Dr. Ibrahim Sultan is the Chief of the Division of Cardiac Surgery, Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, and Co-Director of the Heart and Vascular Institute within the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC.
Dr. Sultan obtained his medical degree from Cornell University. He completed General Surgery training at Johns Hopkins, where he served as the Halsted Chief Resident. He then pursued a Cardiothoracic Surgery fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by subspecialization in Aortic Surgery and Structural Heart Therapies. Since joining UPMC, Dr. Sultan has led our renowned Thoracic Aortic and Heart Valve Disease programs. He is internationally regarded for his clinical and scholarly expertise in Thoracic Aortic Disease and Aortic Valve Disease.
Dr. Sultan is an Associate Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, the Surgical Director for the UPMC Center for Heart Valve Disease and the Cardiac Surgery Director for the UPMC Center for Aortic Disease. With Dr. Sultan's collaborative leadership and his partnership with HVI Cardiology, the UPMC Center for Heart Valve Disease has become one of the largest and most renowned programs in the country. As the Director of the UPMC Center for Thoracic Aortic Disease, Dr. Sultan maintained and enhanced the reputation of UPMC's Thoracic Aortic Surgery program, widely recognized as one of the highest volume thoracic aortic surgical programs with exceptional clinical outcomes.
Dr. Sultan has authored over 350 peer-reviewed publications and has been invited to lecture around the world on over 200 occasions. He is funded by the Department of Defense and has served as a Principal Investigator for 20 clinical trials. He serves on the editorial boards for the flagship Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery journals. He has served in significant leadership roles for the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the American Heart Association, and the American College of Cardiology. He is an elected member of the AATS and a Fellow of the AHA. He has demonstrated commitment to educating the future generation of surgical leaders, with his mentorship of medical students and trainees earning him several awards from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
- Doctor of Medicine (Medical Degree), Cornell University
- Halsted Intern and Resident, Department of Surgery, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland
- Halsted Chief Resident, Department of Surgery, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland
- Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellow, Division of Cardiac Surgery, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Aortic Surgery Fellow, Division of Cardiac Surgery, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Education & Training
To learn more about Dr. Sultan's publications, please visit PubMed.
Dr. Sultan's research interests include treatment paradigms for the aortic valve, structural heart disease and thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections. These include aortic valve repair and aortic root surgery including valve sparing root replacement; surgery of the thoracic aorta (ascending aorta, aortic arch and descending aorta); endovascular aortic surgery; transcatheter aortic, mitral and tricuspid valve replacement; minimally invasive cardiac surgery; bicuspid aortic valve, Marfan's syndrome and Loeys-Dietz syndrome.
Dr. Sultan receives funding from the Department of Defense (Advanced Technology Development for a Secure Wireless Disposable Physiological Monitoring Patch) and the Commonwealth Universal Research Enrichment (CURE) Program (Study to Assess WiSPR (Wireless Sensing Processing and Recording) reusable patch in Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) patients from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He serves as Co-Investigator on additional National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute R01 and T32 awards in the Department. He has been the PI for nearly 20 clinical trials at UPMC.