Faculty

Rania K. Abbasi, MD is an Associate Professor of Clinical Anesthesia at Indiana University. She practices pediatric cardiac anesthesia at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, Indiana. She completed her medical degree, anesthesia residency, and pediatric anesthesia fellowship at Indiana University. She then completed a second fellowship in pediatric cardiac anesthesia at Stanford University. She is currently the program director for the Advanced Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia Fellowship at Indiana University. She is an active member of the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society (CCAS), for which she serves on the Board of Directors.

Dr. Adams is a congenital cardiac anesthesiologist at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. He also serves on the UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Division of Anesthesiology's Quality and Patient Safety Committee and as the congenital cardiac anesthesiology rotation director.

Megan Albertz is a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist and the program director for pediatric cardiac anesthesiology fellowship at Children's Hospital Colorado. She is involved in education initiatives including co-directing the CCAS Trainee Lecture Series and is an editor for the SPA Question of the Week.

Melania M. Bembea, MD, MPH, PhD is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology/Critical Care Medicine and Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University. She is an attending physician in the pediatric intensive care unit at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, where she serves as Director of the ECMO Program. Dr. Bembea was founding co-chair of the Pediatric ECMO Research Collaborative (PediECMO) between the PALISI Network and ELSO. She currently serves as PALISI Scientific Committee Chair. Her research group focuses on developing imaging and plasma brain injury biomarkers in critically-ill children, with the overarching goal of improving neuromonitoring and neurologic outcomes. Dr. Bembea is principal investigator for the ongoing NIH/NINDS Biomarkers of Brain Injury in Critically-Ill Children on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (BEAM) study.

Dr. Brown is an associate professor in the department of anesthesiology at Boston Children's Hospital. She is the clinical director for the division of cardiac anesthesia. She also is the CCAS quality and safety committee chair and the chair-elect of the STS-CCAS database committee.

Dr. Chau has been a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist with broad interests who is focused on advancing the health of all pediatric patients.

Specialty Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Pediatric Anesthesia Credentials Re-certified, American Board of Anesthesiology October 2019-2029 Certified, Fellow of the American Society of Anesthesiologist (FASA) September 2018-Present Certified, Pediatric Anesthesiology Board October 2013-Present Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, The University of Queensland, Australia February 2013-Present Section Head, Pediatric Cardiovascular Anesthesia, Ochsner Medical Center New Orleans, Louisiana September 2010-Present Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, Tulane School of Medicine New Orleans, Louisiana July 2011-Present Certified, American Board of Anesthesiology October 2009 Medical License, State of Louisiana August 2006-Present Experience Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia, Ochsner Medical Center New Orleans, Louisiana, January 2009- present Locum Tenens, Touro Infirmary Medical Center New Orleans, Louisiana, October 2008- January 2009 Locum Tenens, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana, September 2008- October 2008 Fellowship University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado Pediatric Anesthesiology, August 2007- July 2008 Residency University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado Anesthesiology, April 2006- July 2007 Tulane University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, Louisiana Anesthesiology, July 2004- March 2006 Internship Tulane University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, Louisiana Surgery Internship, July 2003-June 2004 Graduate Education Tulane University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, Louisiana Clinical Research Anesthesiology, January 2003-July 2003 New York Medical College, Fifth Pathway Program, Valhalla, New York Supervised Clinical Internship, January 2002- December 2002 University of Monterrey, School of Medicine, Monterrey, Mexico Doctorate in Medicine, January 1996- December 1999 Undergraduate Education University of Puerto Rico, Pre-Medicine Program, Ponce, Puerto Rico Certification of Completion, June 1995 University of Puerto Rico, School of Nursing, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico Associate Degree in Nursing, June 1991

Dr. Anne Elisa Cossu is a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist in a private practice group at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters. She is an Assistant Professor in the affiliated medical school Eastern Virginia Medical School. She serves as the educational coordinator for rotating residents from various subspecialities including anesthesiology, pediatrics and pediatric emergency medicine. She is trained in anesthesiology, pediatric anesthesiology and congenital cardiac anesthesiology. She is the associate editor of the CCAS Communications Committee and edits the question of the week. She is an ABA oral board examiner and a written pediatric anesthesiology board question writer. She also reviews articles for the pediatric section of Anesthesia and Analgesia. Her research interests are currently focused on postoperative outcomes in patients with congenital heart disease after noncardiac surgery and hemostasis management after surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.

