Dr. Michael Gaies

Dr. Michael Gaies

Executive Co-Director, Heart Institute
Division Director, Cardiology Kindervelt Samuel Kaplan Chair
Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

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Qualifications

MD: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 2002.

MPH: Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, 2002.

Residency: Pediatrics, Boston Combined Residency in Pediatrics, Boston, MA, 2005.

Chief Residency: Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 2006.

Fellowship: Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Intensive Care, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 2010.

MSc in Health Care Research: University of Michigan, 2013.

Core Competencies

Cardiology

Heart Institute

About Me

As a pediatric cardiologist, I treat children with pediatric and congenital heart disease — especially children with heart disease who require hospitalization. I believe that each patient and family deserve to be treated with dignity, in accordance with their wishes and values, and with consideration of both short- and long-term consequences of the decisions we make together.

Helping people is what drove me to pediatrics. In medical school, one of my mentors said it best: “I chose pediatrics because I knew it would never be difficult to muster the energy and focus necessary to take care of someone’s child.”

The physiology of congenital heart disease captivated me, and I loved the idea of taking care of children with life-threatening diseases and the potential to live long, happy, healthy lives because of the work of our team.

I’m privileged to be your child’s physician, and I will care for them like they are the most important patient in the hospital. The best outcomes are achieved when patients and families are partners with physicians, nurses and other health professionals. Never hesitate to ask questions or share observations.

I also believe in continuous quality improvement in real-time. Our medical team must be accountable and reflective so that every patient we care for provides “teachable moments” for a better future.

My research focuses on understanding how to improve care for children with cardiovascular disease around the world. I started and led an organization, PC4, (Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Consortium) that helps hospitals understand how they are performing in caring for children with heart disease and provides a learning community for hospitals to improve by studying one another’s practices. I believe that the road to improvement comes through constantly measuring our performance, detecting areas where we can be stronger and learning from the best performing hospitals.

We received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to start our quality improvement collaborative, PC4, which turned into a decade’s worth of work. I’m particularly proud of the dedication and success of the hundreds of people who contributed to the organization and demonstrated that our approach could improve and save lives.

The most important thing in the world to me is my wife and two daughters, Taylor and Abigail. We all love to travel and eat together; food is a major part of our family’s life! Aside from them, I’m an admitted golf addict — I love to play it, watch it and buy equipment and other golf knick-knacks. Much to my family’s embarrassment, I will sometimes stand in our house or out in public practicing my golf swing.

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Opening Hours

Our Emergency Department is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, ensuring that urgent medical care is always available whenever you need it.

Our working hours for outpatient and administrative services are as follows

Monday
08:00 AM – 08:00 PM
Tuesday
08:00 AM – 08:00 PM
Wednesday
08:00 AM – 08:00 PM
Thursday
08:00 AM – 08:00 PM
Friday
08:00 AM – 12:30 PM