A photo of James S. Tweddell.

Executive Co-Director, Heart Institute

Director, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Heart Institute

Professor, UC Department of Surgery

513-803-8824

Board Certified

Best Doctors logo

My Biography & Research

Biography

Dr. Tweddell leads the Heart Institute’s surgical team providing unparalleled surgical care and innovation for our patients and their families. Over the last 20 years, he built the pediatric cardiothoracic surgery program at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where he held the S. Bert Litwin Chair for Cardiothoracic Surgery position, served as medical director of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and professor and chief for the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery. Dr. Tweddell has an extensive list of vital research contributions, having authored more than 125 peer reviewed articles, published numerous books, chapters, invited reviews and editorials, and serving on multiple editorial boards and national committees.

Dr. Tweddell is the elite surgeon of his generation and has earned a worldwide reputation for outstanding clinical results based on team contributions to his outcomes. He decreased mortality following the Norwood procedure through the use of venous saturation monitoring and afterload reduction. In addition, Dr. Tweddell reduced interstage mortality of a single ventricle patient through the development of a home monitoring program.

Clinical Interests

Surgical emphases include congenital heart surgery in neonates, infants, children, teenagers and adults. Heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support.

Research Interests

Developing reliable and reproducible evidence-based perioperative management strategies to improve survival and developmental outcomes; novel monitoring techniques such as continuous venous oximetry and near infrared spectroscopy. 

Academic Affiliation

Professor, UC Department of Surgery

Divisions

Heart, Heart Failure, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Lung Transplant, Fetal Heart Program, Heart, Cardiothoracic Surgery



Blog Posts

A New Kind of Clot Blocker

Heart and Lung

A New Kind of Clot Blocker

James S. Tweddell, MD, Joseph S. Palumbo, MD6/30/2019

My Locations

My Education

MD: University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 1985.

Residency: Intern and Second Year Resident in General Surgery, New York Medical Center, New York, NY, 1987.

Residency: Research Fellow in Cardiothoracic Surgery, Washington University Medical Center, St. Louis, MO, 1989.

Residency: Senior Resident and Chief Resident in General Surgery, Washington University Medical Center, St. Louis, MO, 1991.

Residency: Resident in Cardiothoracic Surgery, Washington University Medical Center, St. Louis, MO, 1993.

Fellowship: Fellow in Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery, Washington University Medical Center, St. Louis, MO, 1993.

My Publications

The reality of limping to pediatric heart transplantation. Riggs, KW; Zafar, F; Lorts, A; Chin, C; III, BR; Tweddell, JS; Morales, DL S. Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. 2020; 159:2418-2425.e1.

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitor Prescription for Patients With Single Ventricle Physiology Enrolled in the NPC-QIC Registry. Hansen, JE; Brown, DW; Hanke, SP; Bates, KE; Tweddell, JS; Hill, G; Anderson, JB. Journal of the American Heart Association : Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease. 2020; 9.

Norwood Procedure—Difficulty in Weaning From Cardiopulmonary Bypass and Implications for Outcomes. Gellings, JA; Johnson, WK; Ghanayem, NS; Mitchell, M; Tweddell, J; Hoffman, G; Hraska, V; Kuhn, EM; Woods, RK. Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. 2020; 32:119-125.

Identification of Time-Dependent Risks of Hemodynamic States After Stage 1 Norwood Palliation. Hoffman, GM; Scott, JP; Ghanayem, NS; Stuth, EA; Mitchell, ME; Woods, RK; Hraska, V; Niebler, RA; Bertrandt, RA; Mussatto, KA; et al. (2020) Elsevier BV. 109:155-162.

Myocardium and Development. Robbins, J; James, J. In: Wernovsky G; Anderson RH; Krishna K; Mussato KA; Redington A; Tweddell JS; Tretter J, Ed. Anderson's Pediatric Cardiology. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2019.

Prevalence of Congenital Cardiac Disease. Alsaied, T; McCrindle, BW. In: Wernovsky G; Anderson RH; Krishna K; Mussato KA; Redington A; Tweddell JS; Tretter J, Ed. Anderson's Pediatric Cardiology. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2019.

Surgical Techniques. Bryant III, R; Reagor, JA; Hoffman, GM; Tweddell, J. In: Wernovsky G; Anderson RH; Krishna K; Mussato KA; Redington A; Tweddell JS; Tretter J, Ed. Anderson's Pediatric Cardiology. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2019.

Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Youth. Khoury, M; Hayman, L; Urbina, E. In: Wernonvsky G; Anderson RH; Krishna K; Mussato KA; Redington A; Tweddell J; Tretter J, Ed. Anderson's Pediatric Cardiology. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2019.

Anomalous Systemic Venous Return. Gupta, SK; Spicer, DE; Anderson, RH; Moore, RA. In: Wernovsky G; Anderson RH; Krishna K; Mussato KA; Redington A; Tweddell JS; Tretter J, Ed. Anderson's Pediatric Cardiology. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2019.

Interatrial Communication. Redington, AN; Anderson, RH; Spicer, DE. In: Wernovsky G; Anderson RH; Krishna K; Mussato KA; Redington A; Tweddell J; Tretter J, Ed. Anderson's Pediatric Cardiology. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2019.