A. Marc Gillinov, MD, is a staff cardiac surgeon at The Cleveland Clinic Heart Center and is surgical director of the Center for Atrial Fibrillation. He is board certified by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery.
Gillinov is a Cleveland native and a graduate of the Hawken School, where he was valedictorian. After graduating summa cum laude from Yale University, he entered Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where he ranked first in his class. Gillinov received his clinical and advanced training in general surgery and cardiac and thoracic surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Gillinov developed an interest in cardiac surgery in his youth when two close family members had heart surgery at The Cleveland Clinic. The successful outcomes of these surgeries inspired him to spend his high school summers working under Toby Cosgrove, MD, as an assistant in cardiac surgery at The Cleveland Clinic. After completing his education and training, he returned to the clinic and joined the cardiac surgery staff in 1997.
His primary clinical and research interests center on mitral valve disease and atrial fibrillation. He has been instrumental in the development of new, less invasive approaches in these areas. He has delivered hundreds of invited lectures at hospitals, academic meetings, and seminars in the U.S. and abroad. To his credit are more than 150 publications, four continuing medical educational films, and 13 chapters in medical/surgical textbooks. In addition, he holds two patents and has been instrumental in the scientific development of percutaneous approaches to heart valve disease. He is a recognized expert in mitral valve repair surgery and in the study and treatment of atrial fibrillation. Gillinov is a member of 10 scientific societies and has been invited to join the editorial review board or act as an editorial reviewer for 13 scientific periodicals.