Faculty Disclosures

Rania K. Abbasi, MD is an Associate Professor of Clinical Anesthesia and Vice Chair of Pediatric Anesthesia at Indiana University and Anesthesiologist-in-Chief at Riley Children's Health. She practices pediatric cardiac anesthesia at Riley Children's Health in Indianapolis, Indiana. She completed her medical degree, anesthesia residency, and pediatric anesthesia fellowship at Indiana University, and her pediatric cardiac anesthesia fellowship at Stanford University. She is an active member of the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society (CCAS), for which she serves on the Annual Program Planning Committee and previously on the Board of Directors.

A graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, I completed my pediatric training and subspecialty training in pediatric cardiology at UCLA. I stayed on here and currently am the Director of the Pediatric Heart Transplant and Heart Failure program. I am also the Director of the Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension Program. I have also founded Hearts with Hope Foundation whose mission is to provide medical, dental and humanitarian assistance to children with congenital heart disease in the underserved global community.

Philip Arnold has been a consultant paediatric cardiac anaesthetist at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool since 2002. Prior to this he underwent fellowship training in Liverpool, Toronto and Newcastle. He has a wide range of clinical interests around the peri-operative care of children. These include enhanced recovery of cardiac patients, peri-operative echo, and management of severe bleeding. He has given lectures and written widely on these subjects. He also has a range of research interests in paediatric anaesthesia, is a member of the editorial board of Pediatric Anesthesia and chairs the APAGBI scientific committee.

After 30 years as a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist, Laura Berenstain is now an International Coaching Federation certified Coach, coaching physicians for personal and professional development and well-being. She is an Advisory Board member and Coach for the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia's Women's Empowerment and Leadership Initiative. Laura has traveled worldwide on mission trips teaching physicians how to care for children with complex congenital heart disease and has recently edited and published Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia: A Case-Based Approach. She has three amazing daughters who inspire her daily.

St. Louis Children's Hospital Washington University

Dr. Nina Deutsch is Chief of the Perioperative Anesthesiology Division at Boston Children's Hospital. She has been actively involved in both clinical and education-based research throughout her career. In addition to this, she greatly enjoys working with and mentoring junior faculty in both research and educational projects. On a national level, Dr. Deutsch is a past President of the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia (SPA). She is also happy to chair the Women's Empowerment and Leadership Initiative in SPA.

Dr. DiNardo graduated from Dartmouth College and Dartmouth Medical School (with honors). He completed his anesthesia residency and fellowship in Cardiac Anesthesia at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. He joined the faculty at Boston Children’s Hospital in 1999 where he served as the Chief of the Division of Cardiac Anesthesia until November 2022. Until recently he spent approximately one third of this clinical time as an Attending in the Cardiac ICU. Dr. DiNardo is certified in perioperative TEE and is the former Chairman of the PTEeXAM Committee. He has served as a Senior Oral Board Examiner for the ABA and currently is a member of the ABA Pediatric Examination Writing Committee, and Past Chair of the Pediatric MOCA Examination Writing Committee. He is Past-President of both the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society and the Association of Cardiac Anesthesiologists. He is the Anesthesia and Analgesia Section Editor for Pediatric Anesthesia. He is the author of 2 major textbooks on cardiac anesthesia, an editor of 2 textbooks on pediatric anesthesia, and an author of more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and 80 book chapters. He and his wife, Olivia run the Sowa Goat Sanctuary in Harvard, MA. https://www.instagram.com/sowagoatsanctuary/ It is a home for displaced and abandoned farm animals. He is an avid biathlon fan and participant and proud father of Isabel.

Laura Downey, MD is a Professor at Emory University in the Department of Anesthesiology and a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Her research focuses on understanding the role of fibrinogen and platelets in hemostasis in children after cardiopulmonary bypass surgery. She was awarded the 2019 SPA Young Investigators Grant to complete a clinical trial comparing fibrinogen concentrate to cryoprecipitate in neonates undergoing cardiac surgery. In 2021, she was awarded the 2021 International Anesthesia Research Society Mentored Research Award to study platelet function in neonates. She is currently the Secretary for the CCAS, Chair of the CCAS Research Committee, a member of the CCAS Hemostasis Interest Group, and a member of the ASA Patient Blood Management Committee. She enjoys traveling, triathlons, and hiking with her dog and husband.

