Mark Hazekamp is professor of pediatric cardiac surgery and working as a cardiothoracic surgeon/ pediatric cardiac surgeon in LUMC, Leiden and AMC, Amsterdam. He is chair of the committee for congenital cardiothoracic surgery and member of the committee for professionality of the Dutch Association for Thoracic Surgery, board member of the European Congenital Heart Surgeons Association (ECHSA), council member of the European Association of CardioThoracic Surgery (EACTS), member of the EACTS Congenital Domain and member of the Guidelines Committee of the same Association.

More information about Mark Hazekamp

Congenital heart disease surgery

Congenital heart disease is the most common congenital disease. The majority of congenital cardiac anomalies can now be repaired shortly after birth. Some of the patients need further surgery at an older age. For me, the challenge is to develop techniques that facilitate safe and early correction of congenital heart disease. Research of heart valve prostheses and perfection of valve repair techniques will diminish the need for later reoperations.

Complex pediatric tracheal surgery is another field of interest. 

Academic career

After Medical School in Leiden Mark Hazekamp has trained in general surgery in Oviedo, Spain and later in Bronovo Hospital, Den Haag. Training in cardiothoracic surgery and later in congenital cardiothoracic surgery took place in Leiden.

The title of his doctoral research thesis was “Stentless Biovalve Prostheses” (Leiden, 1996). Hazekamp was appointed professor at Leiden University in February 2001 and his inaugural lecture was pronounced in 2003: “The earlier, the better”.

Research to improve heart valve surgery and heart valve prostheses is a constant factor in his career: non-stented biological valve prostheses, survival of donor and receptor cells in human heart valve homografts, clinical application of decellularized human donor heart valves, the pulmonary autograft and heart valve repair.

Late follow-up after repair of congenital heart disease is another field of interest for Hazekamp.

Organization, registries and quality improvement of surgery for congenital heart disease has his special attention both at national and at international level: as chair of the Dutch committee for congenital cardiothoracic surgery Hazekamp was the founder of public and transparent registration and publication of outcomes of pediatric cardiac surgery in the Netherlands as well as one of the initiators of the officially recognized training in congenital cardiothoracic surgery in the Netherlands.