Dr. Margaret Hayes

Dr. Margaret Hayes is a highly regarded interventional cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute — consistently ranked among the top cardiac centers in the world. Over her 20-year career, she has built an exceptional reputation in complex coronary intervention and structural heart disease, performing thousands of catheter-based procedures with outstanding outcomes.

Dr. Hayes joined the Cleveland Clinic faculty after completing advanced training at some of the most rigorous cardiology programs in the country. She has been instrumental in expanding the Clinic's transcatheter structural heart program, which has become a national referral center for patients who are too high-risk for open-heart surgery. Her work with TAVR (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement) and MitraClip has given thousands of patients a less invasive path to life-changing cardiac treatment.

In her clinical practice, Dr. Hayes takes a patient-centered approach, collaborating closely within multidisciplinary Heart Teams that include cardiac surgeons, imaging specialists, and heart failure cardiologists to determine the safest and most effective treatment for each individual patient. She is particularly committed to ensuring that women with heart disease receive accurate diagnosis and appropriately tailored treatment, an area where she has been an outspoken advocate.

Dr. Hayes is also an active educator, mentoring cardiology fellows and residents at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. She believes that excellence in teaching is inseparable from excellence in patient care, and she dedicates significant time to training the next generation of interventional cardiologists.

Dr. Hayes earned her Medical Degree (MD) from Harvard Medical School, graduating with distinction. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a Cardiovascular Disease fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital — both Harvard-affiliated programs renowned for producing leaders in academic medicine.

She subsequently completed an Interventional Cardiology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic, where she received specialized training in complex coronary intervention, structural heart disease, and advanced catheterization laboratory techniques. This fellowship experience proved pivotal in shaping her subspecialty focus on transcatheter therapies.

Dr. Hayes is dual board-certified in Cardiovascular Disease and Interventional Cardiology by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM). She holds Fellowship status in the American College of Cardiology (FACC) and is a Fellow of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (FSCAI), representing the highest level of credentialing in interventional cardiology.

Dr. Hayes's clinical expertise centers on complex percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), including high-risk PCI in patients with multivessel disease, chronic total occlusions (CTO), and left main coronary artery disease. She employs advanced techniques such as rotational atherectomy, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), and optical coherence tomography (OCT) to optimize stent placement and outcomes.

In structural heart disease, Dr. Hayes is one of Cleveland Clinic's leading operators for TAVR, having been involved in the program since its early clinical trial phase. She also performs transcatheter mitral valve repair using the MitraClip system, left atrial appendage closure (WATCHMAN device) for stroke prevention, and patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure.

Conditions she regularly treats include coronary artery disease, acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), severe aortic stenosis, mitral regurgitation, heart failure secondary to valvular disease, and unstable angina. She has particular expertise in managing high-risk patients who are poor surgical candidates.

Dr. Hayes has authored and co-authored over 120 peer-reviewed publications in journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), Circulation, and Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions. Her research focuses on TAVR outcomes in intermediate-risk patients, sex differences in coronary artery disease presentation and treatment, and optimization of complex PCI techniques.

She has served as a co-investigator on several landmark multicenter trials including PARTNER (Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valves) and COAPT (Cardiovascular Outcomes Assessment of the MitraClip Percutaneous Therapy). Her analysis of sex-stratified outcomes in structural heart disease trials has been particularly influential in highlighting disparities in referral and treatment of women with valvular disease.

Dr. Hayes is a sought-after speaker at major cardiology conferences including the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Sessions (ACC), Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT), and EuroPCR. She sits on several scientific advisory boards and has been a principal investigator on NIH-funded studies examining novel pharmacological approaches to prevent post-PCI restenosis.

Cleveland Clinic is a globally recognized destination for cardiac care, and Dr. Hayes has extensive experience treating international patients from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia who travel to Cleveland for complex coronary or structural heart procedures. The Cleveland Clinic International Patient Services team provides dedicated coordination for all aspects of international travel, including visa letters, accommodation, insurance navigation, and medical record preparation.

Dr. Hayes offers pre-travel telemedicine consultations, during which she reviews submitted cardiac imaging and records to determine candidacy for transcatheter procedures and outline a care plan. This allows patients to make informed decisions before committing to travel. Following procedures, she provides detailed discharge summaries and follow-up protocols designed for patients transitioning care back to their home cardiologists.

She conducts all consultations in English and the Cleveland Clinic's international office can arrange professional medical interpretation in Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, and other languages upon request.

Dr. Hayes has been consistently named to the Castle Connolly America's Top Doctors list and the U.S. News & World Report Best Doctors rankings for Cardiovascular Disease and Interventional Cardiology. She received the Cleveland Clinic Department of Cardiovascular Medicine Excellence in Patient Care Award and has been recognized by the American College of Cardiology as a distinguished fellow.

She was named among the Top 50 Women in Cardiology by the Women in Cardiology Section of the ACC and has received the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) Young Investigator Award. Dr. Hayes is dual board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Cardiovascular Disease and Interventional Cardiology, and she holds active FSCAI and FACC fellowship credentials.