Hinsdale, Ill. — Scott Schlidt, M.D., a veteran heart surgeon renowned for performing “beating heart” surgery, has joined UChicago Medicine AdventHealth as leader and primary surgeon for the cardiovascular service line.
Schlidt, a board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon, assumed his new role July 1 and will work out of the Hinsdale hospital location. His leadership and expertise will further enhance the world-class cardiovascular services offered throughout UChicago Medicine AdventHealth’s community hospitals in Hinsdale, Bolingbrook, La Grange and Glendale Heights, as part of a cardiovascular partnership that grew out AdventHealth and the University of Chicago Medicine’s joint venture in January 2023.
Schlidt brings decades of experience to UChicago Medicine AdventHealth, having performed 150 to 200 open-heart surgeries annually in the Milwaukee area for the last 20 years.
“Our UChicago Medicine cardiovascular team provides an incredibly high level of quality care to our patients, collaborating closely with cardiologists and primary-care physicians across our region,” said Jessica Paisker, executive director of Cardiovascular Services at UChicago Medicine AdventHealth. “The team has taken us to a new level with cardiovascular surgery and other heart services, and Dr. Schlidt’s arrival will further differentiate our program, allowing us to expand it and take it to new heights.”
Previously, Schlidt worked at Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital - Milwaukee, where he led the consolidation of cardiovascular surgery services for Ascension’s southern Wisconsin service area. He is an expert in beating-heart surgery, or off-pump surgery, a technique performed without using a heart-lung bypass machine and stopping the heart. Beating-heart surgery reduces the risk of complications, shortens hospital stays and helps patients recover faster.
“I perform 100% of my coronary surgeries off-pump,” Schlidt said. “I have been a huge believer throughout my career that it is truly better for patients. Intuitively, it makes sense. The vast majority of complications that arise from coronary surgery are due to the body’s adverse reactions to the bypass circuit. By eliminating this one factor, the requirements for blood transfusion, along with stroke risk, renal failure rates, time to discharge and recovery time, are all significantly reduced.”
With the addition of Schlidt, the Hinsdale cardiovascular surgical team now includes five UChicago Medicine surgeons: Christopher Salerno, M.D., a cardiac surgeon and researcher who also serves as director of Adult Cardiac Surgery and as surgical director of its Heart Transplant and Mechanical Assist Device Program; Valluvan Jeevanandam, M.D., who specializes in the surgical treatment of heart failure and high-risk cardiac surgery and is director of the Heart and Vascular Center and chief of the Section of Cardiac Surgery; David Onsager, M.D., a thoracic surgeon who specializes in heart and lung transplants; and Takeyoshi Ota, M.D., a surgeon and researcher who specializes in the surgical treatment of aortic disease.
Salerno and Jeevanandam have served as co-leads of cardiovascular surgery services at the Hinsdale hospital since UChicago Medicine and AdventHealth launched their cardiovascular partnership last October. After Schlidt assumes leadership of the program, Salerno and Jeevanandam will remain available on an on-call basis for surgeries at the hospital, filling in for Schlidt when he is not available and assisting him with complex surgeries when necessary, Paisker said.
Known internationally for their experience in treating the most challenging cardiac conditions, UChicago Medicine’s cardiovascular surgeons also are involved in research to develop new and better treatments. “That differentiates UChicago Medicine AdventHealth by allowing our patients, especially those with complex conditions, to benefit from the latest research-based advances,” Paisker said.
The cardiovascular partnership between UChicago Medicine and AdventHealth, she added, gives patients across our hospitals direct access to advanced surgical therapies such as beating-heart surgery and TAVR (transcatheter aortic valve replacement) at the Hinsdale hospital without having to travel to Chicago. Patients with heart failure also can benefit from a heart failure clinic that Gene Kim, M.D., a UChicago Medicine cardiovascular disease specialist and researcher, leads at the Hinsdale hospital.
UChicago Medicine AdventHealth patients also have access to direct transfers to UChicago Medicine’s Heart and Vascular Center for higher-level care, and they can benefit from UChicago Medicine’s ability to leverage its industry relationships.
With UChicago Medicine’s support, UChicago Medicine AdventHealth is committed to growing and enhancing its cardiovascular program, said Paisker, who expects cardiac surgery volume at the Hinsdale hospital to grow to about 250 cases a year. “Because of our partnership with UChicago Medicine, we now can offer the highest level of open-heart surgery services to our patients – right in their backyard,” Paisker said.
