Assistant Professor

Areas of Interest
adult cardiac surgery, surgical critical care, ECMO

Clinical Assistant Professor

Areas of Interest
adult heart and lung surgery (coronary bypass, heart valve, and aneurysm surgery), minimally invasive heart and lung surgery (TAVR procedure), lung cancer surgery, surgical diseases of the chest wall and lung

Professor
Chief, Section of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery
Director, Fourth Year Medical Student Clerkship
A.D. Pacifico, M.D., Endowed Chair of Cardiovascular Surgery

Areas of Interest
pediatric cardiac surgery, quality improvement and outcomes research

Professor
Director, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery
John W. Kirklin Endowed Chair of Cardiovascular Surgery
Surgical Director, Cardiovascular Operating Room
Director, UAB Cardiovascular Institute

Areas of Interest
adult cardiac surgery, cardiac valvular disease, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, outcomes research

Associate Professor
Section Chief, Thoracic Surgery
James H. Estes Family Endowed Chair for Lung Cancer Research in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB

Areas of Interest
lung and esophageal cancer surgery, chest wall surgery, tracheal resection and reconstruction, mediastinal tumors, outcomes research, airway disorders, lung cancer, esophageal cancer, lung nodules, mediastinal tumors, chest wall tumors, malignant pleural effusions, pneumothorax, esophageal disease (benign)

Assistant Professor
Program Director, Advanced Aortic and Endovascular Surgery Fellowship
Medical Director, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery

Areas of Interest
aortic aneurysmal disease, aortic dissection, aortic valve repair and valve sparring aortic root replacement, aortic stent grafting and endovascular aneurysm repair (TEVAR), minimally invasive valve repair, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR)

Professor
Vice Chair, Basic Research
UAB Cardiovascular Surgical Research Endowed Chair

Areas of Interest
immune regulation of post-transplant vascular disease and allograft rejection, transplantation and heart failure outcomes research

Assistant Professor

Areas of Interest
congenital heart disease, neonatal cardiac surgery, single ventricle palliation, heart transplantation, adult congenital heart disease, quality improvement, clinical outcomes research.

Professor Emeritus

Areas of Interest
adult cardiac surgery, surgery for heart failure, mechanical circulatory support and surgery for heart failure, surgical education

Associate Professor
Chief, Section of Adult Cardiac Surgery

Areas of Interest
coronary artery disease, minimally invasive treatment of atrial fibrillation, lung cancer, esophageal cancer, aortic valve surgery, mitral valve and tricuspid valve repair, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), atrial septal defects, disorders of the thymus gland, chest tumors, saphenous vein harvest, pericardial effusions

Assistant Professor

Areas of Interest
mechanical circulatory support, ventricular assist devices, heart transplant, adult cardiac surgery, vascular and endovascular surgery

Assistant Professor

Areas of Interest
complex congenital heart disease, neonatal cardiac surgery, single ventricle palliation, heart transplantation, pediatric mechanical circulatory support, adult congenital heart disease, valve repair, pediatric cardiac critical care, surgical outcomes research

Assistant Professor

Section Chief of Cardiac Surgery, Birmingham VA
Head of UAB Robotic CABG Program

Areas of Interest
adult cardiac surgery, aortic aneurysm and dissection repair, aortic valve repair, valvular heart disease, coronary artery bypass grafting, minimally invasive coronary artery bypass grafting, outcomes research

Clinical Assistant Professor

Areas of Interest
Adult cardiac surgery - coronary artery bypass grafting, heart valve repair/replacement, aneurysm repair surgery, robotic-assisted/open thoracic surgery, lung cancer surgery

Associate Professor
Associate Program Director, Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency

Areas of Interest
coronary artery bypass grafting, valve reconstructive surgery, robotic cardiac surgery, transcatheter valve therapies, arrhythmia surgery, surgical education and mentorship

Professor

Heart, Mechanical Circulatory Support and Lung Transplant Chief

Areas of Interest 
Complex redo cardiac surgery, left ventricular aneurysm repair, mechanical circulatory support, heart transplantation, lung transplantation, donation after circulatory death donors, early management and hormonal replacement therapy

Biography

 Dr. Rajamiyer Venkateswaran, also known as Dr. Venkat, joined the faculty of the UAB Department of Surgery as a Professor in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery in 2025.

