Dr. Damien LaPar, MD

Dr. Damien J. LaPar, MD, is a member of the faculty of McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston and the medical staff affiliated with the Children’s Heart Institute at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital. Dr. LaPar is a professor in the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery as well as the John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Distinguished Chair at UTHealth Houston. In addition, Dr. LaPar is the Chief of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery and the Director of Neonatal Heart Surgery at the Children’s Heart Institute.

Dr. LaPar trained in pediatric heart surgery at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital and is certified by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery in pediatric and congenital cardiac surgery. Recognized as a Super Doctors Rising Star in Cardiac Surgery, he specializes in treating congenital cardiac lesions in patients of all ages with innovative approaches to complex neonatal cardiac reconstructions with complete single-stage repairs, pulmonary artery atresia and stenosis with MAPCA unifocalization, biventricular repair and/or conversion, peripheral pulmonary stenosis, Williams syndrome, Ozaki aortic valve reconstruction and complex aortic valve disease, atrioventricular canal defects, Tetralogy of Fallot, and minimally invasive approaches to pediatric cardiac surgery.

Dr. LaPar is an internationally recognized basic/translational science investigator as well as clinical science researcher, serving as the director of research and academic affairs for the Children’s Heart Institute. His funded congenital heart disease research lab focuses on the investigation of vascular smooth muscle signaling in congenital arteriopathy, as well as the development of innovative myocardial reconditioning and restorative therapies. His focused research includes extensive multi-institutional clinical research collaboratives and clinical trials.