Charles D. Fraser Jr., M.D.

Charles Fraser Jr., M.D., serves as chair of the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at Dell Medical School. He is also the executive director of the Texas Center for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease, executive director of the Institute for Cardiovascular Health and a professor in Dell Medical School’s Department of Pediatrics.

Fraser plays a leading role in building the Texas Center for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease, a focused pediatric and congenital heart program that leverages the power of the partnership between Dell Medical School, the greater University of Texas community, and Dell Children’s, part of Ascension Seton.

Prior to joining Dell Med, Fraser served at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston as senior surgeon of its congenital heart surgery program, ranked No. 1 nationally by U.S. News & World Report. He also served as surgeon-in-chief of the hospital’s surgical enterprise, leading more than 100 surgeons.

Fraser previously led the division of congenital heart surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, working to refine the surgical treatment of small babies, children and adults with congenital cardiac disease. His focus has remained on the surgical care of these patients with particular emphasis on complex neonatal repairs of serious cardiac malformations. Fraser developed dedicated pediatric heart and lung transplant and mechanical circulatory support teams to offer every available therapy in the care of critically ill children.

Fraser graduated from UT Austin with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics (with honors) and received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He is a distinguished alumnus at both institutions. He moved on to become a surgical resident at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, followed by a pediatric heart surgery fellowship at Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, and a heart surgery residency again at Johns Hopkins.

He maintains active research interests including congenital heart surgical outcomes and quality, transplantation, mechanical circulatory support, brain protection and bioengineering. He has contributed over 250 peer-reviewed journal articles, numerous chapters and textbooks to medical literature.

Fraser has been honored with notable awards including the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from The University of Texas at Austin in 1999, the American Heart Association Medical Honoree in 2002, the Michael E. DeBakey Distinguished Service Award from Baylor College of Medicine in 2004, the Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Texas Medical Branch in 2007, the Distinguished Surgeon Award from the Association of perioperative Registered Nurses of Greater Houston in 2008, the Ray C. Fish Award for Scientific Achievement from the Texas Heart Institute in 2010, and Distinguished Alumnus Award from The University of Texas at Austin in 2013.

He has also served as a member of The University of Texas at Austin Commission of 125, The University of Texas Alumni Association Board of Trustees, the board of trustees of the Episcopal High School of Houston, the greater Houston Chapter of the American Heart Association, and the Vestry of St. John the Divine Episcopal Church in Houston. Fraser served as President of the American Heart Association Houston Board in 2012.