General Info

Yoshifumi Naka, MD, PhD, is an internationally known heart transplant surgeon and a pioneer in mechanical assist therapy for heart failure. Under his leadership, Columbia University Medical Center’s Cardiac Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support Programs have earned international recognition for their contributions in developing and testing new cardiac devices and in training cardiothoracic surgeons around the world. Columbia’s heart transplant program is the largest U.S. heart transplant program by volume. Dr. Naka’s clinical specialties include adult cardiac surgery for coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease, heart transplantation, and mechanical circulatory support device implantation. His research has focused on cardiac and pulmonary transplantation, organ preservation, surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation, vein graft disease after bypass surgery, and outcomes of clinical mechanical circulatory support device surgery and heart transplantation. He has been a lead investigator in several clinical trials paving the way in the research and innovation of new approaches to mechanical circulatory assistance, including use of these devices as destination therapy for patients with advanced heart failure. Dr. Naka earned his medical and post-doctoral degrees at the Osaka University Medical School in Japan. Upon his arrival at Columbia University in 1993, he began his specialization in cardiac and pulmonary transplantation, in research efforts. He finished his training in 1998, having completed a research fellowship in cardiac and pulmonary transplantation and a visiting clinical fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery, after which he joined the cardiac surgery faculty of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.