Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
Institute Experience Officer, Heart & Vascular Institute

A. Marc Gillinov, MD, is a staff cardiac surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic Heart and Vascular Institute and he is board-certified by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. He holds the Judith Dion Pyle Chair in Heart Valve Research at Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Gillinov has special expertise in minimally invasive mitral valve, aortic valve, and tricuspid valve surgery; robotic valve surgery; mitral valve repair; aortic valve replacement; surgical treatment and minimally invasive surgery for atrial fibrillation; off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery and high-risk mitral valve surgery. In addition, he is Surgical Director of the Center for Atrial Fibrillation at Cleveland Clinic.

A Cleveland native and graduate of Hawken School, Dr. Gillinov first worked at Cleveland Clinic in 1978. Sparked by the successful heart surgery of a close family member at Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Gillinov spent his summers during high school as a researcher and assistant in the cardiac surgery operating suite.

After graduating summa cum laude from Yale University, Dr. Gillinov entered Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he ranked first in his class. Dr. Gillinov received his clinical and advanced training in general surgery and cardiac and thoracic surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. After completing his education and training, he returned to Cleveland Clinic and joined the cardiac surgery staff in 1997.

Dr. Gillinov is a recognized expert in mitral valve repair surgery and in the study and treatment of atrial fibrillation. He has been instrumental in the development of new, less invasive treatment approaches for mitral valve disease and atrial fibrillation. He has delivered hundreds of invited lectures at hospitals, academic meetings and seminars in the United States and abroad.

To his credit are more than 200 publications, eight continuing medical educational films and 19 contributory chapters to medical/surgical textbooks. In addition, he holds three patents, including a patent disclosing new techniques for valve repair for which he received a Cleveland Clinic Award for Innovation. He has been instrumental in ushering in a new era in medicine with his contributions to the scientific development of percutaneous approaches to heart valve disease.

Dr. Gillinov is a member of ten scientific societies, and he has been invited to join the editorial review board or act as an editorial reviewer for 15 scientific periodicals. He is the medical editor of the Cleveland Clinic’s Cardiac Consult and serves on the editorial boards of e-Cleveland Clinic, The Heart Surgery Forum, Innovations, the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and the Journal of Cardiac Surgery.

A native Clevelander, Dr. Gillinov divides his time between working at Cleveland Clinic, spending time with his family and playing tennis.

Watch a video about Dr. Gillinov and his work performing mitral valve surgery or his work treating atrial fibrillation.