Carl Backer, M.D., is John W. Kirklin Visiting Professor, Mayo Clinic Department of Cardiovascular Surgery

Carl Backer, M.D. (MED ’80), surgical director, Heart Transplant Program at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, was the 2019 John W. Kirklin Visiting Professor for the Mayo Clinic Department of Cardiovascular Surgery. Dr. Backer presented “Surgical Strategies for Complex Vascular Rings: The Chicago Contribution.”

Dr. Backer is president of the Mayo Clinic Alumni Association and the A.C. Buehler Professor of Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.