I am originally from Belgium where I practiced as a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist in the department of Pediatric Anesthesiology at Queen Fabiola Children’s University Hospital in Brussels until September 2014. From October 2014 until June 2016, I was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School and Research Associate in the Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. I completed my PhD thesis in June 2015, entitled: “Perioperative Management of Bleeding in Children undergoing Cardiac Surgery”. After years in Toronto and Houston, I joined the Division of Cardiac Anesthesia at Boston Children's as a Senior Associate in Cardiac Anesthesia in October 2024. My research is focused on patient blood management, coagulation, and risk assessment of patients with congenital heart disease.

Pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist . Division Chief and Vice Chair Pediatric Anesthesia.

Dr. Guzzetta has been a practicing pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta since completion of her fellowship in 1994. She is currently a Professor of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine. She has performed extensive translational and clinical research focusing on: 1) understanding the maturational differences between the pediatric and adult hemostatic systems; 2) anticoagulation management of pediatric cardiac surgical patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass; 3) identification of factors associated with an increased risk of post-CPB bleeding; and 4) efforts to reduce bleeding in pediatric cardiac surgical patients after cardiopulmonary bypass. She is also active in the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society and served as President from 2017-2019.

Pediatric and adult Cardiac Anesthesiologist. NBE certified in advanced preoperative echocardiography

Dr Edmund Jooste is a Professor of Anesthesiology at Duke University and practices as a pediatric and pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist. He is Chief of Pediatric Anesthesia at Duke Children’s Hospital and until recently was the head of the Anesthesiology Clinical Research Unit, a unit focused on facilitating excellence in research and the practical implementation of both NIH and Industry funded research. His initial bench research focus was investigating the effects of non-depolarizing muscle relaxants on smooth muscle airway. He has also done significant clinical research, investigating the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of anesthetic agents in children, and particularly the cardiovascular effects of dexmedetomidine. His current research focuses on studying the coagulation system during cardiopulmonary bypass.

Dr. Kilbaugh is an intensive care physician and anesthesiologist, and Professor of Anesthesiology, Critical Care Medicine, and Pediatrics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Univeristy of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Todd holds the William J. Greeley Endowed Chair in Translational Science and Innovation, and serves as the Associate Chair for Research in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine. He is the Director of the ECMO Center at CHOP, and the Director of the Resuscitation Science Center of Emphasis at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute.

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Professor of Anesthesiology, University of Washington School of Medicine Director, Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology Co-Director, Seattle Children’s Heart Center

Dr. Lindsey Loveland is a Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and is the Associate Chief for Education and Professional Development and division Well-being lead. Dr. Loveland also serves as an ABA Applied Examiner and enjoys this immensely. Throughout her career, her focus has been on pediatric cardiac anesthesia and education. While acting as the associate and then program director for the pediatric anesthesiology fellowship at The Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin she has served as a member and on the board of the Pediatric Anesthesiology Program Directors Association (PAPDA) and as a Councilor on the Association of Anesthesiology Subspecialty Program Directors (AASPD) board. She has been a member of The Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society (CCAS) and served on the database committee. Currently her focus is on working with her division to attain advanced pediatric cardiac anesthesiology subspecialty accreditation in the newly created track by the ACGME in pediatric cardiac anesthesiology. She currently is a member of the Well-Being Committee. She also serves as a regular contributor to the Pediatric Anesthesia Article of the Day (PAAD). Dr. Loveland completed medical school at The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and residency at The University of Chicago. Following residency, she was a pediatric anesthesiology fellow at Children’s Wisconsin and the Medical College of Wisconsin where she fell in love with pediatric cardiac anesthesia prior to joining as faculty. Following approximately ten years in Wisconsin change and challenge called and she moved to CHOP. Outside of medicine, her time is primarily spent keeping her five children from finding ways to hurt themselves, get an education, stay curious, and learn to navigate the world for themselves. She enjoys horseback riding, dressage in particular when she has a few moments to herself. Additionally, she has been married to her husband Andrew, for 20 years, who provides constant support (and reality checks), and all the free technology, code, computer, and analytical advice she could ever dream of.

Pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist at Duke University Hospital

Associate Professor of Surgery, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Carlos Mery, M.D., MPH, is a congenital cardiac surgeon in the Texas Center for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease program, a collaboration between UT Health Austin and Dell Children’s Medical Center. He is an associate professor in the Departments of Surgery and Perioperative Care and Pediatrics, the associate section chief of pediatric and congenital heart surgery at Dell Children’s Medical Center, and the director of health transformation and design in congenital heart disease at Dell Medical School. He specializes in the management of children and adults with congenital heart disease, including simple and complex congenital heart defects. His passion is to help every patient with congenital heart disease have access to high-quality, comprehensive and personalized care. Mery was an associate surgeon at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston where he focused on complex cardiac repairs for neonates and infants with congenital heart disease, as well as patients with coronary artery anomalies. During his time in Houston, the program became the number one pediatric heart program by U.S. News and World Report. Mery led the creation of the Texas Children’s Coronary Anomalies Program, which became one of the premier programs of its kind in the United States. He received his medical degree from Tecnológico De Monterrey, Mexico. He completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Instituto Nacional de la Nutrición “Salvador Zubirán” in Mexico, and a research fellowship in thoracic surgery and clinical junior fellowship in cardiac surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He completed his general surgery residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, cardiothoracic fellowship at University of Virginia and congenital heart surgery fellowship at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine. Mery holds a Master’s in Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health as well as a fellowship in Surgical Innovation from Stanford University. Mery is board-certified in surgery, thoracic and cardiac surgery and congenital cardiac surgery. Mery brings his passion for improving the care of children with congenital heart disease to Texas, Mexico and Latin America. He has developed program collaborations in Texas and abroad to bring treatment, care and research to children and adults who may not have otherwise had access to this specialized heart-care. His academic interests include clinical outcomes research and the early development of medical technology. Mery served as president of the Thoracic Surgery Residents Association and is a member and active participant of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, and the World Society for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American College of Cardiology. Mery has written more than 100 journal articles or book chapters and is the editor of a comprehensive review book in cardiothoracic surgery.

Trained in Pediatrics, Pediatric Cardiology, Anesthesiology, Pediatric Anesthesiology and Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiologist. Practiced at Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine for over 20 years. Main clinical interests Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology, Pediatric Cardiology and NonInvasive Cardiac Imaging in the pediatric age group.

Dr. Mittnacht is the Vice Chair and Associate Director, Department of Anesthesiology at Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, NY, and the Chief of Pediatric and Adult Cardiac Anesthesia. Aside from administrative responsibilities, Dr. Mittnacht is actively engaged in the clinical practice of adult and pediatric cardiac anesthesia, including transesophageal echocardiography, Enhanced Recovery After Cardiac Surgery (ERACS), regional anesthesia for cardiac surgery and related procedures, and teaching residents and fellows. Dr. Mittnacht is the Vice Chair of the National Board of Echocardiography Advanced PTEeXAM Writing Committee. His clinical and research interests include hemodynamic monitoring, pediatric and adult Enhanced Recovery after Cardiac Surgery (ERACS), transesophageal echocardiography, anesthesia-related contributions to electrophysiology procedures, and pediatric and adult congenital heart disease surgery related outcomes.

Dr. Miyamoto is a pediatric cardiologist and Director of the Cardiomyopathy Program and the Jack Cooper Millisor Chair in Pediatric Heart Disease at Children’s Hospital Colorado and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. She attended the University of Iowa for her undergraduate and Medical School education. She completed her pediatric residency and a Chief Resident year at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and then moved to Colorado in 2002 for her pediatric cardiology fellowship. Her clinical expertise includes the care of infants and children suffering from various forms of cardiomyopathy and heart failure as well as the care of children who have had a heart transplant. She is involved in advocacy work related to advancing the care of children with heart disease, including work as a member of the Medical Advisory Board for the Children’s Cardiomyopathy Foundation and she is the Chair of the Lifelong Congenital Heart Disease and Heart Health in the Young (“Young Hearts”) council of the American Heart Association. Dr. Miyamoto spends much of her time performing research aimed at improving the understanding of the unique mechanisms involved in heart failure in children.

