Finding the Way: A Memoir

About the Book

Dr. Mavroudis was born in Thasos, Greece in July of 1946. He spent the first year of his life in his birthplace before immigrating to the United States with his family in 1947. In his inspiring, extraordinary memoir, Dr. Mavroudis recounts his youth in New Jersey with his parents making a living through a luncheonette-ice cream parlor and his rise to become one of the most world-renowned pediatric congenital heart surgeons.

Dr. Mavroudis established the second successful neonatal cardiac transplant program in the world. He made many scientific and clinical contributions to the field by his research, multiple publications, his numerous editions of his textbook, Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, now in its 5th Edition, and educating the next generation of surgeons, including his own son.

Finding the Way is the tale of resourcefulness, hard work, and where humble beginnings lead to extraordinary endings.

About the Author

Dr. Constantine Mavroudis graduated from the University of Virgina School of Medicine (1973) and completed General Surgery Training (1973-1979), Thoracic-Cardiovascular Training (1979-1981), and was a Research Fellow (1976-1977), all at the University of California-San Francisco.

His first faculty position was at the University of Louisville School of Medicine (1981-1989) where he became Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and rose to the rank of Professor of Surgery. He was recruited to Children's Memorial Hospital-Northwestern University, the Feinberg School of Medicine, in 1989 as the Wills J. Potts Professor of Surgery, Division Director of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief. During 2008-2011, Dr. Mavroudis was chair of the Department of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery with a joint appointment in the Department of Bioethics at the Cleveland Clinic. During 2012-2019, he was Director of Congenital Heart Surgery, AdventHealth for Children in Orlando, and Professor of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In 2020, he became Professor Emeritus of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and was recruited to Peyton Manning Children's Hospital in Indianapolis as Chief of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery.

Dr. Mavroudis spends his leisure time training for athletic events. He has completed eleven marathons, eighty-five Olympic distance triathlons, and fifteen 70.3 Ironman Triathlons in the United States, Europe, and Africa. He and his family enjoy fishing trips, winery visits, SCUBA adventures, and sailing vacations.

Dr. Mavroudis is happily married (forty years) to the former Martha Smith of Louisville, Kentucky. Together they have two children, Paula and Constantine.