Bret Mettler, M.D.

Bret Mettler, M.D., director of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and co-director of the Blalock-Taussig-Thomas Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center, joins Johns Hopkins from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where served as director of Pediatric Cardiac Transplantation and Mechanical Support since 2010. A native of South Dakota, Dr. Mettler was a magna cum laude undergraduate and medical student at the University of South Dakota, and has had extensive and impressive surgical training at leading centers throughout the country. He completed his surgical residency training at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Michigan. He completed a research fellowship in cardiac tissue engineering at Boston Children's Hospital, followed by a cardiothoracic surgical residency at the University of Virginia and a congenital cardiac surgery fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. 

Dr. Mettler has distinguished himself as a gifted and accomplished pediatric and congenital heart surgeon. He has also held numerous academic and leadership appointments in national associations, including the Joint Council on Thoracic Surgery Education, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association and the Thoracic Surgery Residents Association, of which he was president. 

Danielle Gottlieb Sen, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.

Pediatric cardiac surgeon Danielle Gottlieb Sen, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., specializes in thoracic surgery and congenital cardiac surgery.

Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, Gottlieb Sen served as assistant professor of surgery at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, and had a dual appointment as pediatric cardiovascular surgeon at Children’s Hospital New Orleans and instructor of surgery at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Her expertise includes surgical palliation and treatment of infants, children and adults with congenital heart disease. Her research is organized around the critical issue of cardiac and somatic growth in patients with congenital heart disease.

Gottlieb Sen earned her medical degree at UC Berkeley-UC San Francisco Joint Medical Program, her master’s in public health at the Harvard School of Public Health and completed her residency at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Ari Cedars, M.D.

Ari Cedars, M.D., director of the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center at both the Johns Hopkins Heart and Vascular Institute and the Blalock-Taussig-Thomas Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center. Dr. Cedars is an associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He joined Johns Hopkins from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

He is a member of the leadership committee for the Advanced Cardiac Therapies Improving Outcomes Network (ACTION) and an administrative board member of the Alliance for Adult Research in Congenital Cardiology (AARCC). He is also a member of the medical advisory board for the Adult Congenital Heart Association (ACHA). Dr. Cedars’ research focuses on patient-centered outcomes, mechanical circulatory support and ventricular assist devices, and the biological mechanisms underlying clinical disease progression in congenital heart disease.

Cedars earned his medical degree at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and completed his internal medicine residency at Michigan Medicine/University of Michigan. He went on to complete fellowships at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.

Darren Klugman, M.D.

Darren Klugman, M.D. joins the Blalock-Taussig-Thomas Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center as director of quality and safety and the new director of Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care. He will also have an appointment in the Armstrong Institute for Safety and Quality.

Dr. Klugman is a nationally recognized leader in both pediatric cardiac critical care and quality and safety, with leadership roles in the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society, the Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Consortium (PC⁴) and Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS). His academic focus is on quality, outcomes and prevention of harm. He is the national lead of Unplanned Extubation (UE) Hospital Acquired Condition at SPS and the national lead for cardiac arrest prevention at PC⁴. He has authored over 40 peer reviewed publications and is a popular national and international speaker. Notably, his work on UE prevention was recently published in JAMA Pediatrics. He was the lead author.

Dr. Klugman earned a master’s degree in science at Drexel University and his medical degree at the George Washington University. He started a pediatric residency at Children’s National Medical Center and completed fellowships there in both cardiology and critical care.