Juan Pablo Umaña, the Bogota native who put Colombia on the world map of cardiac surgery

When he is able to leave the operating rooms, hospitals, and classrooms to talk about his life, Juan Pablo Umaña Mallarino (60) repeats the word serendipity several times, even though he has spent his entire life preparing to be in the big leagues of medicine and cardiology. This Bogota native is an international leader in highly complex cardiovascular surgery. He led one of the most ambitious aortic valve repair programs in the region and is one of the inventors of MitraClip, the first device to repair the mitral valve, which has saved thousands of lives around the world since 1997. From childhood, he learned the meaning of social commitment. His mother, Fanny Mallarino, spent many years at the helm of the Niño Jesús Foundation, which cared for the children of incarcerated parents. His father, Ignacio Umaña, was involved in several social causes, such as the Cardioinfantil Foundation. He studied medicine at the Universidad del Rosario, where he developed a passion for surgery. Upon graduating in 1990, he traveled to England, where he spent a year studying liver transplants, which he wanted to pursue as a career, and another year as a resident in general surgery at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. His goal was to train and specialize in order to enter one of the top 10 medical programs in the United States. After completing his studies, he went to New York to apply to Columbia University. “When I look back on my career, it has been marked by serendipity,” she says of that valuable discovery that occurs accidentally or by chance and can be decisive. When he applied, the program coordinator, a woman from Cali who took a liking to him, scheduled an interview with one of the co-directors, John Chabot, the youngest and most open-minded, who would ultimately have a major influence on Umaña's career. During the interview, Chabot asked him what he would do if he didn't get into the surgical residency program. “I'll go back to my country and plant potatoes,” he replied. The prestigious surgeon was taken aback. “No, seriously,” he pressed him. And Umaña declared, "I have two loves: medicine and the countryside. If I don't achieve the level I want in medicine and surgery, I'm sure I will in the countryside." Finally, by serendipity, luck, or fate, a spot opened up and he entered the program. As a resident and a good Colombian, he worked twice as hard as any of his colleagues. He arrived at 4:30 in the morning and left at 8:00 at night. Mehmet Oz, chief resident and who used to arrive before his students, began to take a closer look at this early-rising doctor. "The third time, he said to me, ‘Who the hell are you?’. I told him my story and my fascination with being a liver transplant surgeon. ‘No, you have to be a heart surgeon, and I'm going to convince you.’ And so it was. In his second year as a resident, Umaña entered cardiovascular surgery, which he considers the best decision of his life. His intellectual and professional abilities led him to join a research project in Dr. Oz's laboratory, which resulted in the design of a device that can be used to repair the mitral valve without stopping the heart. Something inconceivable at the time. “After a lot of work with doctors and lawyers, we patented the Mitraclip in 1997. Well, actually, it's a Columbia University patent because, otherwise, I wouldn't have to work,” he jokes. When Umaña went to present the project to the American Heart Association conference, serendipity struck again. It put the spotlight on him. Well, one reason was that the light focused on his hands and fingers as he demonstrated how the device worked in the midst of great darkness. In the end, Craig Miller, one of the leading experts in cardiothoracic surgery and who chaired the panel, was impressed and invited him to Stanford University, where Umaña completed his studies in cardiac and transplant surgery. In 2002, with important job offers in the United States, Umaña was struck by his love of service and patriotism, his family. He chose to return and accept an offer from the Cardioinfantil Foundation, teaming up with surgeons Reinaldo and Camilo Cabrera to put Colombia on the map for cardiac surgery in Latin America and around the world. Over the course of 20 years, they practically rebuilt the institution. They hired the best talent in cardiology and cardiovascular surgery in the country, such as Dr. Néstor Sandoval and Dr. Jaime Camacho, as well as other doctors, nurses, and administrative staff, and established a training program. "We renovated the operating rooms, reduced infection rates, innovated, increased capacity to 340 beds, and, with the help of the Cleveland Clinic, built a new tower and implemented a method in which everyone works around the patient. No longer just children, who were the focus of the institution, but people of all ages, which is why it is now known as the Cardio. Today, along with Brazil and Argentina, Colombia is recognized in Latin America for its high level of cardiovascular surgery, and I believe we made our contribution." In 2022, he was offered the opportunity to return to the United States. First with the Cleveland Clinic, and while he was there, the University of Miami offered him a position as professor and head of the department of cardiothoracic surgery at the Miller School of Medicine and the UHealth health system, so that he could replicate the training he developed at La Cardio and train new specialists. He is also chief of surgery at the university's three hospitals in Florida, which have more than 2,400 beds. He says that much of this latest virtuous cycle is thanks to his second wife, lawyer Ángela Gutiérrez, who has supported and endured his long working hours. “She keeps me alive and motivated to keep going, as do Felipe, my son from my first marriage, and Juan Sebastián (his wife's son).” He remains on the Board of Directors of Cardioinfantil and is committed to healthcare in Colombia. He believes that our system and Chile's are among the best in the world. That is why he believes that this should be one of the priorities of a new government: to restore and save the system, which was not perfect. Today more than ever, Umaña believes that “the only true legacy” left by doctors is the people they train over time: “It is the only way to pass on our knowledge for the benefit of others.”