Edward Soltesz, MD

Edward Soltesz, MD, MPH, is a cardiovascular and heart transplant surgeon in the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in Cleveland Clinic’s Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute and is on the teaching faculty at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. He is the Donna and Ken Lewis Endowed Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery and the Surgical Director of the Kaufman Center for Heart Failure and Recovery overseeing all heart transplant and mechanical support therapy. 

Specialty Interests: Thoracic aorta; ascending/arch aneurysm, redo arch dissection, TAA, descending aneurysm, Aortic regurgitation, Aortic Stenosis, Isolated Aortic Valve Repair, mini AVR, Concomitant procedures for aortic valve disease, Heart Transplant, VAD, complex aortic and endovascular surgery, complex reoperative heart surgery, minimally invasive cardiac surgery, minimally invasive maze procedure, minimally invasive aortic and mitral valve repair/replace, high risk CABG or MVR, sole Afib therapy: including Convergent procedure; Maze and LAA, Root replacement, valve-sparing root replacement, mini-thoracotomy aortic valve replacement, Cardiac Tumors, and adult congenital heart disease, Tricuspid valve surgery, SVC Stenosis

Number of Procedures Performed: Cleveland Clinic performs more than 5,000 heart surgeries each year. All Cleveland Clinic cardiac surgeons complete between 300-400 cardiac cases per year. Dr. Soltesz specializes in the Maze procedure, having performed more than 210 since joining Cleveland Clinic, as well as the sternal-sparing right-anterior thoracotomy aortic valve replacement.

Success Rates: Among top U.S. hospitals for cardiac surgery, Cleveland Clinic’s volume is the highest with the best quality outcomes. You can view success rates for specific procedures at http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/about-heart-vascular-institute/treatment-outcomes.aspx

Education and Training: A native of Cleveland, Dr. Soltesz graduated as valedictorian of St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland and received a full academic scholarship to the College of the Holy Cross. There, he obtained degrees in both Classics and Chemistry, was awarded the British Marshall Scholarship, and graduated summa cum laude as the class valedictorian. He then went on to receive his medical degree from Harvard Medical School where he was awarded the Harvard National Scholarship. Dr. Soltesz stayed at Harvard to complete his residences in general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He was awarded the Mannick Research Award for my NIH-funded research in cardiothoracic imaging. During this time at Harvard, he also earned a Master of Public Health from Harvard University School of Public Health with a focus on clinical effectiveness. He then returned to Cleveland to complete an additional fellowship in complex aortic and endovascular surgery at Cleveland Clinic, where he was subsequently appointed to the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in 2008.

Dr. Soltesz also serves as the Chief Medical Officer of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery Quality Gateway (AQG) as well as the Course Director for the American Austrian Foundation/Open Medical Institute Cardiac Surgery Medical Seminar held annually in Salzburg, Austria, and previously served as Program Director for the Cleveland Clinic Thoracic Surgery residency and fellowship training programs from 2014-2017. Dr. Soltesz is also the Director of Cardiac Surgery Affiliate Programs and oversees the management services provided by the affiliate program contracts including strategic clinical direction, quality assurance, and process improvement at affiliate cardiac surgical programs across the country. He is responsible for overseeing surgical outcomes and providing 24-hour consultation on high-risk cases for surgeons at affiliate institutions. He is ultimately responsible for aligning programs on quality and developing a strategy for practice building and growth.

Dr. Soltesz maintains a busy clinical practice of about >350 cases per year. He has a large practice of aortic surgery that includes David procedures, minimally invasive ascending aortic aneurysm repairs, as well as sternal-sparing right anterior thoracotomy aortic valve replacements. Dr. Soltesz performs a large volume of minimally invasive mitral and tricuspid valve surgery as well as Maze and Convergent procedures. Dr. Soltesz has been granted multiple patents for surgical innovations including patient safety devices and machine-learning prediction tools. Dr. Soltesz’s research program focuses on large-scale assessment of cardiac surgical outcomes from a public health perspective, quality improvement and safety, clinical outcomes of valve surgery, and heart failure. He is widely published in the areas of minimally invasive surgery, cardiac surgical outcomes, heart failure, and optical imaging in cardiac surgery, and has papers in The New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, and Annals of Thoracic Surgery He has lectured and served as a visiting professor both nationally and internationally. He is a member of the American Association of Thoracic Surgery, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, American College of Surgeons, International Society for Heart Lung Transplant, as well as other national cardiac and cardiovascular surgical societies. He is past President of the Board of the American Heart Association (Cleveland chapter) as well as past President of the 21st Century Cardiac Surgery Society.


Research, Publications and Speaking: Dr. Soltesz is the author of numerous articles in the areas of minimally invasive valve surgery, optical imaging in cardiac surgery, near-infrared fluorescence imaging, and complex valve surgery.

Dr. Soltesz’s research program focuses on large-scale assessment of cardiac surgical outcomes from a public health perspective, quality improvement and safety, clinical outcomes of valve surgery, and heart failure. He is widely published in the areas of minimally invasive surgery, cardiac surgical outcomes, heart failure, and optical imaging in cardiac surgery, and has papers in The New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, and Annals of Thoracic Surgery. In addition, he is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and serves as a guest reviewer for many other journals. He has lectured and served as a visiting professor both nationally and internationally

About Dr. Soltesz: I enjoy heart surgery because it truly affords the opportunity to care for very sick patients and make them feel better and live longer. It is gratifying to be able to develop relationships with my patients, and I consider it a true privilege to enter their lives and help them in the way I’ve been trained.

Leisure time activities: Dr. Soltesz lives in Cleveland with his wife and three children. He enjoys spending time with his family and continually trying to improve his tennis game.