Paul A. Kurlansky, MD received his baccalaureate degree (cum laude) from Harvard University and received his medical degree from Tufts University Medical School. He completed his post-graduate training at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center in New York. Dr. Kurlansky is boarded in Surgery, Thoracic surgery and with the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review.

Dr. Kurlansky is the former Director of Research at the Florida Heart Research Institute in Miami, Florida. In 2003, he joined the Columbia HeartSource team as the Director of Research, Recruitment and Continuous Quality Improvement. An Associate Professor of Surgery at Columbia, Dr. Kurlansky is the Associate Director for the Center of Innovation and Outcomes Research. He serves on the Quality Measure Task Force of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons as well as on the editorial board of several peer review journals, and has published extensively on cardiac surgery and quality outcomes.