Before coming to UAB, Dr. Venkateswaran practiced and taught at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester, UK. He served as the Clinical Director for Cardiac Surgery and Transplantation and managed two cardiac surgery units in this role. He served as the Director of Heart & Lung Transplantation since 2015 and maintained the activity levels to 50-60 transplants a year. He also served as the consultant of cardiac surgery and heart and lung transplantation, the Honorary Clinical Chair for the University of Manchester, and the Chair of the Cardiothoracic Transplant Advisory Group (CTAG-UK).

Dr. Venkateswaran completed his medical degree and post-graduate training in general surgery in India and he moved to the UK for further education and training. He completed his fellowship examination and was awarded FRCS-General by Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He started his cardiac surgical training initially at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge and later in the West Midlands training program. He was board certified in cardiothoracic surgery by the intercollegiate examination board and was awarded FRCS-CTh. He completed an advanced fellowship in heart and lung transplantation and mechanical support at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, UK.

His research interests include the role of early management and hormonal replacement therapy in potential heart and lung donors (largest prospective randomised trial on donors) and heart transplantation from donation after circulatory death (DCD) donors. He has been involved in furthering the development of heart failure, transplantation, and left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implants in India and Taiwan.

Select Publications

Enhancing the implantation of mechanical circulatory support devices using computational simulations. Lopez-Santana G, De Rosis A, Grant S, Venkateswaran R, Keshmiri A.Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2024 Apr 25;12:1279268. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1279268. eCollection 2024.

Clinical-radiological-pathological correlation in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Condliffe R, Durrington C, Hameed A, Lewis RA, Venkateswaran R, Gopalan D, Dorfmüller P.Eur Respir Rev. 2023 Dec 20;32(170):230138.

A national pilot of donation after circulatory death (DCD) heart transplantation within the United Kingdom. Messer S, Rushton S, Simmonds L, Macklam D, Husain M, Jothidasan A, Large S, Tsui S, Kaul P, Baxter J, Osman M, Mehta V, Russell D, Stock U, Dunning J, Saez DG, Venkateswaran R, Curry P, Ayton L, Mukadam M, Mascaro J, Simmonds J, Macgowan G, Clark S, Jungschleger J, Reinhardt Z, Quigley R, Speed J, Parameshwar J, Jenkins D, Watson S, Marley F, Ali A, Gardiner D, Rubino A, Whitney J, Beale S, Slater C, Currie I, Armstrong L, Foley J, Ryan M, Gibson S, Quinn K, Macleod AM, Spence S, Watson CJE, Catarino P, Clarkson A, Forsythe J, Manas D, Berman M.J Heart Lung Transplant. 2023 Aug;42(8):1120-1130.

Morphologically intact airways in lung fibrosis have an abnormal proteome. Herrera JA, Dingle LA, Monetero MA, Venkateswaran RV, Blaikley JF, Granato F, Pearson S, Lawless C, Thornton DJ.Respir Res. 2023 Apr 1;24(1):99. doi: 10.1186/s12931-023-02400-x.

Risk Prediction Models for Long-Term Survival after Cardiac Surgery: A Systematic Review. Argus L, Taylor M, Ouzounian M, Venkateswaran R, Grant SW.Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2023 Feb 7. doi: 10.1055/s-0043-1760747.

An early evaluation of the HISTO SPOT® AB ID Class I & II test in cardiothoracic transplant patients. Cashin J, Flynn P, Worthington J, Lowe M, Canterbury A, Launhardt K, Crosby I, Sheldon S, Venkateswaran R, Poulton K. Int J Immunogenet. 2022 Oct;49(5):317-324. doi: 10.1111/iji.12595. Epub 2022 Aug 21.

The UIP/IPF fibroblastic focus is a collagen biosynthesis factory embedded in a distinct extracellular matrix. Herrera JA, Dingle L, Montero MA, Venkateswaran RV, Blaikley JF, Lawless C, Schwartz MA.JCI Insight. 2022 Aug 22;7(16):e156115. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.156115.