Dr. Nina Deutsch is Professor of Anesthesiology and Director of Cardiac Anesthesiology at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. She also serves as Vice-Chief of Academic Affairs for the Division of Anesthesiology, Pain and Perioperative Medicine. 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, and she has implemented a faculty development program within her division. On a national level, Dr. Deutsch currently serves as the Immediate Past President of the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia (SPA). She is also happy to Chair the Women's Empowerment and Leadership Initiative that was started in SPA in 2018.

James A. DiNardo, M.D., FAAP, FASA 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 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 is also a Senior Oral Board Examiner for the ABA, a member of the ABA Pediatric Examination Writing Committee, and Chair of the Pediatric MOCA Examination Committee. He is Past-President of both the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society and the Association of Cardiac Anesthesiologists. He is the Anesthesia and Analgesia Executive Editor for Pediatric Anesthesia. He is the author of 2 major textbook 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. It is a home for displaced and abandoned animals. He is an avid biathlon fan and participant and proud father of Isabel.

Laura Downey, MD is an Associate Professor at Emory University in the Department of Anesthesiology and a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. She completed residency at Stanford University and pediatric and pediatric cardiac anesthesia fellowships at Boston Children’s Hospital. Her research focuses on understanding the role of fibrinogen and platelets in hemostasis in children after cardiopulmonary bypass surgery. She was awarded the 2019 Society for Pediatric Anesthesiology Young Investigators Grant to complete a clinical trial comparing fibrinogen concentrate to cryoprecipitate in neonates undergoing cardiac surgery. She was awarded the 2021 International Anesthesia Research Society Mentored Research Award to study platelet function in neonates. She is currently on the CCAS Board of Directors, a member of the CCAS Research Committee, Chair of the CCAS Hemostasis Interest Group, Chair of the subcommittee on Surveys for the SPA Research Society, and a member of the ASA Patient Blood Management Committee.

I am a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist originally from Belgium. 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”. I joined the Hospital for Sick Children in July 2016 where I completed a cardiac anesthesia fellowship. In July 2017, I was appointed as staff anesthesiologist in the Division of Cardiac Anesthesia and the Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine at The Hospital for Sick Children, and Associate Professor of Anesthesia in the department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at University of Toronto. I was also Associate Scientist in the Department of Translational Medicine at the Sick Kids Research Institute. In July 2021, I joined the Arthur S. Keats Division of Pediatric Cardiovascular Anesthesia and Dept. of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Texas Children’s Hospital as an attending CV Anesthesiologist and the Department of Anesthesiology at Baylor College of Medicine as a Full Professor (tenured). I am a section editor (cardiac) for Pediatric Anesthesia, an associate editor for Anesthesiology and Anesthesia & Analgesia, as well as a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia, the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, and the Seminars in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia. I am member of the board of directors of the Society for the Advancement of Patient Blood Management and Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society.

Dr. Friedberg has been on staff as a Paediatric Cardiologist at the Hospital for Sick Children since 2006. He is also a Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto and a Senior Associate Scientist with the SickKids Research Institute. As a Senior Associate Scientist, Dr. Friedberg has established an independent, Canadian Institutes of Health Research funded, basic science lab that uses animal and in vitro models to delineate the mechanisms of RV dysfunction and ventricular-ventricular interactions. Major research funding has been awarded from the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation. He is also the Director of Research in the Echocardiography lab at the Hospital for Sick Children. Dr. Friedberg’s leadership in academic, pediatric echocardiography was acknowledged by an appointment to the editorial boards of the Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging Journal, Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Imaging, and as an associate editor at Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, as well as leadership positions in the American Society of Echocardiography. His research contributions to the field were recognized by being awarded the 2018 Feigenbaum lecturer at the American Society of Echocardiography.

Division Chief, Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology, McGovern Medical School, UT Houston, Texas

Dr. Stephen Gleich is from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, USA. Dr. Gleich completed medical school at Mayo Clinic, followed by residencies in Pediatrics and Anesthesiology and fellowships in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine and Pediatric Anesthesiology. He is currently Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics within the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and practices in both Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology and Pediatric Critical Care. He first became interested in intraoperative hypotension in children under general anesthesia during his fellowships. Prior to beginning his career in medicine, he trained to become a corporate jet pilot and has strong interests in human factors, safety and checklists in anesthesiology.

Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Management at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Adult and Pediatric Cardiothoracic Anesthesiologist with specific interest in adult congenital anesthesiology and pediatric single ventricle assist devices

Dheeraj Goswami is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He completed his pediatric residency at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio and his pediatric intensive care fellowship and anesthesia residency at Johns Hopkins. He finished his training at Texas Children’s Hospital in Pediatric Anesthesia and Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia while doing extra clinical training in their pediatric cardiac intensive care unit. He is currently the Director of Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. He is also the Associate Medical Director of the ECMO program. His research and clinical interests include blood utilization and anti-coagulation for patients undergoing cardiac surgery as well as anesthesia for patients with connective tissue disease.

Dr. Stephanie Grant is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics at Emory University and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. She is the Program Director of the Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology Fellowship at Emory. Her research interests include studying thrombin generation in patients with congenital heart disease and during cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.

Dr. Guzzetta has been a practicing pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta since completion of her fellowship in 1994. She is also 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 active in the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society and served as President from 2017-2019.

Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Management

Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, attended medical school at Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Completed residency at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center before moving to Pittsburgh for fellowship in Pediatric Anesthesia at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Moved to Denver Colorado for advanced fellowship in Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia after which stayed on as faculty and currently practice. Research interests include pediatroc pulmonary hypertension, hemostasis, and physican wellness.

Marshall Jacobs, M.D., is a Professor in the Department of Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and serves on the Governing Council of Johns Hopkins’ Blalock-Taussig-Thomas Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center.  He has been a cardiovascular surgeon and clinical investigator for over three decades, with special emphasis on congenital heart disease. As Director of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Outcomes Research at Johns Hopkins, he works with medical students, residents and fellows on clinical investigations, and helps to coordinate data management, quality assessment, quality improvement initiatives and clinical trials related to the care of patients with congenital heart disease.

Dr. Jacobs’ early investigative work focused on basic cardiovascular physiology, including response to pressure and volume overload under conditions of normal and abnormal coronary perfusion. In the 1980s he created an intact animal model of the Fontan circulation and explored various strategies for mechanical circulatory support of univentricular circulation. He was the principal investigator of NIH-funded research that evaluated Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and imaging in the diagnosis and monitoring of cardiac transplant rejection in a primate model. In the clinical realm, he participated in the development and evaluation of innovations in the surgical management of numerous congenital heart malformations, including the staged reconstructive approach to functionally univentricular hearts. Throughout his career as a clinical surgeon, Dr. Jacobs was committed to clinical investigation aimed at improving the care and outcomes of patients requiring surgical management of congenital heart disease, with focus on neurodevelopmental outcomes and neuro-protective strategies, improving the safety and effectiveness of neonatal heart surgery, management of single ventricle anomalies including Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, and thoracic organ transplantation.

His current concentration in outcomes research includes participation in the multi-institutional studies of the Congenital Heart Surgeons Society (CHSS). He served as chair of the CHSS Research Committee for eight years and then as president of the CHSS (2014–2016). He has served as chair of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Congenital Heart Surgery Database Task Force, and currently chairs the STS Congenital Heart Surgery Access and Publications Committee. Dr. Jacobs is a Co-Principle Investigator of the STRESS Trial (STeroids to REduce Systemic inflammation after infant heart Surgery), a multi-site prospective randomized trial that leverages existing registry infrastructure at congenital heart disease surgical sites to optimize trial design and data collection. Dr. Jacobs is author of more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and is a member of several editorial boards. He is editor-in-chief of the World Journal for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery.

Dr. Kuan is a pediatric cardiac anesthesia faculty member at LPCH at Stanford University. He is a trained pediatrician, pediatric critical care physician, and medical simulationist who has an interest in medical education. He is the program director for the Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology Advanced Fellowship program at Stanford.

Professor, Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine Director, Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology, Seattle Children's Hospital

Rodrigo López is a Chilean anesthesiologist who works at the Hospital Clínico P. Universidad Católica, where he performs clinical and academic functions. He has developed a keen interest in global health inequalities. For this reason, he completed a PhD in Biomedical Ethics and Law at the University of Zurich and a Master of Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In addition, he often participates in medical missions in developing countries.

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.

