Endowed Chairs

Chadrick Denlinger, M.D., Marc R. Katz, M.D., MPH, and Lucian Lozonschi, M.D., all newly named Endowed Chairs in the division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, were honored during an investiture ceremony and dinner in the presence of more than 100 family members, friends, colleagues, and donors at the Country Club of Charleston, on Saturday October 12, 2019.

Prabhakar Baliga, M.D., chair of the Department of Surgery, recognized these three honorees as superb servants to our medical community, broadening the scope and level of care through their innovation and expertise in minimally invasive and robotic approaches to complex surgeries.

Chadrick Denlinger, M.D. is the inaugural Flora McLeod Edwards Distinguished Endowed Chair in Cancer Research, Professor of Surgery and Surgical Director of the Lung Transplant Program at MUSC. He has grown the thoracic surgery program at MUSC through his minimally invasive approaches and serves as a resource to our community through outreach programs in Murrell’s Inlet and Beaufort, impacting cancer care in those communities.

His reputation has grown so significantly in th community that the volume of thoracic surgery has increased by nearly 90% in the past four years.

Marc R. Katz, M.D., MPH is the Fred A. Crawford, Jr. M.D. Endowed Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery, Professor and Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Associate Director, Heart and Vascular Integrated Center of Clinical Excellence, and Co-Director, South Carolina Heart Valve Center. Dr. Katz is the first person to be named to this chair. During his career in adult cardiac surgery, he performed the first combined heart - kidney transplant in the eastern U.S., the first left ventricular assist device in Virginia, and has been a pioneer in minimally invasive and robotic heart surgery.

He is recognized for his expertise by serving on the Society for Thoracic Surgery (STS) robotic surgery task force and teaching the STS robotic heart surgery symposium.Lucian Lozonschi, M.D. is the inaugural John M. Kratz, M.D. Endowed Chair in Cardiac Surgery and Research, Professor of Surgery and Director of Surgical Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation.

Upon joining MUSC in 2017, Lozonschi started implanting left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) using a sternal sparing approach via two small thoracotomy incisions thus bringing MUSC into a small elite group of centers that performs this procedure nationally. Under his leadership, both heart transplant and mechanical-assist device programs have achieved ultimate outcomes. 

In his opening comments, Dr. Baliga acknowledged the significan contributions of Fred Crawford, M.D., Distinguished University Professor and Chair Emeritus.  

Dr. Baliga also acknowledged the many other surgical leaders who have worked behind the scenes to advance the division as well as the countless philanthropic donors that have made the opportunity to present these distinguished faculty members with their Endowed Chairs.