Andrew James Lodge, MD was born in Trenton, New Jersey and educated in the public school system in Ewing Township where both of his parents worked as teachers. Andrew Lodge’s upbringing and education instilled him with curiosity, a strong work ethic, and academic ambition. Following graduation from Ewing High School, he enrolled at the University of Virginia, where he was accepted into the prestigious Echols Scholar Program. He pursued a course of study in biological chemistry, and would later complete his undergraduate thesis on peptide synthesis. In 1989, Dr. Andrew Lodge would graduate with High Distinction from the University of Virginia.
Based partly on recommendations from his advisors at UVA, Dr. Andrew Lodge then enrolled in the Duke University School of Medicine. At the time, the medical school at Duke had a unique curriculum with the first two traditional didactic basic science years compressed into a single year, the basic clinical rotations done in the second year, followed by a year of independent research. This year of research spent in the laboratory of Dr. Ross Ungerleider solidified Dr. Andrew Lodge’s interest in congenital heart surgery – the correction of birth defects of the heart. Andrew James Lodge MD was drawn to this field because of his interest in the fascinating cardiovascular physiology of the patients, as well as the technical challenge of the surgery.
After the completion of medical school in 1993, Andrew James Lodge MD matched into the general and cardiothoracic surgical residency program at Duke University Medical Center. Training for cardiac surgery has evolved since the early 1990sbut at that time, Duke University Medical Center’s program consisted of five clinical years of general surgery training, two additional years in Dr. Ungerleider’s lab, and two years of cardiothoracic surgery training. Following that nine-year period, after which he became board certified in both general and thoracic surgery, Dr. Andrew Lodge was fortunate to secure a year long fellowship in congenital heart surgery at the prestigious Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia under the mentorship of Dr. Thomas Spray. Completion of that fellowship marked the end of the ten years of training required to become a congenital heart surgeon.
Available congenital heart surgeon positions are notoriously scarce within the medical field. To begin his career, Andrew James Lodge MD accepted a job at Duke University Medical Center, where his responsibilities included the practice of congenital heart surgery and also the development of expertise in heart transplantation and the implantation of ventricular assist devices (mechanical heart pumps). As the congenital heart program grew, Dr. Andrew Lodge’s focus shifted exclusively to the care of children and adults with congenital heart disease. His job included not only operating on and taking care of these patients, but also participating and performing research to advance the field and educating students, residents, and fellows. Other activities included reviewing and editing articles for many respected medical journals. When specialty certification was developed in congenital heart surgery through the American Board of Thoracic Surgery (only a recent event), Andrew James Lodge MD achieved that distinction as well.
As his career progressed, Dr. Andrew Lodge took on leadership positions in the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association, the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association, and in his own division in the area of surgical education. For the outstanding care of patients with congenital heart disease, Andrew James Lodge MD was awarded the Duke University Presidential Award in 2018. In 2019, he assumed the position of Medical Director of Quality and Safety for Children’s Surgery to help oversee quality improvement and safety initiatives for all children undergoing surgery at Duke. One of the most rewarding aspects of Dr. Andrew Lodge’s career has been participating in and leading missions to provide underprivileged children with heart surgery in other countries. Dr. Andrew Lodge has participated in mission trips to Nicaragua, the Philippines, and Bolivia to correct heart defects in children who otherwise would not have had access to this type of care. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Andrew Lodge was working with partners to try to establish a children’s heart surgery program in Panama. After the pandemic temporarily halted mission trips to countries in need, Dr. Lodge has traveled to Iraq and Ecuador with cardiac surgery teams to provide charity congenital heart surgery. His primary career focus has shifted to the field of heart and lung transplantation.
Today, Andrew James Lodge MD lives in Dallas, Texas. In his spare time, Dr. Andrew Lodge enjoys reading, spending time with his son, cooking, traveling, and outdoors activities such as boating, fishing, golf, walking and biking.