Prof. dr. Mona MOMENI is currently working as anesthesiologist in the Cliniques universitaires Saint Luc in Brussels. Dr. Momeni is specialized in cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia and is particularly interested in congenital cardiac anesthesia. She is currently Director of Research and head of cardiac anesthesia at Cliniques universitaires Saint Luc in Brussels. She is since 2019 Full Professor of Anesthesia at Université Catholique de Louvain in Brussels. Mona Momeni is member of the subcommittee Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia of ESAIC as well as Council Member of Belgium for ESAIC. She is also member of the Research Committee of the CCAS. Mona Momeni is Associate Editor for the European Journal of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care and Acta Anaesthesiologica Belgica. She is current president of the Belgian Society of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation, Perioperative Medicine and Pain Management.

Dr. Pablo Motta earned his MD from the Universidad de la República (UDELAR) School of Medicine in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he also completed his residency in intensive care medicine. He then pursued advanced training in adult and pediatric cardiac anesthesia at the Cleveland Clinic, beginning his career there before joining Baylor College of Medicine. Currently, Dr. Motta is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at Baylor College of Medicine and practices at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. He leads the Anesthesia Section for Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) and serves as Chair of the ACHD Special Interest Group within the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society (CCAS). He is actively involved in resident and fellow education and in ongoing clinical research. Additionally, Dr. Motta serves as Associate Medical Director of the Heart Center International Program, where he leads pediatric cardiac medical mission trips and advises congenital anesthesia teams worldwide.

Dr. Viviane Nasr is the Chief of Cardiac Anesthesia at Boston Children’s Hospital and an Associate Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School. She. Her work is mostly related to patients with congenital heart disease and the perioperative risk assessment of pediatric patients. She has written more than 140 publications, multiple textbook chapters and a handbook on pediatric cardiac anesthesia. In addition to her active academic career, she is the President of the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society.

Susan Nicolson is Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. After a residency in pediatrics at CHOP, she completed an anesthesia residency at The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania followed by fellowships is pediatric anesthesia and critical care medicine and adult cardiac anesthesia. She spent her entire career at Penn, the last 30 years at CHOP dedicated to caring for patients with congenital heart disease. At CHOP she has served as Division chief of pediatric cardiac anesthesia, associate anesthesiologist-in -chief, and Medical Director of the Cardiac Center. Dr. Nicolson holds the Josephine J. Templeton chair in Pediatric Anesthesia Education. She is currently focused on training the next generation of pediatric cardiac anesthesiologists and answering some of the unanswered questions in the field.

Graduated in India and completed all anesthesia training in UK including Fellowship in Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia. Has been a Consultant in Alder Hey a Tertiary Pediatric University hospital in United Kingdom for over 14 years before recently moving to work in Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi. Introduced ultrasound guided bilateral para-vertebral blocks in cardiac surgery in 2010 and has promoted use of regional anesthesia and enhanced recovery in cardiac surgery. Main interests include regional anesthesia, neonatal anesthesia and teaching.

Jill Savla, MD, MSCE is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. She joined the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Division of Cardiology faculty in 2019. Dr. Savla’s clinical interests include transesophageal echocardiography, 3D imaging, general pediatric cardiology, and fetal cardiology counseling. She is very passionate about teaching cardiac anatomy and congenital heart disease morphology, which she learned from her mentor Dr. Paul Weinberg. Her research focus is about the influence of the maternal-fetal environment on cardiac surgery outcomes.

Dr. McElrath Schwartz is a Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Her clinical practice is as a senior cardiac anesthesiologist and intensivist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia where she is Associate Division Chief for Faculty Affairs in the Division of Cardiac Anesthesiology. Dr. Schwartz is passionate about leadership, program building, and faculty development in support of clinical excellence.

