Dr. David Teitel is a pediatric cardiologist who performs diagnostic and therapeutic procedures on infants, children and adults with heart conditions present from birth. He specializes in cardiac catheterization, a minimally invasive technique in which a long, thin tube called a catheter is passed into a blood vessel to reach the heart.
Teitel is an expert on how the newborn cardiovascular system adapts following birth and in response to congenital heart disease, which has been the focus of his research. He co-authored a book on this topic, Neonatal Cardiology, and gives lectures throughout the Americas and Europe on the cardiovascular system of the fetus and child.
After earning his medical degree at the University of Toronto, Teitel completed a residency in pediatrics at Montreal Children's Hospital. He then completed a fellowship in pediatric cardiology at UCSF, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1982. He served as chief of the UCSF Division of Pediatric Cardiology for more than two decades and as medical director of the UCSF Pediatric Heart Center from its inception through 2015.
Teitel has also served for years in the Academic Senate of the University of California and is currently chair of the UCSF division. The senate is an independent group that determines academic policies and represents faculty concerns to the UC administration.