Dr. McKee is the Associate Director of Cardiac Anesthesiology at Nationwide Children's Hospital

Dr. Pablo Motta has practiced medicine for more than 27 years. After earning his MD from the UDELAR School of Medicine of Montevideo, Uruguay, he specialized in adult and pediatric cardiac anesthesia, holding positions at the Cleveland Clinic and the Baylor College of Medicine. Now an Associate Professor with Baylor, practicing at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Dr. Motta leads in the areas of anesthesia for heart and lung transplantation and adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) and resident & fellow education and research. At the CCAS, he is the chairman of the Special Interest Group in ACHD. Dr. Motta is the Associate Medical Director of the Heart Center International Program, directing medical mission trips and advising several congenital anesthesia groups worldwide.

Dr. Moynihan is a staff physician in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School. She studied medicine and undertook her pediatric and critical care training in Australia and New Zealand as well as volunteer work in Uganda, India and Fiji. After completing a senior fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital, she joined as faculty in 2018. Appointed Director of Palliative care for the Division of Cardiovascular Critical Care, her research interests focus on palliative care integration in the CICU, and she co-leads the PC4 palliative care sub-group. Additional research interests include ethics and decision-making on ECMO, as well as social determinants of health in critical illness. As the Associate Clinical Director for Simulation in the CICU she is faculty on several simulation training programs. She is passionate about achieving health equity and improving global health outcomes with an ongoing commitment to quality improvement and teaching in the developing world.

Dr. Viviane Nasr is a Senior Associate in Cardiac Anesthesia at Boston Children’s Hospital and an Associate Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School. She is the Chief of Cardiac Anesthesia at Boston Children’s Hospital. Her work is mostly related to patients with congenital heart disease and the perioperative risk assessment of pediatric patients. She has written more than 100 publications, textbook chapters and a handbook on pediatric cardiac anesthesia. In addition to her active academic career, she created and leads the Faculty Development Program at Boston Children’s and is a member of the Executive Committee of Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society (CCAS).

Manchula Navaratnam is a UK trained pediatric anesthesiologist who came across the Atlantic in 2009 to gain some more experience in pediatric cardiac anesthesia and has been part of the Stanford anesthesia family ever since. She is the clinical anesthesiology lead for pediatric cardiac transplant and ventricular assist devices at Stanford Children’s Hospital. Her clinical and academic interests mainly revolve around peri-operative care of pediatric patients with heart failure, cardiac transplantation, and ventricular assist devices. She is the principal investigator for 2 current prospective clinical studies on patients with Fontan circulation. Manchula is a passionate educator and is the co-founder of the pediatric cardiac anesthesia learning network at Stanford which launches its first national bootcamp in September 2022. In her spare time, Manchula loves spending time with her two young children and enjoys re-discovering the world through their eyes

Pediatric interventional cardiologist at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. MD degree: University of Calgary, Canada. Pediatrics: University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. Pediatric Cardiology and Intervention fellowships: Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, Canada) and Children's Hospital, Boston. Staff Positions: Hospital for Sick Children (Canada) 1993-2000. Miami Children's Hospital 2000-2010. Arnold Palmer Hospital, Orlando 2003-present.

Dr. Quiñónez is a Pediatric Cardiovascular Anesthesiologist and a clinical researcher at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and Stanford University. His research focuses on outcomes evaluation in children undergoing surgery for congenital heart disease and on the integration of patient-centered outcomes in outcome metrics. He is also interested in equity in the delivery of medical technologies and service related to the care of children with congenital heart disease. He currently uses geospatial analysis for mapping gaps in access to these services and technologies.

I am a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist at Stanford Children's Hospital and was a past President of the CCAS. I have had a 30 year career focused on pediatrics and pediatric cardiac. I had no formal research training in medical school. During my anesthesia training in Scotland, UK I worked on epidural Bupivacaine infusion during labour, so the nurses wouldn't call for top ups every few hours. That was a fun experience. My move to the USA resulted in a pediatric and cardiac anesthesia fellowships. During these I looked up cases where I worked and despite my best efforts nothing got published. Fast forward to Children's in Seattle and finally after floundering I got myself involved in POCA registry and PK studies. I learnt the IRB and consent process and pitfalls of prospective clinical trials. After years of drought,finally a few papers began to a trickle. I also met a very motivated colleague, Dr Jumbo Williams and his focus on hemostasis got us both promoted to Assoc Professor at the Univ of Washington. Around this time NIRS technology was starting up. It seemed to me inherently counterintuitive to place hypoxemic children under sub-ambient oxygen. A 1 year sabbatical to the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia helped me get my hypothesis driven paper into leading journals which helped my career. The move to Stanford in 2001 again left a brief hiatus which fortunately changed. Working again with a multidisciplinary team I focused on PH, as the Wall Center at Stanford, led by Dr J Feinstein so a major referral center. This led to future prospective studies; spinoffs from these we continue to explore. Do you really want an academic career that includes research and publication? Think carefully.

