David J. Kaczorowski, MD

Dr. Kaczorowski received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed an internship and residency in general surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, followed by fellowships in cardiothoracic surgery, advanced heart failure and advanced adult cardiac surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. Following his training, Dr. Kaczorowski entered private practice in Pennsylvania before joining the faculty at the University of Maryland in 2017. During his time in Maryland, Dr. Kaczorowski served as Director of Cardiac Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support. Recruited to UPMC in 2020, Dr. Kaczorowski continues to be a national clinical and academic leader in single and combined organ cardiothoracic transplant, mechanical circulatory support, ventricular assist devices, and the cutting edge of the field in donation-after-cardiac-death transplantation and basic/translational xenotransplantation research. He is the principal investigator on several research projects, including a grant for pre-clinical exploration of a novel ventricular assist device from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and holds numerous U.S. patents. Under Dr. Kaczorowski's leadership, the heart transplantation program has recently performed the first successful donation-after-cardiac death heart transplant in the state of Pennsylvania; the first combined donation-after-cardiac-death heart/kidney transplant reported in the United States; and is currently the highest volume heart transplant program in the state of Pennsylvania in calendar year 2023. Since his recruitment to UPMC, the program has achieved a 0% 90-day mortality and 98% 1-year survival of patients undergoing isolated heart transplant, performing far better than national benchmarks. Dr. Kaczorowski also serves as the Program Director of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery ACGME Integrated Residency and Independent Fellowship programs.