Anderson Team

CH-HERO at Columbia University
Congenital Heart-Health Evaluation Research and Outcomes Program

Congenital heart defects are the most common and resource intensive birth defects managed in the United States with high morbidity and mortality. They affect >1 million US children and >1.4 million US adults, with worse outcomes among minorities and lower income neighborhoods. Despite this, long-term outcome and cost data are nearly non-existent and etiologies of inequities unknown. Our team links clinical and administrative data to examine the effects of patient, provider, and social determinants of health. The Anderson research team focuses on linking and integrating large data to understand to drivers of outcomes, costs, and health inequity for children with congenital heart disease. Recent team projects include assessing the effects of race and neighborhood on outcomes and resource utilization for children undergoing congenital heart surgery and quantifying the effects of surgeon age/experience on patient outcomes. We are currently working with ten of eleven other centers and the NY State Department of Health to examine measures of healthcare access as drivers of health inequities.