Dr. Mark Plunkett received his Bachelor of Science degree from Duke University and his Medical Degree the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  He completed his residency training in General and Cardiothoracic Surgery at Duke University Medical Center.  In addition, he  completed subspecialty fellowship training in Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and Cardiac Transplantation at UCLA Medical Center and the Mattel Children's Hospital. In  1999, Dr. Plunkett joined  the full-time faculty of the David Geffen School of Medicine and Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA.  He later served as Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the UK School of Medicine and was director of pediatric cardiac surgery.  His clinical focus is Pediatric and Neonatal Cardiac Surgery.

He is currently Chief of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgeon at the Children's Hospital of Illinois and a Professor of Surgery at the University of Illinois College of Medicine.

Dr. Plunkett is actively involved in local and national committees and editorial boards.   His work is widely published, and he has been recognized with various honors and teaching awards. 

He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. He is board certified in Cardiothoracic Surgery by the ABTS and is one of 160 board certified Pediatric and Congenital Heart surgeons in the U.S.

His current research focuses on the use of 3-D Modelling in the surgical repair of complex congenital heart defects.