A Pursuit of Perfection

Bret Mettler, MD 

During his intern year at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Bret Mettler, MD, spent five months in the pediatric Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU). After participating in a surgery to repair a stab wound to a heart, he was hooked. Pediatric cardiac surgery was the career for him.  

Mettler has now brought his expertise to Le Bonheur Children’s as the new chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and executive co-director of the Heart Institute. Mettler’s future vision for the division is to build on the Heart Institute’s current successes and expertise to advance patient care at Le Bonheur and the entire field of cardiac surgery for the sake of kids.  

“I have an internal desire to always be tested, to always do the best at everything, even at what seems like it’s the hardest,” said Mettler. It’s this mindset that led him directly into medicine and drove him to push the boundaries of his field. 

The first in his family to go to college, Mettler wanted to emulate a family friend who was a family practice physician. “Medicine and pediatric hearts were a natural fit for me,” said Mettler. “In pediatrics, every patient is different, and you can make a difference in a whole family’s life and a child’s entire lifespan.” 

Mettler’s internal motivation pushes him to always keep innovating. And he saw Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and its Heart Institute as a place to do exactly that.  

Mettler comes to Le Bonheur from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, where he served as director of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and co-director of the Blalock-Taussig-Thomas Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center. Before his time at Johns Hopkins, Mettler was director of Pediatric Cardiac Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. 

Joining Le Bonheur’s Heart Institute in November 2024, Mettler says he was drawn to work at a freestanding children’s hospital that had proven successes, expertise and resources that could take the field of pediatric cardiac surgery to the next level. 

“Le Bonheur has a great regional reputation with excellent patient care, strong culture and a sense of collaboration,” said Mettler. “The resources that have already been put into the Heart Institute with the recent state-of-the-art expansion means that the structural pieces are in place to allow us to grow the inpatient programs.” 

Mettler’s vision for pediatric cardiac surgery at Le Bonheur centers around two goals – advancing patient care to prolong and improve the lives of people with congenital heart disease and creating a center for biomedical innovation.  

In order to build on Le Bonheur’s excellence and take patient care to the next level, Mettler aims to develop various destination centers for specific congenital heart diseases and conditions where he sees opportunity to fill needs in the region surrounding Le Bonheur. Some of Mettler’s objectives include centers for connective tissue abnormalities, aerodigestive cardiac and tracheal surgery, chromosomal abnormalities causing congenital heart disease and complex valve repair. 

“We want to build centers that are a differentiator for us in our region, and we’re a big enough program that can find subspecialization opportunities,” said Mettler.  

But Mettler also wants to move his field forward so that children are better cared for even when they aren’t in the hospital or at a clinic appointment. Alongside Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon Danielle Gottlieb Sen, MD, MPH, MS, who will join the Heart Institute in 2025, his vision for a center for biomedical innovation would develop cardiac monitoring devices to improve the life and care of kids when they are at home. Memphis is one of the best places in the country for device innovation for medicine, he says. 

“These monitoring devices for children would be able to take accurate level vital signs and have an early warning system while at home,” said Mettler. “It’s another way to improve the life and care of kids – preventing missed cardiac events, morbidity or mortality.” 

Mettler’s vision will build on the trajectory of Le Bonheur’s Heart Institute toward expansion and innovation in the fields of cardiology and cardiac surgery. And his attitude toward time in the operating room reflects his attitude towards building a program.  

“Everything in the operating room is a challenge, even simple things can be really hard,” said Mettler. “I want to do the best for every child. The goal is that they go back to their parents as perfect as they can be. There’s no tolerance for being just ok.” 

Bret Mettler, MD 

Education and Training 

University of South Dakota – Medical School 
University of Texas Health Sciences Center – Internship  
University of Michigan Medical Center – General Surgery Residency 
University of Virginia Medical Center – Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency 
Boston Children’s Hospital – Congenital Cardiac Surgery Residency 
Boston Children’s Hospital – Cardiac Tissue Engineering Laboratory Research Fellowship 

Board Certifications 
National Board of Medical Examiners 
American Board of Surgery 
American Board of Thoracic Surgery 
American Board of Thoracic Surgery-Congenital 

Society Memberships 
American Heart Association 
Tissue Engineering Society International 
International Society of Applied Cardiovascular Biologists 
European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgeons 
Coller Society, University of Michigan Surgical Alumni 
American College of Cardiology 
Society of Thoracic Surgeons 
Southern Thoracic Surgical Association 
American College of Surgeons 
International Pediatric Transplant Association 
International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation 
American Association of Thoracic Surgeons 
Congenital Heart Surgeons Society 

Awards and Honors 
Alpha Omega Alpha Award for Distinguished Alumnus 
Thoracic Surgery Residents Association Service Award 
Thoracic Surgery Directors Association Award, Society of Thoracic Surgeons 
Alexander J. Walt Award, Michigan Chapter of the American College of Surgeons 
Best Paper, Michigan Chapter of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon 
Frederick A. Coller Award, Michigan Chapter of the American College of Surgeons