Axillary intra-aortic balloon pump, biventricular assist device implantation and subsequent orthotopic heart transplantation in a patient with sickle cell trait. Taylor M, Mouyer Z, Callan P, Shaw S, Venkateswaran R, Nwaejike N.J Surg Case Rep. 2022 Jun 18;2022(6):rjac260. doi: 10.1093/jscr/rjac260. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation used as an adjunct in the surgical management of acquired and iatrogenic tracheobronchial pathology. Eadington T, Taylor M, Shah R, Granato F, Venkateswaran R, Szentgyorgyi L.Minerva Surg. 2022 Dec;77(6):542-549. doi: 10.23736/S2724-5691.22.09314-5. Epub 2022 Mar 1.

A multicentre review comparing long term outcomes of endoscopic vein harvesting versus open vein harvesting for coronary artery bypass surgery. Krishnamoorthy B, Zacharias J, Critchley WR, Rochon M, Stalpinskaya I, Rajai A, Venkateswaran RV, Raja SG, Bahrami T.NIHR Open Res. 2021 Jul 8;1:11. doi: 10.3310/nihropenres.13215.1.

Surgical aortic valve replacement in the era of transcatheter aortic valve implantation: a review of the UK national database. Jahangiri M, Bilkhu R, Embleton-Thirsk A, Dehbi HM, Mani K, Anderson J, Avlonitis V, Baghai M, Birdi I, Booth K, Bose A, Briffa N, Buchan K, Bhudia S, Cale A, Deglurkar I, Farid S, Hadjinikolaou L, Jarvis M, Javadpour SH, Jeganathan R, Kuduvalli M, Lall K, Mascaro J, Mehta D, Ohri S, Punjabi P, Venkateswaran R, Ridley P, Satur C, Stoica S, Trivedi U, Zaidi A, Yiu P, Moorjani N, Kendall S, Freemantle N.BMJ Open. 2021 Oct 28;11(10):e046491. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046491.

Management of ganciclovir resistance cytomegalovirus infection with CMV hyperimmune globulin and leflunomide in seven cardiothoracic transplant recipients and literature review. Santhanakrishnan K, Yonan N, Iyer K, Callan P, Al-Aloul M, Venkateswaran R.Transpl Infect Dis. 2022 Feb;24(1):e13733. doi: 10.1111/tid.13733. Epub 2021 Oct 5.

Traversing the Learning Curve Associated with a New Minimal Access Aortic Valve Replacement Service. Taylor M, Low J, Apparau D, Mehta V, Venkateswaran R.Braz J Cardiovasc Surg. 2021 Oct 17;36(5):648-655. doi: 10.21470/1678-9741-2020-0436.

Financial implications of using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation following heart transplantation. Krishnamoorthy B, Mehta V, Critchley W, Callan P, Shaw S, Venkateswaran R.Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg. 2021 Apr 19;32(4):625-631. doi: 10.1093/icvts/ivaa307.

Prolongation of time from brain death to retrieval is beneficial to the donor heart. Dark JH, Mehew J, Venkateswaran R.J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2021 Apr;161(4):e311-e312. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2020.06.127. Epub 2020 Nov 17.

Education

Medical School
University of Madras Chengalpattu Medical School, India - MBBS

Post-Graduation
Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER) - M.S.
University of Birmingham - M.D.

Residency
Cardiothoracic Surgery - West Midlands Training Program - Birmingham, UK

Fellowship
Heart and Lung Transplantation / Mechanical Circulatory Support - Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, UK

Contact

Phone
Patient Appointments and Questions: 205-975-9200

Email
rvvenkateswaran@uabmc.edu

Professor
Program Director, Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency

Areas of Interest
robotic-assisted and video-assisted thoracic surgery, lung and esophageal cancer surgery, gastroesophageal reflux disease, paraesophageal hernias, esophageal motility disorders

Assistant Professor

Areas of Interest
optimizing health care delivery systems, evaluating comparative effectiveness of surgical interventions, statistics, econometrics, simulation modeling, clinical outcomes research