Do I have to go to medical school to become a cardiovascular perfusionist?

A perfusionist, also known as a perfusiologist or clinical perfusion scientist, is a healthcare professional who operates the cardiopulmonary bypass machine (heart–lung machine) during cardiac surgery and other surgeries that require cardiopulmonary bypass to manage the patient's physiological status.

Great question and great to see your interest in helping patients. You don’t need to go to med school to become a perfusionist. There are special training programs that you can do. You will need a college degree (in a science discipline like biology or chemistry) followed by completion of a perfusionist training program. There is a lot of information on the web including links to schools. Do a Google search to begin. Good luck!

So glad to hear that you are interested in this, and you are asking exactly the right question! Perfusionists are not doctors, but are a very important part of the care team for people who need heart surgery. As the other individual described below, you will need a college degree, preferably in one of the sciences, and likely some technical training with some observation in the operating room with a practicing perfusionist. Good luck!