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Local Area Info: James Kirklin

James K. Kirklin (born 1947 in Rochester, Minnesota) is an American cardiac surgeon who has made significant scientific and surgical contributions in the fields of heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support devices to assist the pumping action of the heart. He is Professor of Surgery, former Director of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery (2006-2016), Director of the James and John Kirklin Institute for Research in Surgical Outcomes (KIRSO) (2016–present), former Co-Director of University of Alabama (UAB) Comprehensive Cardiovascular Center and holds the James Kirklin Chair of Cardiovascular Surgery at the UAB.

Kirklin is the son of the late heart surgery pioneer John W. Kirklin. He graduated from Ohio State University in 1969, where he was an All-American diver. He received his MD from Harvard Medical School in 1973 as a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha academic honor society. Subsequently, he completed general and cardiothoracic surgery residencies at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1978 where he was Chief Resident, and pursued additional training at Boston Children's Hospital in 1979 and UAB School of Medicine, where he completed his training in 1981. He was appointed Assistant Professor of Surgery at UAB in 1981, Director of Cardiac Transplantation in 1986, Professor of Surgery in 1987, and in 2006 was named Director of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery. Kirklin's surgical expertise included surgery for congenital heart disease, heart transplantation, and mechanical circulatory support pumps. In 2012, Kirklin and his colleagues developed the first Children's Hospital pediatric cardiac surgical unit in the state of Alabama. In 2017, at the age of 70, he retired from clinical surgery to direct the Kirklin Institute for Research in surgical outcomes.

Kirklin and his colleagues at UAB pioneered the development of multi-institutional collaborative outcomes research in pediatric and adult heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support. In 2007, he was the first surgeon to bridge an infant with failing single ventricular heart to successful heart transplantation, with a longer term pediatric heart assist device called the Berlin Heart ventricular assist device. In 2011, he was the first surgeon in North America to implant the HVAD continuous flow ventricular assist device in a child. This nine-year-old girl was supported for 60 days and she then underwent successful cardiac transplantation. In 2014, Kirklin was the first surgeon in North America to implant the Eva Heart continuous flow ventricular assist device. In 2015, Kirklin led the surgical team that implanted the Berlin Heart on the youngest baby (17 days old) to receive extended (greater than 1 month) mechanical circulatory support (136 days) before undergoing successful heart transplantation.