About Us

Cardiovascular disease touches each of us. It causes more than half of all deaths in the U.S. It afflicts people of all ages — robbing us of our precious newborns, our children, our parents and our grandparents. Now imagine a world free of cardiovascular disease. This is our goal at the University of Minnesota Lillehei Heart Institute.

The Institute brings together faculty and students committed to cardiovascular scholarship, facilitating their interaction and allowing them to share core University resources. Financial support from the Institute provides the margin of excellence that enhances our competitiveness in the global effort to cure heart and vascular diseases.

The Institute is built on the legacy of University of Minnesota icons that created a culture of innovation and discovery. These professors, together with their students and staff, blazed the trail in heart surgery; pioneered new therapies in heart failure; established the link between cholesterol and arteriosclerosis; and set the stage for world-renowned programs in organ transplantation. Today, established investigators who have secured highly competitive federal, corporate and foundation research grants working together with the next generation of young investigators to lessen the toll of cardiovascular disease on all of us.