Gabriele Maria Iacona, MD

Dr. Iacona is an Italian cardiac surgeon, trained in Italy, and the USA in adult and pediatric cardiac surgery. From 2009 to 2013, he was the staff surgeon and clinical coordinator of a small-volume pediatric cardiac surgery regional center in Spain, delivering care to hundreds of patients from the Canary Islands and Africa in partnership with an Italian large-volume cardiac surgery service.

From 2014 to 2016, Dr. Iacona did his fellowship in adult cardiac surgery and mechanical cardiac support and cardiac transplantation at Yale New Haven Hospital Cardiac Surgery, New Haven, CT, to develop academic skills and expand his surgical proficiency in adult heart failure cardiac surgery. He has been a member of the European Board of Cardiothoracic Surgery since November 2018.

Dr. Iacona was a clinical associate in cardiac surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Cleveland, OH, in 2019-2021 with the intent to develop deeper knowledge and advanced surgical skills in complex adult cardiac surgery. From August 2021 to November 2023, he was the attending cardiac surgeon with a special interest in coronary artery surgery at MedStar Cardiac Surgery, MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Washington DC.

Why should someone choose you to care for their health?
I am proficient in putting patients at ease and delivering excellent surgical care with a commitment to achieving optimal outcomes.

What is the most important thing your patients should expect from their professional relationship with you? What do you expect from them?
I know what it's like to be a patient, so I can empathize. I am very attentive to the healing power of the word in the physician-patient relationship.

How do you spend your valuable personal time when you’re not caring for patients?
I am a curious by nature. I feel great pleasure and comfort in the pictorial art from the Italian Renaissance up to the 19th and 20th centuries. Visiting art museums is always the origin of discoveries. I also love the amazing and breathless American landscapes.

Why did you choose your specialty and what is its greatest reward?
Movements and fixing anything that's broken. When the heart restarts after being "frozen" for several minutes, it is always a very rewarding moment.