1. ~ Ward Family Heart Center
~ CHILDREN'S MERCY KANSAS CITY
www.childrensmercy.org
2401 Gillham Road
Kansas City, Missouri 64108
Phone: 816-234-3000
December 29, 2014
Re: Igor Mokryk, M.D., Ph.D.
This is a very strong letter of recommendation for Igor Mokryk, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of the
Department of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and Rehabilitation at the Gusak Institute of Urgent
and Recovery Surgery in Donetsk, Ukraine. I have known Igor for over seven years and he is
one of those rare individuals that you encounter only a few times throughout your career.
I first met Igor when we brought a team from our institution at Children's Mercy Hospital in
Kansas City to work with his team in Donetsk, Ukraine. Igor was in charge of developing a
pediatric heart center at their institute. He had accepted the challenge of building a program
in this previously unserved area with a population of approximately five million people.
Working with extremely limited resources, Igor was able to assemble talented and dedicated
individuals to build a department. This is a department that seven years ago was performing
very basic surgery on older individuals, and most recently was able to provide complex
congenital heart surgery for neonates. The development of this program is a testament to his
leadership, but mostly his medical knowledge and skill as a surgeon.
Igor is an extremely knowledgeable surgeon. He is very well read and understands the
complexities of the anatomy and physiology of congenital heart disease. He has added to that
foundation an extensive experience in the surgical treatment of these patients over the last
seven years. As a leader of the group and its developing heart center, he was responsible for
all aspects of the care of the patients and was involved in every detail. Due to his meticulous
attention to detail, the center thrived and the care of the patients improved exponentially. His
leadership also led to increased investment in resources to the center. This most recently
resulted in the construction of new building of the Gusak Institute dedicated to the care of
cardiac patients, with a new operating theater and intensive care unit dedicated to the care of
children with congenital heart disease. It is only through an unfortunate political situation in
the eastern Ukraine with incredibly unfortunate timing that all of Igor's hard work and
dedication did not result in the incredible accomplishment of having a modern congenital heart
program in the eastern Ukraine.
So, in summary, I find Igor Mokryk to be a man of high moral character and ethical standing,
deep medical knowledge, with years of experience in the surgical care of patients with
congenital heart disease. His energy, enthusiasm, dedication, work ethic and leadership skills
are a rare combination to find in one individual. In addition, he is an outstanding human being
In Academic Affiliation with the University of Missouri- Kansas City School of Medicine
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2. who is a pleasure to work with. For all these reasons, I highly recommend, without any
reservations, Dr. Mokryk as an outstanding congenital heart surgeon. We would love to have
him as part of our team here and are attempting to overcome the unfortunately enormous
bureaucratic obstacles to having that take place. I'd be happy to provide any further
information, or talk to you personally, should you have any further questions.
mes E. O'Brien, Jr.,
Co-Director, Ward Family Heart Center
Chief, Section of Cardiothoracic Surgery
Associate Professor of Surgery
University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine
Office: 816-234-3580
Fax:816-802-1245
jobrien@cmh.edu