About Dr. Raj Makkar,
Interventional Cardiologist

Hello! My name is Dr. Raj Makkar and I am an interventional cardiologist having graduated from Gujarat University in 1987. To date, I have performed approximately over 25,000 cardiac operations, of which more than 7,000 involved heart valve procedures. I regularly perform cardiac procedures at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Read more...

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Dr. Makkar

My Specialities &
Clinical Interests

My specialties include:

• Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR)
• Transcatheter Mitral Valve Repair (TMVR)
• Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement (TMVR)

In addition, I have research and clinical interests specific to:

• Bicuspid aortic valve disease
• Tricuspid valve replacement via catheter
• Clinical trials for minimally-invasive heart valve therapy

Education, Training & Certificates

Dr. Raj Makkar, interventional cardiologist, graduated from Gujarat University in 1987.

After medical school, Dr. Makkar completed residencies for Internal Medicine at Wayne State University and Cardiology/Interventional Cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Makkar is a world-renowned leading expert in interventional cardiology and is one of the most widely cited researchers on the management of valvular heart disease.

He has performed the greatest number of transcatheter valve replacement (TAVR) procedures in the world and has led the field in advancing the procedure to ensure the best outcomes for patients. In 2020, he performed the most transcatheter mitral valve repair procedures with the MitraClip system in the United States and is the national principal investigator for mitral valve replacement research studies. He has authored over 500 manuscripts, abstracts and book chapters in peer-reviewed literature including practice-changing contributions in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet.

His research interests focus on novel transcatheter therapies to treat structural heart disease, with a focus on studies that directly demonstrate improvements in patient outcomes. Since 2010, he has been the Stephen R. Corday Chair in Interventional Cardiology at Cedars-Sinai and has led the clinical program and trained over 50 fellows both from within the United States and internationally.