Mark S. Slaughter
BSCE 1982
Chair of the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery
University of Louisville
"Every day strive to make a difference and learn something new."
Mark Slaughter completed his BS in Civil Engineering at Purdue University, concentrating on Structural Engineering in 1982 while also completing all requirements for medical school.
Mark then completed medical school at Indiana University, general surgery at Northwestern Medical Center, and his cardiothoracic training at the University of Minnesota. While at the University of Minnesota, Mark started working on developing mechanical solutions for cardiovascular disease. Mark credits his engineering training at Purdue which taught him problem solving and team building. This has allowed him to develop models of heart failure leading to the design and development of multiple mechanical heart pumps, total artificial hearts, and catheter-based devices.
As the Chair of the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at the University of Louisville and position as Adjunct faculty in Engineering, Mark has developed a culture of collaboration with the University of Louisville School of Engineering that builds teams that concentrate on “bench to bedside” research. This team approach has generated 35 patents and invention disclosures and $55 million in translational research funding.
Mark has served for six years on the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee for the Department of Health and Human Services and is a Consultant to the Food and Drug Administration Circulatory Systems Devices panel. Committed to education, Mark also started the Pulse of Surgery program which streams live heart surgery to middle and high school students at the Kentucky Science Center to teach them about healthy living and future careers in medical fields.
Mark has served as the President of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs, the President of the International Society of Rotary Blood Pumps, and served as the Editor in Chief of the ASAIO Journal for over 11 years. However, Mark has said, the best decision he ever made was marrying Martha Winans and his greatest achievements are his three children: Jack, Katie, and Ian.