A Vision for the Future of Heart Care: New System Chief Leads Expansion at Jackson Heart Institute and Miami Transplant Institute

By: Krysten Brenlla

Jackson Health System’s new heart surgery leader, Hari Mallidi, MD, FRCSC, FACS, is spearheading expansion at the Jackson Heart Institute and Miami Transplant Institute (MTI). Since its inception more than a century ago, Jackson has evolved into a comprehensive health network, now including seven hospitals, various specialty centers and urgent care facilities, and two long-term care nursing homes. It also houses globally recognized centers like Ryder Trauma Center.

As the new system chief of cardiac surgery, Dr. Mallidi aims to enhance cardiac services across Miami-Dade County. “The opportunity at Jackson to lead not only the heart transplant program, but all of cardiac surgery in a comprehensive team is what attracted me to the position,” he said. “Our job is to serve the community, so with Jackson being a safety net system for all of Miami-Dade and increasingly beyond, the needs of the community span the entire breadth of cardiac services.”

Since its establishment in 1970 as a joint venture with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, MTI has grown into one of the largest organ transplant centers in the world. In 2019, Jackson Heart Institute was launched, quickly becoming South Florida’s most advanced heart program.

Working together with the Jackson Heart Institute’s team of robust interventional cardiologists across the health system, Jackson Medical Group cardiologists in South Florida practices, and transplant surgeons and physicians at MTI, Dr. Mallidi’s vision is to build an even stronger and more specialized program for cardiac medicine, surgery, and heart transplantation that continues to prioritize team communication and collaboration.

“When I think of a cardiac surgical team, I think of the best and brightest physicians,” Dr. Mallidi explained. “Our teams at the Jackson Heart Institute and at MTI are among the best. We want to continue to recruit experts in different areas – coronary disease, aortic disease, congenital disease, and heart transplantation – to collaborate effectively and take good care of our community.”

Thanks to the combination of available tools and experts at Jackson Heart Institute and MTI, as well as Dr. Mallidi’s extensive experience in multidisciplinary cardiac surgery and care, Jackson is uniquely equipped to handle high-risk cardiac cases that other institutions might not accept. “We encourage those who have been declined surgery elsewhere to seek a second opinion from us,” he said. “I’ve already seen many cases of patients who were declined cardiac surgery at other hospitals or facilities. When they came to us at Jackson, we were able to successfully operate and give them their lives back.”

In addition to clinical advancements, Dr. Mallidi is committed to nurturing relationships within the local and regional medical community to enhance patient care. Through vital connections with referring physicians, he is most excited about working with our robust patient community to get them back to a healthy lifestyle. Dr. Mallidi values the human aspect of his work, emphasizing that the opportunity to improve patients’ lives is what motivates him. “We operate on human beings with families, and that’s what keeps me engaged in cardiac surgery,” he explained. “At Jackson, we have the team and the tools needed to give people a chance to get better, to get back on their feet, and to live full and active lives.”

For more information on the Jackson Heart Institute or to schedule an appointment or second opinion consultation with a team of cardiology experts, visit https://cardiology.jacksonhealth.org/.

For more information on the Miami Transplant Institute or to schedule an appointment or second opinion consultation with a multidisciplinary team of transplant experts, visit MiamiTransplant.org.