Murray H. Kwon, MD, MBA

Dr. Murray Kwon is a Clinical Professor in the Division of Cardiac Surgery, Department of Surgery, in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Following his training in Cardiac Surgery at Stanford University, he joined the UCLA faculty in 2008 following a one-year fellowship in Heart Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support Devices (MCSD). He obtained his MD and MBA from Northwestern University’s Medical and Business Schools, respectively in 1996.

Since arriving at UCLA, Dr. Kwon’s clinical interests have focused on the treatment of aortic pathology using both open and endovascular techniques. He was instrumental in the development of the UCLA Aortic Center in 2012 and has maintained an active and key role as Surgical Director.  Using advanced techniques, including the first usage of the Hybrid Terumo Thoraflex system at UCLA, Dr. Kwon has performed over 300 acute dissection repairs with excellent outcomes. He remains committed to the multi-disciplinary approach necessary for the most complex aortic patients and when appropriate performs these repairs in collaboration with Vascular Surgery and Interventional Radiology as part of an Aortic Team.

Dr. Kwon has expertise in all manner of mechanical circulatory support devices such as the Heartmate III LVAD and the percutaneous Abiomed Impella 5.5 and has performed over 350 Heart Transplantations for those patients with advanced heart failure. He performs the majority of his LVAD implants in a minimally invasive manner and has been the Surgical Director of the MCSD program since 2018.

Dr. Kwon’s other areas of expertise are coronary bypass surgery, particularly those patients with low heart function (ischemic cardiomyopathy), aortic and mitral valve replacement and repair, as well as Transcutaneous Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR). He has helped develop the TAVR program at UCLA since its inception in 2012 and to date has performed approximately 750 of these minimally invasive valve replacements. 

For those younger patients with aortic root pathology but preserved valve function, Dr. Kwon is an expert at valve sparing root replacement techniques allowing patients the opportunity to correct their aneurysmal disease while keeping their own aortic valves, thus avoiding the need for mechanical or biological valve replacements.

Dr. Kwon serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and has authored extensive publications in the areas of transplantation, TAVR, aortic surgery, and surgical education.

Dr. Kwon believes that the operative aspects of treating a patient’s illness is only part of the process. He is also committed to providing the utmost in compassion while helping patients and their families negotiate what may be one of the most difficult journeys of their lives.