Juan B. Grau, MD

Juan B. Grau, MD, FACS, FACC comes to the Division of Cardiac Surgery from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he was Assistant Professor of Surgery and Attending Cardiac Surgeon since 2008. In addition to his Columbia appointment, Dr. Grau retains an Adjunct Assistant Professorship at The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Prior to 2008, Dr. Grau spent seven years as Attending Surgeon at NYU School of Medicine and NYU Medical Center. While at Columbia, his clinical practice will be based at the Valley Columbia Heart and Vascular Institute in Ridgewood, NJ.

A native of Spain, Dr. Grau completed his medical degree and research fellowship in Madrid in 1990 and 1992 respectively. Moving to New York in 1992, Dr. Grau completed his General Surgery Internship and Residency at NYU Medical Center (1997), where he also served as Executive Chief Resident in General Surgery in 1998; he then completed a Research Fellowship at NYU at the Laboratory of Developmental Biology and Repair in 1999, additional fellowships in Madrid in 1999-2000, and a cardiothoracic fellowship at NYU Medical Center, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery (2001-2003).

In 2008 Dr. Grau's translational research in aortic valve stenosis was awarded a $1,000,000 grant from the NHLBI. Current research endeavors are focused on aortic valve degeneration, genetics of mitral valve prolapse, and proteomic identification of high risk patients with aortic aneurysms in the setting of bicuspid and tricuspid aortic valves. He has created one of the largest cardiovascular tissue and blood repositories in the world for the study of cardiovascular diseases, with more than 2,500 specimens to date.

Dr. Grau's surgical fields of expertise include minimally invasive and robotic complex mitral valve repair and hybrid coronary revascularization procedures as well as arterial coronary revascularization using off-pump techniques and left thoracotomy approaches. He also performs complex aortic reconstructions using standard approaches as well as endovascular techniques. Since joining Columbia, these programs are now active at Valley Heart and Vascular Institute with excellent clinical results.

Dr. Grau is the recipient of numerous honors and awards: he was named the 2006 National Spokesman for the American Heart Association, the 2007 National Spokesman for the American College of Cardiology, and he was awarded the 2000 White House Medical Unit Certificate of Commendation and the 1998 Medical Unit Certificate of Appreciation. He is a reviewer for numerous journals in cardiovascular surgery, cardiology, and basic sciences, and he is a member of surgical societies including Society of University Surgeons, Society of Thoracic Surgery, American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association.