Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Mo., has named Michelle M. Haines, MD, medical director of its cardiovascular intensive care unit (ICU). She replaces Randall Hudson, MD, who served as medical director of the unit since 2000.

She will head up the cardiovascular critical care program, which manages the recovery of patients undergoing routine cardiovascular and thoracic procedures, as well as care patients requiring heart and liver transplant, ventricular assist and extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). The cardiovascular ICU is designed for the care of postoperative cardiac and thoracic surgery patients and provides 24/7 coverage by a team of critical care experts.

In addition to her new role, she also serves as co-director of the hospital's ECMO program and is director of the liver transplant anesthesia program. She is an assistant clinical professor of anesthesiology and serves on boards at University of Kansas School of Medicine, serves as secretary of the Metropolitan Medical Society and a volunteer physician at the Kansas City Free Health Clinic.

She joined Saint Luke's in 2008 as a critical care medicine specialist. She received her medical degree at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, and completed a residency in anesthesiology at Saint Luke's Hospital through the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. She completed fellowship training in critical care medicine at the Washington University/Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.