Prof. Hijazi is an interventional cardiologist who specializes in treating congenital and structural heart disease in both children and adults. He is a pioneer in the non-surgical repair of congenital and structural heart defects.
Prof. Hijazi completed his postgraduate training from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale University, where he was subsequently awarded a Masters of Public Health. He remained at Yale University where he completed a residency in Pediatrics and a fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology. Upon completion of his fellowship training in 1991, he joined the faculty at Tufts University School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor. In 1997 he was promoted to Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine, and in 1999 Prof. Hijazi accepted a faculty appointment at the University of Chicago as Endowed Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine and Chief of the division of cardiology.
In 2007 Prof. Hijazi became the Director of the Rush Center for Congenital and Structural Heart Disease at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago and in 2010, he became the James A. Hunter, MD, University Chair. In January 2014, he became the inaugural chair of Pediatrics at Sidra Medicine and in April 2021 became the Chief Medical Officer of Sidra Medicine.
Prof. Hijazi is very prolific with 375 peer reviewed published articles, nine books, over 60 book chapters and hundreds of abstracts. His major area of interest is in the development of techniques and catheters/devices to help treat or cure congenital and structural cardiac disease without open-heart surgery.
In 1997, he published the first results of the initial clinical use of the new Amplatzer septal occluder device for atrial septal defects (ASD) and performed the first case of ASD closure using the Amplatzer device in the US.
Subsequently, he has been a primary investigator and national PI in testing the Amplatzer family of intracardiac devices in the U.S. Prof. These studies resulted in the FDA approving the first ASD closure device and the first VSD device for use in children.
Prof. Hijazi’s work has not been limited to the non-surgical repair of cardiac defects; he was the first to describe how intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) can be used to assist in guiding transcatheter closure of ASD/PFO.
Prof. Hijazi’s annual Pediatric & Adult Interventional Cardiac Symposium (PICS) is a fourday conference which brings together a select international faculty who provide demonstrations, live operations and the latest research breakthroughs in interventional cardiology for congenital and structural heart disease. This symposium attracts more than 850 interventional cardiologists and healthcare provider from more than 60 countries around the world.
He successfully performed the first operation (Pulmonary valve implantation) of its kind in the U.S. on December 13, 2005 on a 16-year old boy. Further, he did the first human implantation of pulmonary valve in the world using the Venus P valve in 2013! He is the Global PI for the Venus P valve.
On May 11, 2008, Prof. Hijazi became the 31st president of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), the major organization for interventional cardiologists that has more than 4,000 members worldwide.
On September, 2020, Professor Hijazi became the Founding President of a newly formed the PICS Society (Pediatric & Congenital Interventional Cardiovascular Society), the only Society that caters to the needs of pediatric and congenital interventional cardiologists as well as patients with congenital heart disease.
In 2011, Mayor Thomas Menino declared July 25, 2011 as the Ziyad M. Hijazi day in Boston, MA.
On March 23rd 2020 Dr. Hijazi was honored by the Ministry of Defense of Kuwait for his pioneering work helping children with congenital heart Disease in Kuwait and worldwide.
On November 30th, 2021 Dr. Hijazi was honored by the FIFA Arab World Cup as a migrating bird and his photo was displayed in the stadium.
Dr. Hijazi served as Sidra Medicine Chief Medical Officer from 4/2019-8/2023.
As the Chief of the International Patient Services, Dr. Hijazi is responsible for the growth of the Medical Tourism at Sidra Medicine with patients coming from many countries in the region and beyond. In 2023, the revenues of the office exceeded QR120 million (33 million USD), most of which were due to patients who came for cardiac care.
