Jennifer Lawton

Dr. JENNIFER LAWTON earned her medical degree from Hahnemann University and completed her surgical   residency at the Medical College of Virginia. Her cardiothoracic surgery fellowship took place at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Prior to coming to Johns Hopkins, Dr. Lawton was at Washington University for 15 years. Her leadership roles have included chair of the Basic Science Surgery Study Section of the American Heart Association, Vice Chair of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s Thoracic Residency Review Committee, President of Women in Thoracic Surgery, multiple national editorial board positions and leadership posts in national cardiothoracic surgical societies. Dr. Lawton is the Chief of the Johns Hopkins Division of Cardiac Surgery.

As a cardiac surgeon specializing in adult care, her expertise includes coronary artery bypass, valve repair and replacement, and aortic aneurysm and dissection repair. Dr. Lawton’s clinical research interests include women and heart disease, gender differences in cardiac surgery, minimally invasive valvular surgery, and aortic dissection surgery. She has spent much of her career raising awareness of heart disease as the leading cause of death for adult women in the United States through her partnership and advocacy with the American Heart Association. Her basic science research interests involve the investigation of an ion channel in the heart that provides protection during times of stress.