JaBaris D. Swain, MD MPH
Advanced Fellow, Cardiopulmonary Transplantation & Mechanical Circulatory Support
Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
A native of Atlanta, Georgia-Swain attended undergrad at the University of Georgia, earning a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in Cell and Molecular Biology. He went on to medical school at the Medical College of Georgia; after which, he began general surgery residency at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Upon completing PGY-2, Swain exited clinical training and joined the large animal translational research lab of Dr. Charles Bridges–as an NIH post-doctoral research fellow. In this capacity, he spent two years of dedicated time studying heart failure reversal using a novel gene therapy platform combined with cardiopulmonary bypass. This work culminated in a number of seminal studies and publications within this niche field. Next, Dr. Swain continued his clinical training in Boston at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. While at the Brigham, Swain completed one year as a junior clinical fellow in cardiovascular intensive care, earned his MPH at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health in Clinical Effectiveness and spent one year abroad in Rwanda, studying outcomes of cardiac surgery in adolescents and young adults with rheumatic heart disease, while serving as a research advisor to the Ministry of Health in the expert area of cardiovascular disease. Following his time in Rwanda, Swain completed the general surgery residency at the Brigham and went on to match into the cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. This was followed by an additional year of advanced fellowship training in cardiopulmonary transplantation and mechanical circulatory support at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania as well. All throughout his training, Swain has remained committed to his passion for humanitarian cardiac surgery and public health by returning to Rwanda annually to provide cardiovascular care, including surgery, to young adults and adolescents suffering from heart disease.