Michael E. Jessen, M.D. was born and raised in Canada. After graduating from the University of Manitoba School of Medicine in Winnipeg, Canada, he began residency training in General Surgery at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, completing this program in 1986. He then spent two years in the Surgical Research Laboratory of Dr. Andrew Wechsler at Duke University studying myocardial metabolism and the biochemistry of myocardial protection. He was awarded a research fellowship from the Canadian Heart Foundation during this time. In 1988 he was invited to join the Residency Program in Thoracic Surgery at Duke University Medical Center and trained there under the direction of Dr. David C. Sabiston, Jr., completing his residency in 1990. He then joined the faculty of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, where he remains today as Professor and Vice-Chairman. Dr. Jessen directs an active basic research laboratory that has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and the Texas Advanced Technology Program. His research examines myocardial metabolism and the effects of cardiopulmonary bypass and has yielded a broad array of publications in the literature. In 1994 he received the Lyndon Baines Johnson Research Award of the Texas Affiliate of the American Heart Association. Dr. Jessen is the Director of the Residency Program in Thoracic Surgery at UT Southwestern and teaches in the Biomedical Engineering Program at Southwestern Graduate School. He has an active clinical practice that focuses on cardiac surgery, surgical electrophysiology, aortic surgery, and cardiac transplantation.
