Dr. William Novick is a Professor of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) in Memphis. He is on the Founding Board and Medical Director and CEO of Novick Cardiac Alliance.
Professional milestones and achievements
Dr. Novick graduated from the University of Alabama School of Medicine and completed his General Surgical Residency at the Graduate Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania before entering the Cardiothoracic Residency at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. In 1993, he joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee as a pediatric cardiac surgeon, where he was made the Paul Nemir Professor of Surgery and International Child Health in 1999.
Dr. Novick has been leading medical teams to treat children with heart disease for the last 30 years. His career as a globe-trotting pediatric cardiac surgeon began in the early 1990s while he was still in residence at the University of Alabama when his professor and mentor, Dr. John Kirklin, performed a procedure for a 12-year-old Nigerian child whose case affected him seriously. After many medical missions to Colombia, Croatia, Ukraine, and Belarus in 1994, he founded the “International Children’s Heart Foundation” now known as the “Novick Cardiac Alliance.”
His mission is to extend healthcare access to children in need and to help children with congenital or acquired heart diseases in developing countries worldwide. He has recruited a team of clinical experts, including physicians, nurses, and specialists in pediatric cardiac care, to make the trips with him as part of the work of the Alliance. The Foundation has over 22 doctors on board, and Dr. Novick alone has operated on almost 10,000 children in over 30 countries.
He is a leader in the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC)-Center for Multicultural and Global Health. Its mission is to cultivate relationships with institutions nationally and globally to expand access to multicultural healthcare delivery, address global health challenges, and train the next generation of global health leaders. Dr. Novick is among the founders of the Global Surgery Institute (GSI). Founded in the College of Medicine in 2018, the GSI is designed to support surgical mission work accomplished by faculty, residents, and students providing health care in developing countries.
Awards
As the Founder of the Novick Cardiac Alliance, Dr. Novick has received Presidential Medals of honor from Belarus, Croatia, Nicaragua, and Ukraine.
In recognition of his pioneering work in extending healthcare access to children with congenital or acquired heart diseases in developing countries worldwide, Dr. William M. Novick is awarded the Hamdan Award for Volunteers in Humanitarian Medical Services for the Term 2021-2022.
