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Physician Profile

412-692-5218 Phone

412-692-5817 Fax

Victor O. Morell, MD

Job Title Chief, Division of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery

Job Title Co-Director, Heart Center, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC

Job Title Co-Director, UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute

Job Title Vice Chair & Director of Cardiovascular Services, UPMC Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery

Job Title Associate Professor of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Job Title Associate Program Director, Thoracic Surgery Residency, University of Pittsburgh

Division of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery

4401 Penn Avenue, Suite Floor 3

Pittsburgh, PA 15224

412-692-5218 Phone

412-692-5817 Fax

Email victor.morell@chp.edu

Patient Appointment Information

Education and Training

Medical School:	1988 Ponce School of Medicine, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Residency:	1993 General Surgery Residency, Robert Packer Hospital/Guthrie Clinic, Sayre, PA 1996 Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency, University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Boston, MA
Fellowship:	1996 Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship, Children's Hospital Boston, MA 1997 Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship, Great Ormond Hospital for Sick Children, London, U.K.

Memberships

2004 Congenital Heart Surgeons Society
2003 The Southern Thoracic Surgical Association
2002 PanAmerican Medical Association of Florida

Board Certifications

American Board of Surgery
American Board of Thoracic Surgery

Publications

Experience with bovine pericardium for the reconstruction of the aortic arch in patients undergoing a Norwood procedure.
Morell VO, Wearden PA
Ann Thorac Surg

Biography Summary

Victor O. Morell, MD, who joined Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh as chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery in 2004, is a skilled surgeon, administrator, researcher and educator. In May 2011, Dr. Morell was appointed co-director of the UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute, He also serves as vice chair and director of cardiovascular services for the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery.

He was recruited from Children's Hospital of Tampa, Fla., where he served as chief of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery and director of the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit from 2000 to 2004. Under his leadership, the pediatric cardiovascular program became the largest in Florida.

As an educator, he serves as associate professor of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and is involved in training cardiothoracic residents at the university and Allegheny General Hospital. In Florida, he was influential in providing residents and fellows with a pediatric cardiac intensive care rotation at Children's Hospital of Tampa by build relationships with the University of South Florida and University of Florida.

In the laboratory, Dr. Morell is co-investigator of a National Institutes of Health-funded research initiative to develop an implantable ventricular assist device suitable for use in infants and children. He also is involved in clinical studies related to pediatric cardiothoracic surgery with expertise in the management of complex transposition of the great arteries with a ventricular septal defect and pulmonary stenosis.

Dr. Morell earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Purdue University and earned his medical degree from the Ponce School of Medicine, Ponce, Puerto Rico. He completed his surgical residency at Robert Packer Hospital-Guthrie Clinic in Sayre, Pa., where he was chief surgical resident in his final year. He completed his cardiothoracic residency at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. He also completed fellowships in cardiothoracic surgery at Children's Hospital Boston and at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London, England, before joining the medical staff at Children's Hospital of Tampa. In Tampa, Dr. Morell received the Pediatric Specialist of the Year award in 2001.

He has published more than two dozen peer-reviewed manuscripts in scientific journals and has presented numerous abstracts at national meetings. Dr. Morell is board-certified in general surgery and in thoracic surgery.

Last Update
June 24, 2011

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