Dr. Sarah M. Smith earned her MD from the University of Texas School of Medicine in San Antonio, Texas. After completing a first residency in general pediatrics at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in California and a second in anesthesiology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Maryland, she completed a pediatric anesthesiology fellowship at Children's Hospital Colorado, finally specializing in pediatric cardiovascular anesthesiology at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Texas, where she is now an assistant professor with the Baylor College of Medicine. Apart from clinical work, Dr. Smith is focusing her career on patient and trainee education, healthcare access, and international medicine.

After completing my anesthesia residency at the University of California, San Diego, I completed a fellowship in Pediatric Anesthesia at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In 1998 I accepted my first position as an attending anesthesiologist at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) where I have spent my entire career. I have been the Director of the Cardiac Anesthesia division at CCHMC since 2002, and was recently promoted to Professor of Clinical Anesthesia in the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. My interests include perioperative safety, neurologic injury in children with congenital heart disease, and educating the next generation of congenital cardiac anesthesiologists. I have been a member of the CCAS Board of Directors since 2017, and was the Program Director for the 2020 CCAS Annual Meeting.

Dr Katherine Taylor is a pediatric cardiac anaesthesiologist at the Hospital for Sick Children. She began her medical career in Australia where she completed fellowships in pediatric and adult anesthesia and ICU before completing a fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children after which she joined the group as staff. Her research interests include assessment and manipulation of cardiac output in high-risk pediatric anesthesia for which was awarded a PhD at the University of Sydney. Her research has been funded by the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society and the University of Toronto. She is an Associate Professor of Anesthesia at the University of Toronto, President of the Canadian Pediatric Anesthesia Society (CPAS) and on the Executive for the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society (CCAS).

Ban Tsui, MD, MSC, is a Stanford University pediatric and adult anesthesiologist and professor. His research aims to transform regional anesthesia from an "art" to a reliable and reproducible "science" by exploring electrophysiological signal monitoring and integrating it with ultrasound advances. Dr. Tsui is dedicated to mentoring and motivating residents and fellows to incorporate research into their clinical practice. He has received funding from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research and the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society and was awarded the Distinguish Service Award by the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine in 2022.

Immediate Past President of the CCAS. Division Chief of Cardiac Anesthesiology and Co-Director of the Cardiac Center, Nemours Children's Hospital, Wilmington, Delaware.

I have practiced as a Pediatric and Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiologist since July 1994 beginning at All Children's Hospital in St Petersburg FL from 1994 through 2004 followed by 3 years at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland Ohio until landing back home in Houston at Texas Children's Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine where I have been since 2008. Beyond always trying to extend my clinical skills for the benefit of my patients I have been deeply involved in the development of the CCAS database for patients undergoing heart surgery in conjunction with the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. I have served on the CCAS Board of Directors for many years and am currently the Vice-President of the Society.

Dr. Elizabeth Vogel is an assistant professor of anesthesiology and the director of congenital cardiac anesthesia at Mayo Clinic Rochester. She received her MD at the University of Minnesota prior to completing her anesthesia residency at Mayo Clinic. She completed fellowships in pediatric and congenital cardiac anesthesiology at Boston Children’s Hospital prior to returning to Minnesota. Her clinical and research interests include refining care for pediatric congenital heart patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery and optimizing care for pediatric patients in the cardiac cath lab.

Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology at LeBonheur Children's Hospital, Memphis, TN 2010 - present.

I completed a pediatric residency (Duke/Wake Forest University) with board certification in 1993. I trained in anesthesia at the University of Florida with board certification in 1996 with fellowship training in neuroanesthesia 1997. I received training in a combined Pediatric Anesthesia (board certification 2013)/Pediatric Critical Care (board certification 2001) fellowships at Boston Children's Hospital. I have been practicing pediatric anesthesia for 20 years and pediatric cardiac anesthesia for 15 years. I was a pediatric cardiac intensivist for 9 years.

Dr. Luis Zabala is Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern School of Medicine in Dallas. He is the Medical Director of the Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia program at Children’s Medical Center, Dallas and the current President of the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society.