David L.S. Morales, MD

I am the executive co-director of The Heart Institute and director of cardiothoracic surgery at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. I also serve as professor of pediatrics and surgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and hold the Bailey-Tweddell Chair of Congenital Heart Surgery.

I completed my undergraduate education at Duke University, where I majored in psychiatry, philosophy, and biology, before earning my medical degree from Yale University. I completed my general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery training at New York-Presbyterian Hospital (Columbia University), followed by a congenital heart surgery fellowship as the Emmett Augustus Jones Fellow at Texas Children’s Hospital.

After joining the faculty at Texas Children’s Hospital, I spent nine years helping establish the field of ventricular assist device (VAD) therapy for pediatric and congenital heart disease, achieving several firsts in the discipline. During this period, I founded clinical outcomes and translational research programs, including an animal surgery research laboratory at Rice University, where I served as an adjunct professor in biomedical engineering. In recognition of these efforts, I received the inaugural Mark A. Wallace Catalyst Leadership Award in 2012.

In 2012, I was recruited to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center as Chief of Congenital Heart Surgery and Executive Co-Director of The Heart Institute. Under my leadership, the Cardiothoracic Surgery Research Laboratory has grown into a nationally recognized translational research program, securing multiple competitive grants, including three NIH R01 awards focused on artificial intelligence-driven transplant allocation and perioperative decision-making, mitigation of ischemia-reperfusion injury, and anticoagulation and inflammation in mechanical circulatory support. My research also encompasses tissue engineering and the development of advanced virtual surgical planning and metaverse technologies. Equally important to me is mentoring the next generation of clinician-scientists. To date, our lab have mentored more than 50 medical students, residents, fellows, postdoctoral trainees, and junior faculty.

Clinically, I specialize in complex neonatal and congenital heart surgery, biventricular repair in heterotaxy syndrome, mechanical circulatory support, heart transplantation, and the management of the failing Fontan circulation.

I have authored more than 425 peer-reviewed publications (H-index 65), contributed over 35 book chapters and reviews, presented more than 430 scientific abstracts, and delivered more than 300 invited lectures nationally and internationally. I serve on the editorial boards of leading journals, including The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, and The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, and I am a member of the Executive Board of the Congenital Heart Surgeons' Society.

My current initiatives focus on advancing congenital heart surgery through artificial intelligence, technological innovation, and international collaboration. I co-lead the development of an international virtual surgical planning metaverse and direct the ACCESS Network, a multi-institutional collaboration dedicated to improving access, quality, and outcomes for children with congenital heart disease through coordinated clinical care, research, education, and innovation. Current partner programs include Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital, Akron Children’s Hospital, Golisano Children’s Hospital at the University of Kentucky, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital (Tacoma, Washington), and Sheikh Khalifa Medical City Children’s Hospital (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates).