Daniel Lee Cortez, M.D., Ph.D.
Director of Pediatric Electrophysiology
Associate Professor
To see if Daniel Lee Cortez is accepting new patients, or for assistance finding a UC Davis doctor, please call 800-2-UCDAVIS (800-282-3284).
Specialties
Electrophysiology
Congenital Anomalies
Pediatric Cardiology
Pediatrics
Adult Congenital Cardiology
Department
Locations and Contact
UC Davis Children's Hospital
UC Davis Children's Hospital
2315 Stockton Blvd.
Sacramento, CA 95817
Philosophy of Care
I believe patient education is important. I think families should be seen together when cardiac concerns arise throughout the family. Improving patient knowledge and having families be able to be seen together, as well as individual treatment options for patients are my fundamentals. Every time I treat a patient, I think of how I would treat my own family member. I don't consider myself a provider of care, but instead as someone's doctor, and as such I value the trust given to me to take care of you and your loved ones, and try to do so with compassion and empathy during every patient visit and follow-up.
Clinical Interests
Dr. Cortez is a board certified pediatric as well as adult congenital cardiologist and electrophysiologist who believes in continuity of patient care and family-centered care including seeing both parents and children (as well as siblings) during the same visits. He has an expertise in pacemaker placement including leadless pacemakers, physiologic pacing (His- and left-bundle), as well as doing so with minimal fluoroscopic techniques. He also performs subcutaneous internal cardiac defibrillator placements and has an interest in app-based arrhythmia detection.
Research/Academic Interests
Dr. Cortez's research focuses on improving diagnosis or disease causing sudden cardiac death as well as in arrhythmia-risk prediction in children and adults using vectorcardiography (3-dimensional EKG), which was the subject of his PhD. He also has an interest in leadless pacemakers and in physiologic pacing as a means to prevent and reverse heart failure in patients with pacemakers. He also has an interest in phone-application-based rhythm monitoring.
Division
Pediatric Cardiology
Center/Program Affiliation
Undergraduate School
B.S., Colorado School of Mines, Golden CO 2006
Medical School
M.D., University of Illinois College of Medicine, Rockford IL 2010
Other School
Ph.D., Applications of Vectorcardiography for Diagnosis and risk Stratification for subpopulations at Risk for Sudden Cardiac Death and Risk Stratification, Lunds Universitet, Lund, Sweden 2020
Internship
Pediatrics, CHOC Children's, Orange CA 2010-2011
Residency
Pediatrics, CHOC Children's, Orange CA 2011-2013
Fellowship
Electrophysiology (adult/pediatric/ACHD), Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey PA 2016-2018
Fellowship
Pediatric Cardiology, University of Colorado/Children's Hospital of Colorado, Aurora CO 2013-2016
Top Doctors in Minneapolis, Rising Star, 2020, 2021
Faculty Teaching Award, University of Minnesota, 2021
Young Investigator Award winner, Oral presentation "Right sided predictors of Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy/Dysplasia," STAFF International Electrophysiology Conference, Vence, France, 2015
Young Investigator Award Finalist (top 3), Clinical, Oral presentation "Vectorcardiography Detects Electrographically Concealed Long QT Syndrome," Heart Rhythm Society, Boston MA, 2015
Young Investigator Award Finalist (top 6), Clinical, Oral presentation "Vectorcardiographic Predictors of Ventricular Inducibility in Patients with Tetralogy of Fallot," International Congress on Electrocardiology, Bratislava, Slovakia, 2014
Oral Presentation Award Finalist, "Improving Screening Methods for Pediatric Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, an update," Western Society of Pediatric Cardiology, Dana Point CA, 2014
Oral Presentation Award Finalist, "Improving Screening Methods for Pediatric Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy," Western Society of Pediatric Cardiology, Skamania WA, 2012
Young Investigator Award Finalist (top 6), Clinical, Oral presentation "When Deriving the Spatial QRS-T angle from the 12-lead ECG, which Transform is More Frank: Regression or Inverse Dower?" International Congress on Electrocardiology, Lund, Sweden, 2010
Bury A, Cortez D. Three-dimensional mapping for His-bundle pacing in pediatric patients, a case series. J Electrocardiol. 2021 Jul-Aug;67:98-102. doi:10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2021.05.014. Epub 2021 Jun 1. PMID:34130050.
Bury A, Cortez D. Selective His-bundle pacing in an adult with atrioventricular canal defect via retrograde His localization. Indian Pacing Electrophysiol J. 2021 Jun 2:S0972-6292(21)00085-1. doi:10.1016/j.ipej.2021.05.009. Epub ahead of print. PMID:34089841.
Cortez D, Hiremath G, Lohr JL. His bundle pacing after Senning baffle operation. Europace. 2021 May 25:euab069. doi:10.1093/europace/euab069. Epub ahead of print. PMID:34037770.
Siddeek H, Jimenez E, Ambrose M, Braunlin E, Steinberger J, Bass J, Cortez D. Pediatric Micra leadless pacemaker implantation via internal jugular and femoral vein: a single center, US experience. Future Cardiol. 2021 Jan 19. doi:10.2217/fca-2020-0169. Epub ahead of print. PMID:33463371.
Cortez D, Erickson K, Hiremath G, Rodgers N, Dugas B, Braunlin E, Ameduri R, Lohr JL. Pediatric SubQ-ICD implantation, a single center review of the inter-muscular technique. Indian Pacing Electrophysiol J. 2021 Jan-Feb;21(1):25-28. doi:10.1016/j.ipej.2020.10.007. Epub 2020 Nov 19. PMID:33221529.
von Alvensleben JC, Dechert B, Bradley DJ, Fish FA, Moore JP, Pilcher TA, Escudero C, Ceresnak SR, Kwok SY, Balaji S, Aziz PF, Papagiannis J, Cortez D, Garnreiter J, Kean A, Schäfer M, Collins KK. Subcutaneous Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators in Pediatrics and Congenital Heart Disease: A Pediatric and Congenital Electrophysiology Society Multicenter Review. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. 2020 Dec;6(14):1752-1761. doi:10.1016/j.jacep.2020.07.010. Epub 2020 Oct 28. PMID:33357571.
Koller MP, Cortez D, Kim TW. Nerve Blocks for Postoperative Pain Management in Children Receiving a Subcutaneous Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator: A Case Series. A A Pract. 2020 Nov;14(13):e01351. doi:10.1213/XAA.0000000000001351. PMID:33236870.
Myers F, Mishra PE, Cortez D, Schleiss MR. Chest palpitations in a teenager as an unusual presentation of Lyme disease: case report. BMC Infect Dis. 2020 Oct 7;20(1):730. doi:10.1186/s12879-020-05438-0. PMID:33028242.
Chaudhry U, Cortez D, Platonov PG, Carlson J, Borgqvist R. Vectorcardiography findings are associated with recurrent arrhythmias and mortality in patients with heart failure treated with implantable cardioverter-defibrillator devices. Cardiology. 2020;145:784-794. [Epub ahead of print] doi:10.1159/000509766.