of percutaneous aortic valves in transapical animal studies and the development of the

randomized trial In science, randomized experiments are the experiments that allow the greatest reliability and validity of statistical estimates of treatment effects. Randomization-based inference is especially important in experimental design and in survey sampl ...

s to prove the effectiveness and safety of percutaneous aortic valves. Svensson was also the first to do a replacement of the entire aorta during a single operation. Svensson was named the King James IV Professor of Surgery of the

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) is a professional organisation of surgeons. The College has seven active faculties, covering a broad spectrum of surgical, dental, and other medical practices. Its main campus is located on ...

in 2005. He has also held academic appointments including Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the

Veterans Administration Hospital Veterans' health care in the United States is separated geographically into 19 regions (numbered 1, 2, 4-10, 12 and 15–23) In January 2002, the Veterans Health Administration announced the merger of VISNs 13 and 14 to create a new, combined netw ...

in Houston; Clinical Instructor in Surgery at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

; Clinical Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

; and Assistant Professor of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. He has authored the reference text book "Cardiovascular and Vascular Diseases of the Aorta"Cardiovascular and vascular disease of the aorta. By Lars G. Svensson and E. Stanley Crawford, W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia (1997) and has authored or co-authored hundreds of journal articles, reviews, book chapters, abstracts, and commentaries. He has been invited to lecture at hundreds of regional, national, and international symposia and conferences. He is the former associate editor of the Annals of Thoracic Surgery. He also serves on several editorial boards, including the

Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery ''The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering cardiothoracic surgery, cardiology, pulmonary medicine, and vascular disease published by Elsevier. It is the official journal of the Ame ...

, Journal for Minimal Invasive Cardiac Surgery,

Journal of Cardiac Surgery The ''Journal of Cardiac Surgery'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal about cardiology and surgery that was established in March 1986. The current editor in chief of the journal is Tomas Salerno of the University of Miami The University of ...

, and the Annals of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery. Svensson is a fellow of the

, the

Colleges of Medicine of South Africa The Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (CMSA) is the custodian of the quality of medical care in South Africa. It is unique in the world in that its 29 constituent Colleges represent all the disciplines of medicine and dentistry. The only present ...

, the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada in Vascular and Cardiothoracic Surgery, the

American College of Surgeons The American College of Surgeons is an educational association of surgeons created in 1913.American College of Surgeons Online "What is the American College of Surgeons?"/ref> See also *American College of Physicians The American College o ...

, the

American College of Cardiology The American College of Cardiology (ACC), based in Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit medical association established in 1949. It bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists who meet its qualifications. Education is a core component of the ...

, and the

American College of Physician Executives The 'American Association for Physician Leadership'' is an educational organization focused on physicians who hold leadership and management positions. Its central offices are located in Tampa, Florida. Peter B. Angood is the chief executive offic ...

. In addition, he is an active member of several other professional organizations, including the DeBakey International Society.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Svensson, Lars Georg Living people People from Barberton, Mpumalanga American cardiologists South African emigrants to the United States Cleveland Clinic people Year of birth missing (living people) University of the Witwatersrand alumni Fellows of the American College of Cardiology Fellows of the American College of Surgeons