Daniel Lee Cortez, M.D., Ph.D. for UC Davis Health

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).

Reviews

Specialties

Electrophysiology

Congenital Anomalies

Pediatric Cardiology

Pediatrics

Adult Congenital Cardiology

Department

Pediatrics

Locations and Contact

UC Davis Children's Hospital

UC Davis Children's Hospital
2315 Stockton Blvd.
Sacramento, CA 95817

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Additional Numbers

Clinic Phone

916-734-3456

Physician Referrals

800-UCD-4-KIDS (800-823-4543)

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

UC Davis Children's Hospital

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.