Training for to be a heart surgeon is intense; in fact, becoming a heart surgeon requires 10 years of additional training after completing medical school. As a result, interested medical students won’t learn how to perform heart surgery until after they become hospital residents after graduation. The top medical schools are frequently associated with the best hospitals for heart surgery. Students looking to become heart surgeons should set their sights on these schools and then aim to land residencies at the affiliated hospitals.
Harvard University
Harvard University ranks as the top medical school according to U.S. News & World Report. Two Harvard-affiliated hospitals, Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, also made the U.S. News & World Report’s top 10 list of hospitals for heart surgery. Surgeons from Harvard University learn from a prominent medical community of the Boston area. Centered at the heart of Boston, cardiology prospects learn using cutting-edge technology in medicine often used in medical research.
Johns Hopkins University
According to the U. S. News & World Report, Johns Hopkins University was ranked No. 3 in the overall medical school rankings, and one of the top ranked hospitals for cardiac surgery. Situated in downtown Baltimore, the hospital has a long history as one of the nation’s top teaching hospitals.
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is home to the nation’s first medical school. After a long tradition of excellence, the campus has the second best medical school in the country. The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania also made the top 10 ranking for cardiac surgery by the U.S. News & World Report, and it is a leader in the field.
Case Western Reserve
Although Case Western Reserve is ranked 20th in the rankings put forth by U.S. News & World Report, it’s associated with the nearby Cleveland Clinic, which is a teaching hospital. Regarded world-wide as one of the best hospitals for heart surgery, Cleveland Clinic is at the top of the Forbes' magazine rankings for heart surgery. Residents who study at the Cleveland Clinic will work and learn with some of the world’s top heart surgeons.
Further Cardiology Higher-Education Options
Aside from the previously mentioned heart surgery schools, these higher-education colleges open to new options in cardiology studies. The other hospitals in the U.S. News & World Report top 10 rankings for hospitals for heart surgery are the Mayo Clinic, the Texas Heart Institute, New York Presbyterian, Duke Medical Center and the Ronald Reagan University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) medical center. These hospitals are associated with the respective universities: University of Minnesota, Rice, Cornell and Columbia (both of which work with New York Presbyterian), Duke and UCLA.