Dr. Joanna Chikwe
Assistant Professor
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery
The Mount Sinai Medical Center
New York, NY 10029
212-659-6800

Dr. Joanna Chikwe received her medical education at Oxford University in England. She completed her internship under Professor Sir Peter Morris at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and her residency in general surgery at the Cambridge University Hospitals under Professor Sir Roy Calne. She completed her residency in cardiothoracic surgery at the Royal Brompton Hospital and Harefield in London, followed by a fellowship under Dr. David H. Adams at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. In addition she took time away from clinical training to conduct research into cardiac transplantation for which she received a Masters degree from Cambridge University.

Dr. Chikwe’s clinical interests include most aspects of cardiac valve surgery, with particular emphasis on minimally invasive techniques, and mitral and tricuspid valve reconstruction. In addition to an extended advanced fellowship focusing on mitral and aortic valve reconstruction, Dr. Chikwe’s training included over two years of off-pump and robotic and video-assisted surgery in London, as well as a period at the Heart Centre in Leipzig under Dr. Friedrich Mohr who has pioneered minimally invasive mitral valve repair. Working with Dr. Adams and Dr. Anyanwu, Dr. Chikwe is developing the Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery Program so that the benefits of minimally invasive surgery can be offered to more patients.

Dr. Chikwe is one of a handful of US surgeons with advanced training in both reconstructive valve surgery and minimally invasive cardiac surgery techniques. She works closely with a dedicated plastic surgery and anesthesiology team with a specialist interest in minimally invasive cardiac surgery. Her interests include using valve repair to preserve natural valve tissue wherever possible, using smaller incisions wherever possible to improve recovery, as well as off-pump surgery to avoid cardiopulmonary bypass for selected coronary bypass procedures.

Dr. Joanna Chikwe performing heart valve surgery with Dr. David Adams

Dr. Chikwe is the author of three key surgical textbooks, including Cardiothoracic Surgery published by Oxford University Press (view the whole book at Google Books); she has also published several book chapters and articles on minimally invasive cardiac surgery. Dr. Chikwe is also active in clinical research, authoring over fifty scientific articles or abstracts published in peer-reviewed journals or presented at international scientific meetings. Her major research interests are coronary microvascular dysfunction after stenting, and tricuspid valve repair. Her international awards include a Fulbright Award, and the Society of Great Britain Cardiac Surgery Award. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.

Curriculum Vitae: View PDF