Department of Pediatrics Annual Report – 2020
Cardiology
Among the nation's top 10 programs for children with heart disease
The Division of Cardiology, formed in 1956 by Dr. Sylvia Griffiths:
- Provides the latest and most effective diagnostic and therapeutic interventions and surgeries that will achieve the best outcomes
- Conducts innovative basic science, translational, and clinical research
- Educates the next generation of pediatric cardiologists in every aspect of pediatric cardiology
Our ultimate goal is to cure heart disease one gene, one cell, one heart at a time through clinical, scientific, and academic excellence.
As part of NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, we are among the top 10 pediatric cardiology programs in the U.S.
Our Team
Our team of 45 faculty provide clinical excellence through many nationally recognized clinical and research programs, including:
- General Cardiology
- Exercise Physiology
- Noninvasive Imaging
- Interventional Cardiology
- Heart Failure/Transplant/Cardiomyopathy
- Electrophysiology
- Pulmonary Hypertension
- Cardiac Critical Care
- Comprehensive Single Ventricle Care Center
- Pediatric Heart Valve Center
- Initiative for Pediatric Cardiac Innovation
Our program has achieved many measures of distinction. We:
- Are leaders in the care of babies born with a single ventricle, through our Center for Single Ventricle Care
- Have expanded the use of 3D pre-procedure planning models to guide surgeries and transcatheter interventions in children born with complex heart lesions, including ventricular assist device placement planning
- Are pioneers in the initial and ongoing development of transcatheter valve placement for congenital heart disease
- Have expertise performing the hybrid approach for hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and are one of a few centers in the U.S. to establish a formal pediatric hybrid program
- Are leaders in treating low-birthweight infants who require early surgical or transcatheter interventions
- Implanted the first Berlin heart as a bridge to transplant in the youngest patient ever to receive one – an infant only three days old
- Are one of only a few institutions in the world to perform comprehensive multidisciplinary heart valve repair and replacement
- Established the only cardiac intensive care unit in the nation exclusively dedicated to the care of newborn infants with congenital heart disease
- Demonstrated that whole-exome sequencing can serve as a valuable addition to standard prenatal genetic tests, with the potential to improve perinatal care for infants with genetic conditions
The division is also committed to expanding scientific discovery in the field of pediatric cardiology and cardiovascular surgery. To achieve this, several faculty members and staff are currently funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including two R01 awards and a K award, and other large foundations through independent, collaborative, and mentored research awards.
Education
Our Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship is one of the most highly sought after programs in the country. Our three-year bi-campus program involves NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, on the Columbia University Irving Medical Center campus, and Komansky Children’s Hospital, on the Weill Cornell Medicine campus. Trainees also have the option of an advanced fourth-year fellowship in a subspecialty area such as non-invasive imaging, interventional cardiology, heart failure/transplantation, or pulmonary hypertension.
New Appointments
- Irene Lytrivi, MD, 2018 (Heart Failure/Transplant)
- Oliver Barry, MD, 2019 (Interventional Cardiac Catheterization)
- Jamie Harrington, MD, 2019 (Noninvasive Imaging)
- Alexandra Channing, MD, 2020 (Noninvasive Imaging)
- Aimee Layton, PhD, 2020 (Exercise Physiology)
- Benjamin Mantell, MD, PhD, 2020 (Heart Failure/Transplant)
- Neil Tailor, MD, 2020 (Interventional Cardiac Catheterization – Advanced Fellowship)
- Priyanka Asrani, MD, 2020 (Noninvasive Imaging)
- Matan Setton, MD, 2020 (Noninvasive Imaging)
Promotions 2018-2020
- Usha Krishnan, MD, Professor, 2018
- Irene Lytrivi, MD, Associate Professor, 2019
- Leo Liberman, MD, Professor, 2019
- Eric Silver, MD, Associate Professor. 2020
- Warren Zuckerman, MD, Associate Professor, 2020
Honors and Awards
Alejandro Torres, MD
- Julie A. Vincent Leadership Award, Pediatric Cardiology, 2020
- Babies Heart Fund Faculty Research Award, 2018
Matthew Crystal, MD
- Allan J. Hordof Teacher of the Year Award, Pediatric Cardiology, 2019
- American Board of Internal Medicine, Subboard of Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) Certification, 2019
Usha Krishnan, MD
- VP&S Academy of Excellence (ACE) Inductee, 2019
Teresa Lee, MD
- Elected to Society for Pediatric Research, 2019
Leonardo Liberman, MD
- P&S Academy of Excellence (ACE) Inductee, 2020
- Allan J. Hordof Teacher of the Year Award, Pediatric Cardiology, 2019
Erika Berman-Rosenzweig, MD
- VP&S Academy of Excellence (ACE) Inductee, 2020
- American Board of Internal Medicine, Subboard of Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) Certification, 2019
Kanwal Farooqi, MD
- Inaugural Class of the SCCT Future Leader Program, 2020
- Elected to Society for Pediatric Research, 2019
Warren Zuckerman, MD
- Vice Chair of the Scientific Committee/Steering Committee Liaison for the Pediatric Heart Transplant Study Group, 2020
- Thomas J. Starc Humanism in Medicine Award – Pediatric Cardiology, 2020
Mariel Turner, MD
- Appointed Associate Director of the Pediatric Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories, Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, 2020
- American Board of Internal Medicine, Subboard of Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) Certification, 2019
Major Grants
- PVDOMICS Defining the future fingerprints of pulmonary vascular disease. NIH/National Health Lung and Blood Institute; UO1HL125218-02. Principal Investigator: Erica Berman Rosenzweig.
