Texas Children's Hospital hosted Pediatric Heart Failure Summit in partnership with Sick Kids Labatt Family Heart Centre and Cincinnati Children's Heart Institute

HOUSTON - (Oct. 15, 2013) -Texas Children's Hospital, in partnership with Sick Kids Labatt Family Heart Centre in Toronto, Ontario and Cincinnati Children's Heart Institute, hosted the inaugural Pediatric Heart Failure Summit Oct. 10 - 12. The conference, affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), focused on the challenges of advanced heart failure in children. For more information about the summit, please visit texaschildrens.org/phfs2013.


The curriculum featured medical and surgical experts from leading institutions who shared emerging scientific research and clinical applications. Program topics included management strategies of acute heart failure syndromes, methods of hemodynamic and physiologic monitoring, renal protective techniques, and updates on mechanical circulatory support in children. During the three-day symposium, 17 cardiovascular surgeons, cardiologists and critical care experts from Texas Children's and BCM moderated and served on panels specially designed for pediatric cardiologists, intensivists, neonatologists, emergency department physicians and other physicians interested in the management of advanced heart failure in children.


Dr. Lynn Warner Stevenson, director of the heart failure and cardiomyopathy program at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, delivered the keynote address. Stevenson, who is also a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, has served on national guideline panels for heart failure, pacing devices, patient decision-making, core measure sets and Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations standards. Her research has focused on the physiology of decompensation and re-compensation, and includes leadership roles in National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute-sponsored studies for strategies of medical and device therapies in advanced heart failure.


The unique symposium was held at the state-of-the-art BioScience Research Collaborative at Rice University. Cincinnati Children's Heart Institute will serve as the host for next year's conference.

About Texas Children’s Hospital

Texas Children’s Hospital, a not-for-profit health care organization, is committed to creating a healthier future for children and women throughout the global community by leading in patient care, education and research. Consistently ranked as the best children’s hospital in Texas, and among the top in the nation, Texas Children’s has garnered widespread recognition for its expertise and breakthroughs in pediatric and women’s health. The hospital includes the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute; the Feigin Center for pediatric research; Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women, a comprehensive obstetrics/gynecology facility focusing on high-risk births; Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus, a community hospital in suburban West Houston; and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands, a second community hospital planned to open in 2017. The organization also created the nation’s first HMO for children, has the largest pediatric primary care network in the country and a global health program that’s channeling care to children and women all over the world. Texas Children’s Hospital is affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine. For more information, go to www.texaschildrens.org. Get the latest news by visiting the online newsroom and Twitter at twitter.com/texaschildrens.