Charles D. Fraser Jr., M.D., FACS

Charles D. Fraser, Jr., M.D., FACS, FACC, serves as the inaugural Raymond Family Chair in Cardiovascular Health, leading Dell Medical School’s Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery. He also serves as executive director of the Texas Center for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease and is a professor in Dell Med’s Department of Pediatrics. In addition, Fraser serves as the J.L. Hern Endowed Chair of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery at Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin, Texas.

Fraser was recruited to The University of Texas at Austin to develop an integrated center focused on pediatric and congenital cardiac care, with a mission to provide holistic, family-centered care in a value-based, outcome-driven program. Fraser’s clinical career has been dedicated to the surgical treatment of congenital heart disease and has included the development of leading pediatric heart and lung transplant and mechanical circulatory support programs.

Fraser’s research interests have included congenital heart surgery outcomes, cardiopulmonary transplantation, mechanical circulatory support, neurologic protection and bioengineering. He has contributed to over 400 peer-reviewed professional publications and three textbooks, and he has been awarded significant extramural peer-reviewed research funding. He is recognized as one of the world’s leading pediatric heart surgeons, and he and his teams have performed over 18,000 corrective operations in children and adults with congenital heart disease.

Prior to joining UT, Fraser was a tenured professor of surgery and pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. From 1995 to 2018, Fraser served as chief of the Division of Congenital Heart Surgery, and from 2010 to 2018, he serves as surgeon-in-chief at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas.