MESA, Ariz. (May 1, 2019) – Banner Health has named Gordon Cohen, M.D., director of Banner Children’s Congenital Heart Program at Cardon Children’s Medical Center. The congenital heart program provides congenital cardiac evaluation and medical and surgical care for patients, from newborns to adults.

Dr. Cohen comes to Banner with an extraordinary array of accomplishments in the care of children with congenital heart disease. He received his pediatric cardiac surgery training at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London and is the first American cardiac surgeon to receive an appointment as a consultant surgeon on their faculty. He then moved to Seattle Children’s Hospital, where he created, grew and led the congenital heart program into one of the premier children’s heart centers in the U.S., including achieving Top-12 status in U.S. News & World Report. While there, he was appointed as Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington and as the Sam and Althea Stroum Endowed Chair in Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery. He also developed and expanded a major heart transplant and ventricular assist device program at Seattle Children’s.

In 2012, Dr. Cohen was recruited to the University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital as the Julien Hoffman Professor and Endowed Chair of Cardiac Surgery, the Vice Chair of the UCSF Department of Surgery and Surgical Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery. There, he reorganized and rebuilt the pediatric cardiac surgery program with impressive volume growth and outstanding surgical outcomes, including mortality rates far below the national average in the Society for Thoracic Surgeons congenital heart surgery database.

In addition to his achievements in building successful children’s heart programs, Cohen has received numerous teaching and service awards and has trained dozens of cardiac surgeons. While at Seattle Children’s, he established one of the first three ACGME-accredited fellowship programs in congenital heart surgery. He has authored more than 150 peer-review publications, chapters and abstracts, and is regularly sought as an international speaker. Cohen is regarded by national peers as a visionary, energetic, collegial, collaborative and conscientious physician leader.

“I’m thrilled to have such a renowned physician as Dr. Cohen join the Banner Children’s at Cardon Children’s Medical Center congenital heart program team,” said Laura Robertson, CEO of Banner Desert and Cardon Children’s Medical Centers. “Under Dr. Cohen’s leadership, I’m confident the program will continue to grow and ultimately lead the way in providing the highest levels of multidisciplinary congenital heart care in the country.”

Cohen earned his bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degrees from the University of California in Los Angeles. He attended Tulane University for his medical degree and holds an MBA from the University of Tennessee.

Cardon Children’s Medical Center provides pediatric care for children, from newborns to teens. Services include immediate access to Level I trauma services and emergency care, a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, general pediatrics, surgical and rehabilitation services, hematology/oncology, urology, gastroenterology, neurology and outpatient services. For more information, visit www.BannerHealth.com/CardonChildrens.