Several Columbia faculty members have assumed leadership positions in the new program. Barry Esrig, MD, is chief of the division of cardiothoracic surgery at UH. Douglas Jackson, MD, is vice chair of critical care in the department of anesthesiology and will direct the new Cardiothoracic Surgery Intensive Care Unit currently under construction. They join Michael Banker, MD, director of cardiac surgery at UH. Administration of the new division will be provided by Eric Rose, MD, chair of the department of surgery at Columbia.

Columbia’s cardiac surgery program has consistently been ranked as one of the best in the nation. Its open heart surgery program performs some 1,500 procedures annually, recording exceptionally low mortality rates. Its groundbreaking work in the use of LVAD (left ventricular assist device) has extended and significantly improved the health of thousands of patients with end-term heart failure. Columbia surgeons performed the nation’s first robotically-assisted atrial septal defect repair without a chest incision, and CPMC is also the national training center for two of the three existing FDA trials of robotic cardiac surgery. This innovation and others will now be available at UH.

NJMS Dean Russell T. Joffe, MD, said, "This affiliation agreement provides enormous opportunity for NJMS as well as University Hospital. The combination of the best of both schools allows us to move quickly in broadening our clinical, education and research capabilities in the entire range of the cardiac sciences."