About the authors

Stephen H McKellar

S McKellar is a resident in the integrated General and Cardiothoracic Surgery training program in the Department of Surgery at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA. He received medical degree from The George Washington University School of Medicine and has completed three years of clinical training. He interrupted his clinical work for a two-year research fellowship at Mayo during which he earned a Masters degree in Biomedical Sciences with an emphasis in clinical research from the Mayo Graduate School.

Morgan L Brown

M Brown is a research fellow in the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA. She is also a pre doctoral candidate in Clinical and Translational Sciences in the Mayo Clinic Graduate School. She graduated from the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine and has completed 2 years of clinical training in cardiac surgery at the University of Manitoba. Her research interests include clinical outcomes research and the use of medical informatics in cardiovascular surgery.

Robert L Frye

RL Frye is the Rose M. and Morris Eisenberg Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and received his postgraduate training at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Cardiovascular Disease Section at the National Institutes of Health. He has published extensively in many areas of Cardiology but particularly in the field of myocardial revascularization.

Hartzell V Schaff

HV Schaff is Chair of the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery and the Stuart W. Harrington Professor of Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA. He is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and did his surgical training at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. His clinical focus is in correction of both congenital and acquired heart disease with particular expertise in mitral valve repair and hypertrophic septal myopathy.

Thoralf M Sundt III

TM Sundt is a Consultant in the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, and Professor and Vice-Chair of the Department of Surgery at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA. His clinical focus is the treatment of aneurysmal disease of the aortic root, arch and descending thoracic aorta, and principle areas of investigative interest include the genetic basis of bicuspid aortic valve disease and the understanding of human factors in error causation and error management in clinical practice. He is a graduate of Princeton University and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He trained in general surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital and in thoracic surgery at Washington University in St. Louis. He was an Honorary Consultant at Harefield Hospital and Senior Lecturer at London University before returning to Washington University in the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery. In 2001 he relocated to the Mayo Clinic.