Kirby I. Bland, MD, professor and chairman of the UAB Department of Surgery, announced today that James K. Kirklin, MD, will carry on a family tradition, following in his father’s footsteps as the new division director of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery within the department of surgery.

Kirklin will succeed Albert D. Pacifico, MD, who announced in November he will retire from UAB June 30. Kirklin’s appointment will be effective July 1.

Kirklin is widely known for his surgical expertise and for spearheading the UAB Heart and Lung Transplant Program, establishing it as one of the leading heart-lung transplant programs in the world.

“Dr. Kirklin is eminently qualified as a world-renowned cardiothoracic surgeon, and the division will certainly benefit from his dedication and expertise,” Bland said. “We are proud and fortunate he will carry us forward into the new millennium of medicine, maintaining the tradition of excellence that has kept UAB heart surgery one of the premier programs in the nation.”

Heart transplantation began at UAB in 1983, and in 1986 Kirklin became the director of that program, which later expanded to include lung transplantation.

Kirklin was instrumental in the formation of the Cardiac Transplant Research Database and the Pediatric Heart Transplant Study, and in establishing UAB as headquarters for both programs. Clinical information from the major heart transplant centers in the United Stated is funneled into these databases for use in analyses that help guide doctors in the management of heart transplant cases.

Kirklin is the principal investigator of a $6 million, 5-year National Institutes of Health contract to study outcomes with mechanical circulatory support devices in the United States.

Kirklin has served as editor of the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, the official publication of the International Society for heart and Lung Transplantation. He is listed among “The Best Doctors in America,” and as one of the “best doctors” in cardiac surgery by Good Housekeeping, American Health and other publications.

A graduate of The Ohio State University and Harvard Medical School, Kirklin trained at Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, as well as UAB. He joined the faculty in 1981, performing congenital and adult cardiothoracic surgery.

The Kirklin family name has become a symbol of dedication to medicine. James Kirklin is the son of the late John W. Kirklin, MD, the lauded cardiothoracic surgeon who joined UAB in 1966 as chairman of the Department of Surgery and Surgeon-In-Chief for UAB Hospital. He was most noted for revolutionizing cardiovascular surgery through his development and refinement of the heart-lung machine.

James Kirklin’s mother also was a physician and director of the surgeon’s assistant program at UAB, and his grandfather served as director of radiology at Mayo Clinic. Kirklin’s son is a medical student at UAB.

Bland also announced that David C. McGiffin, MD, professor of surgery, will serve as deputy division director. McGiffin is an internationally recognized expert in heart and lung transplantation as well as cardiac revascularization and the management of cardiac vascular disease. He received his medical degree from the University of Queensland Medical School in Australia, and subsequently underwent cardiothoracic training at The Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane, Australia. After establishing a heart transplant program in Brisbane, McGiffin joined the UAB Thoracic Transplant Team in 1993.

Media Contact:
Tracy Bischoff
(205) 934-8935
E-mail: tracy@uab.edu