About Us

University Heart Surgeons has served this region with the finest in cardiac care for more than 25 years. Patients know when they walk through the door of University Heart Surgeons that our physicians and staff will treat them with dignity, respect and compassion at every office visit and during every procedure we perform.

UHS traces its roots to 1982 when Dr. Walter Brott joined Dr. Gene Aaby’s cardiac practice. A year later, Dr. George Schuchmann joined the group and Dr. John Mack came in 1985. The group, which answered its phones with the greeting “Cardiac Surgeons,” adopted the name University Heart Surgeons about the same time Dr. Robert Heisel came in 1988.

The 1990s brought the arrival of Dr. Thomas Gaines in 1991, and the retirement of Dr. Brott in 1993 and Dr. Aaby in 1994. Dr. Brent Grishkin joined the group in 1996, Dr. Raymond Dieter in 1997, and the final member of the group, Dr. Jeffrey Everett, in July 2007. Dr. Schuchmann retired from UHS in 1998 but held the position as Medical Director of the Heart Lung Vascular Institute at UT until his retirement at the end of 2007. Dr. Mack assumed the medical director’s position upon Dr. Schuchmann’s retirement.

Since 1982, we’ve worked hard to enhance our clinical reputation, and we are honored to have been chosen as a Solucient Top 100 cardiac practice. UHS is the only practice in this area that offers a pediatric heart surgery program and the only group in the Knoxville area to perform surgical repair of congenital heart defects in infants.

Our surgeons perform the majority of trauma-related surgery for victims of major chest, heart and aortic injury. We stay up-to-date on the latest medical developments and the technology that advances the boundaries of medicine. UHS added the daVinci robot to our minimally invasive heart surgery program in October 2007 and are the only cardiac center in the area using it to do heart valve repair.

UHS services range from heart, lung, esophageal and thoracic disorders in adults, children and infants, and we work closely with the Chest Center at UT and the UT Cancer Center to perform surgical procedures for lung and other intrathoracic tumors.

For adult heart disease, our surgical offerings include coronary artery bypass, heart valve repair or replacement, cardiac tumors, and a host of complex problems such as repair of torn and aneurismal aorta in the chest. Newer technologies such as off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting, transmyocardial laser revascularization, mitral valve repair, and mechanical ventricular assist support are provided.

But, returning to wellness and the active style you seek is more than visits to the doctor and surgical procedures. It involves building a partnership between patient, their family and physician. Exceptional medical care and trusting relationships often lead to the successful outcomes. We’ll work hard with you to see that it does.