March 17, 2011

Drexel University College of Medicine is pleased to announce that Glenn W. Laub, MD, has joined the medical school as chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery.

Laub comes to Philadelphia from the Heart Hospital at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, N.J., where he has been director and chairman of cardiothoracic surgery. Laub founded the program at St. Francis which, under his leadership, has had outstanding clinical outcomes and was top-ranked in the April 2010 New Jersey Health Care Quality Assessment Cardiac Surgery report. He also held an appointment as clinical associate professor of surgery at Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine. In addition, he served as courtesy staff surgeon at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton, University Medical Center at Princeton, and Capital Health System in Trenton.

Laub has performed over 5,000 cardiac surgery operations and has pioneered minimally invasive and valve procedures. Throughout his career, he has invented several surgical devices to improve patient outcomes during heart surgeries. He started his own company, Defibtech, an award-winning manufacturer of lifesaving AEDs, and holds 10 patents for medical devices, including a less invasive catheter used to connect patients to a heart-lung machine, which he developed during his surgical residency. Another device he invented measures blood flow in a patient's leg.

Laub received his undergraduate degree in biochemical engineering from Yale University and his medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School. He completed his surgical residency at what is now NYU Langone Medical Center. Laub has served as principal investigator on more than a dozen research studies and has authored more than 120 manuscripts and abstracts. In addition, he was the founding president of the 21CCSS, an international cardiac surgery society, and has received numerous awards, including the Heart Achievement Award from the American Heart Association and the Physician's Recognition Award from the American Medical Association. He has frequently been named a "Top Doctor" by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd.

Laub replaces Andrew Wechsler, MD, who is stepping down as chair after 13 years of service. Wechsler was recently honored by the American Heart Association for his many contributions to the field of cardiothoracic medicine. He will continue to hold an appointment as professor.