Honoring Scott M. Bradley MD

The Department of Surgery is delighted to recognize and honor Scott  Bradley, M.D., a gifted surgeon and inaugural chair-holder of the Robert M. Sade, M.D. Endowed Chair in Pediatric Cardiac Surgery.

Scott M. Bradley, M.D. holds the position of Professor of Surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. Bradley was born in Palo Alto, California, the oldest of three brothers. Dr. Bradley grew up in California, England and Northern Virginia.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in 1980, and spent a year doing cellular immunology research at the NIH.He graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1985. He received postgraduate training in general surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and spent two additional  years as a research fellow in fetal and cardiovascular surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Bradley received cardiothoracic surgical training at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.  He then completed a fellowship in pediatric cardiac surgery with Dr. Edward Bove at the University of Michigan.

In 1995, Dr. Bradley was recruited by Dr. Fred A. Crawford Jr. to join the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery as a pediatric and congenital heart surgeon. Dr. Bradley carries out the full range of pediatric and congenital heart operations, specializing in staged surgical palliation for single ventricle heart defects, aortic valve repair, the Ross procedure, and pulmonary artery unifocalization. 

He is a member of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the Congenital Heart Surgeons Society, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association, and the American Surgical Association. He is an associate editor for Congenital Heart Surgery of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. Dr. Bradley’s primary professional goal has been to develop a collegial team which provides the population of South Carolina with pediatric cardiac surgical outcomes which are equivalent to, or better than anywhere in the world.

For the last 5 years, MUSC Children’s Hospital has consistently received a 3-star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Congenital Heart Surgery Database. The 3-star rating denotes excellent outcomes with low operative mortality, and is achieved by less than 10% of pediatric cardiac programs. In the US News and World Report annual ranking of pediatric cardiac programs, the MUSC Children’s Heart Program most recently ranked #7 nationally.

These recognitions are amazing tributes to our gifted and talented surgeons, Dr. Scott Bradley, his associate, Dr. Minoo Kavarana, and to the entire MUSC Pediatric Cardiac Program Team. 

The MUSC Pediatric Cardiac Team is truly multidisciplinary: it consists of a close-knit group of pediatric cardiac care providers in the areas of surgery, cardiology, anesthesia, nursing, perfusion, pharmacy, respiratory therapy, dietary, play therapy, and others.  

MUSC belongs to the Children’s Heart Center of South Carolina, a statewide network of pediatric cardiologists providing coordinated care for all congenital heart patients in South Carolina. The support of the pediatric cardiology groups around the state has been critical to our program’s ongoing success. 

This team compassionately cares for children and their families who find themselves in the most dire of situations. Any family hopes for the best possible quality of life for its children. Families seek out MUSC knowing that they are in the right place at the right time.  

“It is both a pleasure and a privilege to be a member of such an outstanding team, and to be able to provide top notch care to the pediatric cardiac patients of our state,” said Dr. Bradley. 

The program’s care also transcends the state of South Carolina and the nation’s borders to include more than 50 children from across the globe. By participating in the Gift of Life program, we have operated on children from around the world, including Mongolia, Bosnia, Nigeria and Vietnam, to offer children with heart defects a second chance at life.