Weill Cornell Medicine, USA
Dr. Charles Mack is an Attending Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Associate Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Vice Chair for Quality in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at The New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medicine and the Associate Program Director of The New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Thoracic Surgery Residency Program.
He serves as Director of Cardiovascular Services, Director of the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care
Unit and Surgical Director of Structural Heart Disease at New York Presbyterian-Queens. Dr.
Mack completed his undergraduate studies at Fordham University and graduated from Tufts
University School of Medicine. He completed his general surgery residency at New York
Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medicine. During this time, he also completed a 2-year
research fellowship studying gene therapy applications for cardiovascular disease in
collaboration with the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Department of
Cardiothoracic Surgery. This work laid the foundation for the first clinical trial evaluating
human gene therapy as a potential treatment for coronary artery disease. He then completed
the cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell
Medicine/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and has served the Department of
Cardiothoracic Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine in various roles since 2001.
As Vice Chairman for Quality for three Weill Cornell cardiothoracic programs, he has
championed standardization of the highest quality care for cardiac surgery patients. In addition to serving as CTICU Director, he led the implementation of the TAVR and ECMO/Shock
programs at NYP-Queens, adapting lessons learned from the flagship institution, improving
access to care for one of the most ethnically diverse patient populations in the nation. He has
implemented several ERAS protocols to improve the care and expedite the recovery of patients
after cardiac surgery. This includes a novel high-value care discharge protocol that has resulted
in markedly decreased length of stay and readmissions, and increased discharge to home in the aforementioned underserved patient population and more recently virtual cardiac rehab.
Research and innovation are paramount to the mission of continuing to improve patient care.
To this end, he has facilitated the participation of our regional hospitals in several international
multicenter trials, including ROMA-WOMEN and RECHARGE. He also has been involved in the
launch of the AATS Quality Gateway. As associate program director of the cardiothoracic
residency program and director of simulation, he is committed to finding methods to better train and mentor future leaders in cardiothoracic surgery.
Dr. Mack’s interests include all aspects of adult cardiac surgery. His primary areas of focus
are outcomes and quality in adult cardiac surgery, critical care and perioperative management,
mechanical support, TAVR and resident education. Dr. Mack is a member of several medical
and surgical societies, including the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the Society of
Thoracic Surgeons, the European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery, Enhanced Recovery
after Cardiac Surgery Society, Thoracic Surgery Directors Association, Eastern Cardiothoracic
Surgical Society, The New York Society for Thoracic Surgery, American College of Surgeons,
the American Heart Association and the Andrew Morrow Society. His many publications in
multiple areas of cardiothoracic surgery have been presented at various national and
international meetings.