Burnette School of Medicine at TCU, Texas Health Resources, USA
Dr. Moritz C. Wyler von Ballmoos is a Full Professor of Cardiovascular, the System Chair of Cardiovascular &
Thoracic Surgery for Texas Health Resources, and the Physician Executive Chair of the Heart & Vascular
Service Line at Texas Health Harris Methodist, Fort Worth.
In his current role, he has been leading a system-level transformation in heart and vascular care, growing the
cardiac surgery program volume by 26%, while cutting readmission rates in half, and reducing LOS by an
average of 3 days across all procedural categories. Under his leadership, a comprehensive minimally invasive
cardiac surgery program (offering CABG, valve, and aortic surgery using a minimally invasive approach), an
ERAS program, and adult congenital heart surgery have been added, Texas Health Resources has received its
first-ever STS 3-star rating, and the mitral valve repair program has achieved repair rates of> 95% for PMR
and >95% freedom from more than mild MR at one year of follow-up.
Dr. Wyler von Ballmoos was born and raised in Bern, Switzerland, where he studied at the University of Bern,
graduating with a medical doctorate and a PhD in cardiovascular physiology. He then completed a
postdoctoral research fellowship at Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital Boston. While in Boston,
he earned an MPH in statistics, epidemiology, and healthcare administration from the Harvard School of
Public Health. Dr. Wyler von Ballmoos completed his general and cardiothoracic surgery training at the
Medical College of Wisconsin and Duke University, including advanced fellowship training in minimally
invasive cardiac surgery, robotic-assisted surgery, and transcatheter therapies for structural heart disease.
Dr. Wyler von Ballmoos is an international contributor and thought leader in the management of valvular
heart disease, mitral valve repair, atrial fibrillation, minimally invasive cardiac surgery, transcatheter
therapies, and quality improvement. He has built a comprehensive, minimally invasive, and robotic cardiac
surgery program at the Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center in Houston, TX. In addition,
he has extensive experience with transcatheter technologies. He has served as a principal investigator,
investigator, and/or reference surgeon for more than 30 clinical trials in the structural heart disease space,
including landmark trials for TAVR and TEER.
Dr. Wyler von Ballmoos holds multiple leadership positions in national societies. He is currently the Chair of
the STS Workforce on Evidence-Based Surgery, the chair of the STS Frailty Task Force for the national
databases, and a member of the STS Research & Analytics Center Oversight Committee. He serves in
numerous other leadership roles for the STS Council on Quality, Research, and Patient Safety that oversees
the STS National Database and its Quality efforts. In this capacity, he has been part of the team establishing
the STS risk models, the STS quality and performance metrics, and its quality initiatives, and has served as a
representative to the National Quality Forum. He is also a member of the ACC Cardiac Surgery Leadership
Council, the EACTS Mitral and Tricuspid Valve Surgery Task Force, and the Chair of the Adult Cardiac Surgery
Program of the Workforce on Annual Meeting for the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
Dr. Wyler von Ballmoos has co-authored 8 book chapters, over 10 clinical practice guidelines or societal
expert consensus documents, and over 200 peer-reviewed papers, including articles in the NEJM, JAMA,
Annals of Internal Medicine, Annals of Thoracic Surgery, JACC, and JTCVS. Some of his recent contributions
include the 2023 STS Clinical Practice Guidelines on Surgical Management of Atrial Fibrillation, the STS Risk
Model for Isolated Tricuspid Valve Surgery, and the evaluation of a fully automated AI model for CT scans in
structural heart interventions. He is the recipient of multiple awards for his research and teaching efforts, a
regularly invited faculty member for national and international meetings such as STS, AATS, EACTS, ISMICS,
CRT, TCT, and a Fellow of the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology. He has
been recognized by the STS Presidential Task Force with the Extraordinary Volunteer Leadership Award
multiple times.
Dr. Wyler von Ballmoos frequently volunteers his knowledge and experience with early-stage medical
technology start-ups and serves on the Medical Board of the EurAsia Heart Foundation, a charitable
organization providing free cardiovascular care, technology, and education in developing countries across the
globe. He regularly leads medical missions to China, India, and Uzbekistan. He has been recognized by the
President of the Republic and the Minister of Health of Uzbekistan for his efforts there with an Honorary
Diploma.