Dr. Samuels received his Undergraduate degree in Biology and Anthropology from the University or Rochester, NY.  In 1983 received his Medical Degree from Hahnemann University in Phildelphia, PA. Dr. Samuels completed his General Surgery and Cardiothoracic Surgery Residencies at Hahnemann Hospital in 1995 and joined their faculty in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. Dr. Samuels was appointed Director of Cardiac Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support in 1999 and went on to perform the world’s fifth totally implantable artificial heart in 2001.  Dr. Samuels became Professor of Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University in 2012 and serves as the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Jefferson-Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia.  He continues to contribute clinically and investigatively in ventricular assist device (VAD) technologies as well as beating heart coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).