Dr Emily Granger (1991)
A passionate advocate on giving her patients a 'second chance' at life
Dr Emily Granger is a trailblazing Australian cardiothoracic surgeon, known for her role in the world’s first successful donation-after-circulatory-death (DCD) heart transplant and as a leading advocate for organ donation. She has performed thousands of life-saving surgeries and contributes to medical education as a lecturer and mentor.
Originally planning to specialise in orthopaedic surgery, Dr Emily Granger (1991) opted for cardiothoracic surgery after graduating from medical school, and now practises at some of Australia’s leading tertiary hospitals.
One of a handful of female cardiac surgeons in Australia (approximately 10 per cent of Australia’s cardiac surgeons are women), Emily has performed more than 4000 general cardiothoracic surgeries, and more than 350 heart and lung transplants. She specialises in adult cardiac and thoracic surgery, minimal access cardiac surgery for the aortic and mitral valve, heart-lung transplantation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
A passionate advocate for organ donation, and giving her patients a ‘second chance’ at life, Emily was involved in the world’s first successful ‘DCD’ heart transplant in 2014, a procedure that transplants organs donated after circulatory death. Since that time, the Transplant Unit at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney has performed over 100 procedures of this type.
Emily’s accomplishments have featured in numerous publications, and she has appeared in the documentary series, Miracle Hospital, in an episode where she performed a lung transplant for a patient who had waited nine years for a lung to become available.
A pioneering surgeon, Emily was a finalist for the 2017 NSW Premier’s Award for Woman of the Year. She is a Conjoint Lecturer with the Clinical Medical School at St Vincent’s Hospital and University of Notre Dame, and an instructor with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS). She is currently the President of the ANZ Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons.
Learn more below about Emily’s inspiration to become a doctor, her pioneering ‘DCD’ work and where a career in medicine can lead.