Top Houston heart surgeon joins Austin facility
Ex-chief of surgery at Texas Children’s is ‘excited to build something again’
Dr. Charles Fraser, the preeminent pediatric heart surgeon who abruptly left Texas Children’s Hospital’s chief of surgery position last fall, is joining Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin.
University of Texas System regents voted Monday to approve the hiring of Fraser, who will serve on the faculty of Dell Medical School at the University of Texas-Austin and as chief of pediatric and congenital cardiothoracic surgery at Dell Children’s. The hospital and heart program are significantly smaller than Texas Children’s.
“I’m really excited to build something again,” said Fraser, 59, who was Texas Children’s chief of surgery and congenital heart surgery until December. “This is a unique time in my career, where there’s a new medical school that I can be a part of.”
Fraser, who was born in Austin and attended UT, called the move “a homecoming.” He said that in a sense the deal had been “in the works my entire life — I’ve been so enchanted by UT since I was a little boy, and it’s been so integral to our families.” Fraser’s wife is the daughter of famed heart surgeon and UT alumnus Denton Cooley, who died in 2016.
Fraser is expected to assume his new role this summer. One of the Texas Medical Center’s most renowned figures, he has spent the past 23 years in Houston.
Fraser, a master at replumbing tiny, fragile, malformed hearts, is considered the heir to Cooley and fellow legendary, deceased surgeon Michael
DeBakey. He also built a top heart surgery program at Texas Children’s that U.S. News & World Report in 2017 ranked as the nation’s best, along with its cardiology program.
The December announcement that he was stepping down at Texas Children’s caused a major buzz in the Texas Medical Center and in pediatric heart care nationally.
Dr. James Willerson, president emeritus of the Texas Heart Institute, called the hiring “an enormous loss to the TMC. Dr. Fraser is one of the world’s great heart surgeons. We will miss him very much.”
Texas Children’s officials downplayed the loss, saying in a statement that it is important for patients and families to understand its heart center is made up of an outstanding team of caregivers. It added that the center is poised to flourish under new surgical leadership.
“I have not personally had an opportunity to speak with Dr. Fraser about his plans,” said Dr. Larry Hollier, surgeon-in-chief at Texas Children’s Hospital. “We are currently focused on recruiting an outstanding leader in congenital heart surgery for our cardiology and heart surgery program. This leader will continue to build on our premier heart program of more than 200 members, including five surgeons who perform more than 1,000 heart surgeries a year.”
Dell has three pediatric heart surgeons, employed by UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, who perform about 150 such surgeries annually.
Rival or ‘friendly neighbor’?
Fraser’s hiring could, however, add to an emerging rivalry between upstart Dell and behemoth Texas Children’s, which has begun expanding into Austin with a network of clinics. Fraser undoubtedly will siphon patients from Texas Children’s, patients often drawn from around the state and country.
Fraser denied the likelihood of a rivalry. He said he loves Texas Children’s, “always will,” and expects Dell will have a collaborative relationship with them — “every institution doesn’t have to do every single thing.” He said he envisions the two hospitals as “friendly neighbors.”
He said for some patients “it’ll make sense for them to remain attached to me.” But he added that they’ll always have a great program at Texas Children’s. My goal will be to do the right thing for their patients and families.”
Fraser confirmed that he had discussions about joining Texas Heart, but suggested the final decision involved the fact that “I’m a pediatric heart surgeon — that’s my core identity, what I like to do the most, what I think I do the best.” He has performed more than 10,000 such surgeries.
Sources who spoke to the Chronicle on the condition of anonymity said Fraser’s pursuit of the chief of cardiothoracic surgery job at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia last fall strained relations with superiors at Texas Children’s.
But Fraser would only say that it had come down to the time in his career “to continue on in Houston or take a new challenge. I’ve had a lot of great career opportunities that I’ve turned down — the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins — because the time wasn’t right. Now I’m ready for a new, exciting, maybe a little scary challenge.”
He said the opportunity at Dell reminded him of DeBakey coming to Baylor College of Medicine when it was a fledgling medical school.
Fraser added that being with the Cooleys was one of the things that kept him in Houston, calling it “an honor to be with them when they passed.”
Dr. Clay Johnston, dean of Dell Med, said the school is thrilled to have Fraser, noting professors at its Value Institute for Health and Care already teach a course that focuses on Fraser’s emphasis on measuring surgical outcomes at Texas Children’s. The courses focus on Fraser originated at Harvard.
“This hire is definitely a big coup for us,” he said. “We’re new and still small, but we’re audacious in our goals. Chuck coming here keeps us on that trajectory.”
Replacement expected soon
Dell Children’s, which is licensed for 248 beds, became the Austin area’s first freestanding children’s hospital in 2007.
Fraser suggested that he will keep a foot in both cities.
“We love Houston and will miss it, but Austin’s not very far — we’ll be back frequently, including for some Astros games,” said Fraser. “But going to UT is a very emotional thing for me. Just meeting with UT President (Greg) Fenves about joining the faculty, I got choked up. It’s just so special to me.”
Hollier said Texas Children’s anticipates filling Fraser’s old job shortly. He said there has been “tremendous interest in the position from elite surgeons nationally and internationally.”