Carlos Mery, MD, MPH

Carlos Mery, MD, MPH, joined VUMC in October 2024 as the new chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, succeeding David Bichell, MD. He was previously associate chief of Pediatric and Congenital Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Texas Center for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease, a collaboration between UT Health Austin and Dell Children’s Medical Center. 

Mery specializes in the management of children and adults with congenital heart disease, including simple and complex congenital heart defects. His passion is to help every patient with congenital heart disease have access to high-quality, comprehensive and personalized care.

In Texas, Mery, who has an extensive background in congenital heart surgery and research, has emphasized the importance of personalized medicine and patient-centric care by helping create an integrated heart center, robust data infrastructure and psychosocial support for patients and families. Among his many roles there, he has served as a professor in the departments of Surgery and Perioperative Care and Pediatrics, and the director of health transformation and design in congenital heart disease.

Mery received his medical degree from Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico, and subsequently completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Instituto Nacional de la Nutrición “Salvador Zubirán” in Mexico, and a research fellowship in thoracic surgery and clinical junior fellowship in cardiac surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He completed his general surgery residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, cardiothoracic fellowship at University of Virginia and congenital heart surgery fellowship at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine. Mery holds a master’s degree in public health from Harvard School of Public Health as well as a fellowship in surgical innovation from Stanford University.