- Linking state medicaid and congenital heart surgical registry data: Building capacity to assess disparities in longitudinal outcomes and value for children withc congenital heart disease. NIH/National Health Lung and Blood Institute; R01 HL150044. Principal Investigator: Brett Anderson.
- Pharmacokinetics and safety profile of digoxin in infants with single ventricle congenital heart disease (DGX01). NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Principal Investigator: Brett Anderson.
- Congenital heart technical skill study: Improving outcomes for infants and children with congenital heart disease. NIH/National Health Lung and Blood Institute K23HL133454. Principal Investigator: Brett Anderson.
- Mechanisms of second heart field development regulated by Nkx genes. NIH/National Health Lung and Blood Institute; R01HL131438-01A1PI. Principal Investigator: Kimara L. Targoff.
- Training in cardiovascular translational research. NIH/National Health Lung and Blood Institute; T32HL120826-06. Principal Investigator: Andrew R. Marks.
- Identification and functional analysis of novel infantile cardiomyopathy genes. NIH/National Health Lung and Blood Institute; K23HL138231-02. Principal Investigator: Teresa Lee.
- Tacrolimus/everolimus vs. tacrolimus/MMF in pediatric heart transplant recipients using the MATE score (TEAMMATE). Department of Defense; W81XWH-17-1-0532.
- PumpKIN (pumps for kids, infants, and neonates) trial. NIH/National Health Lung and Blood Institute; HHSN26820120001. Investigator: Paul Chai.
Selected Publications
Rosenzweig EB, Ankola A, Krishnan U, Middlesworth W, Bacha E, Bacchetta M. A novel unidirectional-valved shunt approach for end-stage pulmonary arterial hypertension: Early experience in adolescents and adults. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2019 Nov 14.
Rosenzweig EB, Gannon WD, Madahar P, Agerstrand C, Abrams D, Liou P, Brodie D, Bacchetta M. Extracorporeal life support bridge for pulmonary hypertension: A high-volume single-center experience. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2019 Dec; 38(12): 1275-1285.
Crystal MA, Freud LR. Fetal aortic valvuloplasty to prevent progression to hypoplastic left heart syndrome in utero. Birth Defects Res. 2019 May 1; 111(8): 389-394.
Anderson BR, Kumar SR, Gottlieb-Sen D, Newburger JW, Hill KD, Moga FX, Overman DM, Jacobs ML, Jacobs JP, Glied SA, Bacha EA, on behalf of the Congenital Heart Technical Skill Study. The Congenital Heart Technical Skill Study: Rationale and Design. World J Ped Cong Heart Surg. 2019 March; 10(2): 137-144.
Anderson BR, Fieldston ES, Newburger JW, Bacha EA, Glied SA. Disparities in outcomes and resource utilization after hospitalization for cardiac surgery by neighborhood income. Pediatrics. 2018 Feb 23; 141(3). Doi: 10.1542/peds.2017-2432.
Shi, L, Zheng, C., Shen, Y., Chen, Z., Silveira, E., Zhang, L., Wei, M., Liu, C., de Sena-Tomas, C., Targoff, K.L., Min, W. Optical imaging of metabolic dynamics in animals. Nature Communications. 2018 August 6; 9(1): 2995. (PMID: 30082908)
Colombo, S., de Sena-Tomás, C., George, V., Werdich, AA., Kapur, S., MacRae, CA, Targoff, KL. Nkx genes establish SHF cardiomyocyte progenitors at the arterial pole and pattern the venous pole through Isl1 repression. Development. 2018 February 5; 145(3). (PMID: 29361575)
Bolourchi M, Silver ES, Muwanga D, Mendez E, Liberman L. Comparison of holter with zio patch electrocardiography monitoring in children. Am J Cardiol. 2020; 125: 767−771.
Highlights
Patient Story: Mahdi Islam
For six-year-old Mahdi Islam, walking just a few New York City blocks may as well have been scaling Mount Everest. Born in 2010, Mahdi had been diagnosed at birth at Flushing Hospital with Ebstein anomaly, a rare congenital heart defect that impacts the heart’s activity and blood flow.
Why Do Poor Children Fare Worse After Heart Surgery?
An MBA is a popular degree for people who want to run businesses, but for pediatric cardiologist Brett Anderson, MD, MBA, MS, assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, the degree helps her focus on improving health quality and outcomes for underserved patients.
Christopher J. Petit to Lead Pediatric Cardiology
An international leader in pediatric cardiology, Christopher J. Petit, MD, has been named chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology in the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and chief of the pediatric cardiology service at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital.
Patient Spotlight: Kelli MacTaggart
Two years ago, Kelli MacTaggart was a typical high school junior. She loved spending time with her friends and family and was looking forward to going off to college. But her life changed suddenly in January 2018, when Kelli became dizzy and lost consciousness while walking with her friends from one class to the next. In the hallway of her high school, she went into cardiac arrest.