Gilbert R Schorlemmer, MD, FACS, has practiced cardiac, vascular, and thoracic surgery since 1985 gaining a wealth of experience in the treatment of both common and uncommon expressions of cardiac, vascular, pulmonary and thoracic diseases using open surgical, minimally invasive surgical, interventional (catheter-based), and hybrid approaches.
A graduate of Texas A&M University where he completed the premed program with honors in 2-1/2 years, Dr. Schorlemmer attended the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School where he obtained his Doctor of Medicine degree. He completed his surgical residency at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he accumulated a large experience in the vascular surgical arena. He then moved to the University of Utah where he gained a further broad expertise in the treatment of cardiovascular, pulmonary and other thoracic diseases while completing his thoracic surgical residency.
Dr. Schorlemmer was then selected in 1985 to start the only cardiac surgical program in Southern Colorado. For the next 10 years he focused on building an open heart surgery center that served two main hospitals and five affiliated facilities in the region. He was responsible for developing multiple techniques and methods of care which markedly reduced the hospital stay for cardiovascular surgical patients. Subsequently in 1995, he went back to Texas where he began a modern cardiac, vascular and thoracic surgical practice serving South Texas and Northern Mexico. There he pioneered the use of intrathecal pain control for patients who undergo cardiovascular surgical procedures, dramatically reducing the pain of surgery, speeding the recovery process, and hastening their return to normal activity. Returning to Utah in 2000, Dr. Schorlemmer was involved in the initial release of the first thoracic aortic endograft in the United States and for several years he was the only physician in Utah to implant this device. He designed and implemented the first dedicated hybrid surgical room in the state and was a leader in the usage of endografts to treat complex aortic pathology in both the chest and abdomen. He was one of the founding members of the multidisciplinary Society for Cardiovascular Therapy which merged into the World Society of CardioVascular and Thoracic Surgery in 2016. Most recently he has been involved in the genesis of the Aortic Institute of the West which is dedicated to the endovascular repair of central and peripheral arterial disease.
Dr. Schorlemmer strongly believes that the practice of medicine and surgery, when performed correctly, is an art which requires not only scientific knowledge, but, even more importantly, a wealth of experience gained through a humanistic approach that recognizes the patient as a person first and foremost. He is honored to care for his patients and does his best to provide superior results for each of them.
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