Dr. Elman G. Frantz

I am the chief of pediatric heart surgery at Duke Health. Being a heart surgeon was always a dream of mine as a child. Spending a summer in medical school with legendary pediatric heart surgeon, Aldo Castaneda, cemented my desire to devote my life to this profession. Clinically, I love the creativity, complexity and challenge associated with my work. I am also able to satisfy my investigational curiosities through an active basic and clinical research laboratory focusing on congenital heart disease. I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to fulfill this dream back at Duke, a place that was so influential in my surgical training. Outside the hospital, I most enjoy spending time with my wife of 20+ years and three young children. We are an active family, always on the go… which mirrors my life at work. Dr. Turek is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Tetralogy of Fallot. His top areas of expertise are Partial Atrioventricular Canal, Coarctation of the Aorta, Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), Heart Transplant, and Heart Valve Repair.

As a fellowship trained adult congenital heart disease specialist and Director of the Adult Congenital Heart Center at Duke, I take care of a wide spectrum of heart problems, spanning from simple shunt lesions like patent foramen ovale, atrial septal defect and patent ductus arteriosus, to more complicated disorders, like tetralogy of Fallot, Ebstein anomaly, transposition of the great arteries and single ventricles. I collaborate with my colleagues in adult and pediatric medicine to provide comprehensive health services including complex cardiac interventions like catheter-based pulmonary valve implantation, closure of aortopulmonary collaterals and coarctation stenting. I am also skilled at the non-invasive and invasive assessment of patients with pulmonary hypertension. Congenital heart disease is my passion and I strive to educate my patients, their doctors and our fabulous trainees in order to improve everyone's awareness of these challenging conditions. My spare time is spent mostly at home with my wife and 2 teenage boys. I enjoy participating in and watching all types of major sports and also enjoy traveling. Dr. Krasuski is rated as a Distinguished provider by MediFind in the treatment of Tetralogy of Fallot. His top areas of expertise are Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), Patent Foramen Ovale, Congenital Heart Disease (CHD), Heart Transplant, and Thrombectomy.

Although I enjoy taking care of all cardiac patients, my special interests include adult congenital heart disease (patients who were born with heart defects who are now adults), and pregnancy and cardiac disease. Dr. Ward is rated as an Advanced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Tetralogy of Fallot. Her top areas of expertise are Atrioventricular Septal Defect, Partial Atrioventricular Canal, Endocardial Cushion Defect, and Tetralogy of Fallot.