St. Petersburg, FL – (October 22, 2021) – Bayfront Health St. Petersburg recently announced Board Certified cardiothoracic surgeon John C. Brock, MD, F.A.C.S. and award winning cardiologist Dennis M. Cassidy, MD, as the newest additions to the hospital’s growing staff. The two doctors will join the cardiology department at Bayfront Health St. Petersburg.
Dr. Brock joins Bayfront Health St. Petersburg after serving as owner of Physician Enterprises in Tampa and director of thoracic surgery at Manatee Memorial Hospital. He also directed the cardiac surgery unit at Tampa General Hospital from 2003 to 2007. While there, he served as chief of the cardiothoracic surgery department from 2004-2007. Earlier in his career he launched the cardiac surgical program at Wuesthoff Medical Center in Rockledge, Fla., and developed a new cardiac program at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa.
Dr. Brock earned his medical degree from the University of Florida. He studied cell biology at Harvard University’s School of Public Health, completed a fellowship in thoracic surgery at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and studied congenital heart reconstruction at the Denver Children’s hospital. Dr. Brock also had the great opportunity to train and then work alongside cardiac giant Michael DeBakey, MD for several years. A popular speaker at professional conferences, he has also authored or co-authored more than a dozen articles and was a clinical professor at the University of South Florida from 2001 to 2003.
Dr. Cassidy brings years of experience as a cardiologist and a researcher to the Bayfront Health St. Petersburg team. Dr. Cassidy was most recently with Tampa General Hospital and Moffitt Cancer Center. In 2020 he was recognized at the University of South Florida, where he was an Assistant Professor, with the Dr. Guillermo G. Cintron Award for Cardiology Faculty of the Year. He has also been an assistant professor at the University of Montreal and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Previously he won research fellowship awards from the Canadian Heart Foundation and the Medical Research Council of Canada. He also completed a research fellowship in Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Cassidy is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiology and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology.
A native of New Brunswick, Canada, Dr. Cassidy earned his medical doctorate from Memorial University, Newfoundland.
He has contributed to more than 60 publications, abstracts, and medical texts. In addition to his work as a physician, Dr. Cassidy earned his Master of Business Administration with a concentration in finance from the University of Tampa in 2000.
“We are excited to have these two surgeons join our team,” said John Moore, president, Bayfront Health St. Petersburg. “Dr. Brock and Dr. Cassidy are two well respected surgeons in the community. Their experience will be put to good use as we continue to provide the highest quality care from the best physicians in the region.”
About Bayfront Health St. Petersburg
The 480-bed Bayfront Health St. Petersburg was founded in 1910. It was acquired October 1, 2020 by Orlando Health, a not-for-profit healthcare organization with $7.1 billion of assets under management. The hospital’s areas of clinical excellence include heart and vascular, surgical services, rehabilitation services, neurosciences, maternity care and – as home to the only state-accredited Level Two Adult Trauma Center in Pinellas County – emergency services and trauma care.
Bayfront Health St. Petersburg is integral to the 3,200-bed Orlando Health system which serves the southeastern United States through 15 wholly-owned hospitals and emergency departments; rehabilitation services, cancer and heart institutes, imaging and laboratory services, wound care centers, physician offices for adults and pediatrics, skilled nursing facilities, an in-patient behavioral health facility, home healthcare services in partnership with LHC Group, and urgent care centers in partnership with CareSpot Urgent Care. Nearly 4,200 physicians, representing
more than 80 medical specialties and subspecialties have privileges across the system, which employs nearly 22,000 team members.
As a statutory teaching healthcare organization, Orlando Health hosts more than 325 residents and fellows including more than 40 who are enrolled at Bayfront Health St. Petersburg’s OB/GYN, Family Medicine, Sports Medicine and Pharmacy programs.
In FY20, Orlando Health served nearly 150,000 inpatients and nearly 3.1 million outpatients. During that same time period, the organization provided approximately $760 million in total value to the communities it serves in the form of charity care, community benefit programs and services, community building activities and more. Additional information can be found at https://www.bayfrontstpete.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
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