Marissa Aldridge

Vice president of cardiovascular services at HCA Healthcare Trident Medical Center in North Charleston, South Carolina 

Marissa is redefining what cardiovascular leadership looks like. In her present role she oversees one of the Southeast’s most dynamic cardiovascular programs—and she does it with her skillful hands as well as her meticulous mind. 

A clinician turned executive, Marissa brings rare perspective to the leadership group. She has lived the realities of lab workflow, frontline staffing and patient care firsthand. That foundation shapes everything she does, from designing operational systems to earning the trust of physicians, nurses and administrators. Her colleagues describe her as a “boots on the ground” leader who rounds in procedural areas, fills staffing gaps and leads not only by her title but also by her example.  

Marissa’s accomplishments match her reputation. Under her guidance, Trident Hospital launched Pulsed Field Ablation in the Southeast region while achieving one of the lowest PFA case costs across the entire HCA enterprise — a feat that pairs clinical advancement with financial discipline at an enterprise scale. She has simultaneously driven strategic capacity expansion across interventional cardiology, cardiac surgery and vascular surgery, building a full-continuum cardiovascular program primed for the region’s growing demand. 

Equally important is what Marissa, 37, is building behind her: a deliberate talent pipeline of emerging leaders she is mentoring, recruiting and empowering to step confidently into the next generation of cardiovascular operations leadership. 

In a field that needs energetic innovators as well as agile administrators, Marissa Aldridge is both.