Derek Muehrcke, MD, FACS, is one of the founding partners of Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgical Associates, P.A., in Jacksonville, Florida. He has been in the Jacksonville area since 1996 when he left a very busy practice at The Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Muehrcke is the Chairman of Cardiovascular and Thoracic surgery at Flagler Hospital. He started this program thirteen years ago and has developed it into a successful heart center for the residents of Saint Johns County. His practice includes adult cardiac, thoracic and endovascular surgery. Dr. Muehrcke is very involved with clinical research on myocardial blood flow and controlling post-operative sternal bleeding using calcium phosphate cements. He is an international speaker on blood flow analysis of graft patency after bypass graft surgery using intraoperative fluorescence imaging.

Dr. Muehrcke graduated from the Grinnell-Rush 7 year Medical College Program in 1983. He was an academic All American Football player his junior year and a member of Phi Beta Kappa College honor society and Alpha Omega Alpha Medical school honor society. He completed his Residency training in General Surgery as well as Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery along with Congenital Heart Surgery at Harvard Medical School’s Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital. He has authored over 45 published research articles and continues to be a peer reviewer for The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. He practices a complete compliment of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular surgery with cardiac revascularization, valve surgery, atrial fibrillation surgery, thoracic oncology including lung cancer, and peripheral vascular surgery along with endovascular aortic stenting.

Dr. Muehrcke’s particular interest is implementing the most current approaches to the practice of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery.