Ralf J. Holzer, M.D., M.Sc.

Dr. Ralf Holzer is Director of Pediatric Cardiac Catheterization at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Phyllis and David Komansky Children's Hospital /Weill Cornell Medical Center. His own clinical focus is providing cardiac catheterization services for patients with congenital heart disease that cover the full spectrum of interventional procedures. Those include treating birth defects that cause a hole in the wall between the heart’s chambers, treating narrowed blood vessels through implantation of endovascular stents, as well as using a minimally invasive procedure to replace damaged valves. Examples of some of the procedures that Dr Holzer performs include closure of atrial septal defects, closure of ventricular septal defect, closure of patent ductus arteriosus, closure of patent ductus arteriosus in premature infants, pulmonary valve implantation, stenting of coarctation of the aorta, pulmonary artery stenting, pulmonary valvuloplasty, and aortic valvuloplasty.He is at the forefront of establishing and evaluating innovative procedures for patients with congenital heart disease, and collaborates with interventional cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons. In addition, he has a strong academic focus on outcomes research, quality improvement and risk adjustment.Dr. Holzer received his medical degree from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in Germany. He completed his residency training in Germany and the United Kingdom, and his cardiology fellowship training at the Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital in the United Kingdom. He also completed an advanced fellowship in transcatheter interventions at the University of Chicago Children’s Hospital. Following his training, Dr. Holzer worked as a consultant in pediatric cardiology and led interventional services at the Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital. He subsequently served for nine years as an attending physician and co-director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory at Nationwide’s Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, before moving to the Sidra Medical and Research Center in Qatar in 2014.  He served as Chief of Pediatric Cardiology at Weill Cornell Medicine from 2017 to 2022.Dr. Holzer has published more than 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Pediatrics, Circulation, JACC, Catheterization and Cardiovascular Intervention, Pediatric Cardiology, Cardiology in the Young, and many more. He is the author of more than 20 book chapters and numerous scientific abstracts and is committed to medical education. Dr. Holzer also holds a Master of Science in Information Technology, with distinction, from the University of Liverpool.