Dr. Pierson received his medical degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. His postgraduate clinical training included general surgery at the University of Michigan, cardiac and thoracic surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital and a clinical and research fellowship in cardiothoracic transplantation at Papworth Hospital at Cambridge University. After eight years at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, he joined the University of Maryland in 2002. He was promoted to Professor of Surgery in 2006, and since then has served as Director of the Surgical Care Clinical Center at the VA Maryland Health Care System.

His clinical interests include heart and lung transplantation and heart assist device therapy. He is an established investigator in the area of immunobiology of transplantation, and has special expertise in xenotransplantation. His laboratory is funded by the NIH and Veterans Affairs Research Program, and he has had numerous grants and awards from other funding agencies, including ALA, AHA, ASTS and DOD ONR.

Dr. Pierson is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and a member of the Association of VA Surgeons. He has been selected annually as one of the Best Doctors in America since 2001 and by America's Top Doctors since 2002. He is a member of the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons, American Society of Transplant Surgeons, American Surgical Association, International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Society of University Surgeons, UNOS Policy Oversight Committee, VA National Transplant and Thoracic Transplant Boards, and President of the International Xenotransplantation Association, a section of the Transplantation Society.