Faith Ross is an Associate Professor and Director of the Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia Fellowship at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She completed her residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and her pediatric and pediatric cardiac fellowship training at Seattle Children’s Hospital after which she joined the faculty there as a clinician educator. She has successfully lead several research projects in translational and database research and secured grant funding from sources including the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Database and the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia Mission Driven Mentoring Program.

Rebecca Scholl is the Associate Program Director of the Pediatric Cardiac Fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. Rebecca is passionate about teaching future pediatric cardiac anesthesiologists both at Boston Children’s Hospital and nationally through the CCAS Trainee Series. She completed her pediatric cardiac anesthesia fellowship at Boston Children's Hospital and has cared for congenital cardiac patients in this division for three years. Rebecca’s interests include innovation in fellowship education, training, and improving vascular access techniques in congenital cardiac patients. Outside of her clinical and teaching responsibilities, Rebecca loves her new role as mom, cycling, and cross-country skiing.​

Dr. McElrath Schwartz is an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She is Division Chief of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine and Co-Director of the Blalock-Taussig- Thomas Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center. Her clinical practice is in pediatric cardiac anesthesiology and cardiac critical care medicine. Her academic interests are mechanical support and resuscitation, team dynamics and women's leadership.

Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, University of Colorado, Children's Hospital Colorado

Travis Siffring, MS CCP FPP, leads the pediatric perfusion team and serves as the associate chief of perfusion services for Duke University Hospital. He is a 2004 graduate of the University of Nebraska Medical Center Perfusion Science Program and has been a member of the Duke team since 2013. He is also a Fellow of Pediatric Perfusion and has a special interest in perfusion for single ventricle surgery. Through benchtop testing and continuous clinical quality improvement, Siffring and his team have refined the STAR perfusion technique, improving outcomes after stage 1 single ventricle palliation. Prior to Duke Travis worked as a staff perfusionist at The University of Chicago. He has participated in multiple professional society boards as well as cardiac surgery mission trips.

Andrew is Chief of Cardiac Critical Care Medicine and Medical Director of the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. He completed fellowships in both Pediatric Cardiology and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at Vanderbilt, as well as a Senior Clinical Fellowship in Cardiac Intensive Care at Children’s Hospital Boston. He earned a Masters of Science in Clinical Investigation at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and a Masters of Management in Health Care at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. In addition to his clinical and administrative responsibilities, his academic interests have largely focused upon exploring value-based care delivery within the cardiac intensive care unit and the genomics and pharmacogenomics of early postoperative arrhythmias.

Dr. Mark Twite is Professor of Anesthesiology and Director of Congenital Cardiac Anesthesiology at the University of Colorado and Children’s Hospital Colorado. Dr. Twite is trained in pediatrics, pediatric critical care medicine, anesthesiology, pediatric anesthesiology, and congenital cardiac anesthesiology. His research is clinically focused, with areas of interest including the anesthesia machine and mechanical ventilation, perioperative care of the patient with congenital heart disease and pulmonary hypertension. He has over 70 publications in peer reviewed journals. Dr. Twite is the current President of the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society.

After completing his anesthesia training in the UK and the States, Dr. Ullah did a cardiac anesthesia fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. He was staff cardiac anesthesiologist at Arkansas Children’s Hospital for 12 years before moving to the Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. He is Associate Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center and program director for the advanced pediatric cardiac anesthesia fellowship. He is a member of the CCAS Communication Committee.

Chinwe Unegbu is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Anesthesiology, Pain, and Perioperative Medicine at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. Her clinical practice is overwhelmingly centered on caring for children with congenital heart disease both for cardiac and noncardiac surgical procedures. She also has an adjunct appointment as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She completed her undergraduate education at Cornell University and did her medical school training at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. She remained at Johns Hopkins Hospital for her residency training in anesthesiology as well as her fellowship in pediatric anesthesiology and advanced fellowship in pediatric cardiovascular anesthesiology. After being on staff at Johns Hopkins Hospital for several years, she moved over to Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC and has remained on staff there as a congenital cardiac anesthesiologist. At Children’s National Hospital, she plays a critical role in the perioperative coordination of care for children with congenital heart disease undergoing non cardiac surgical procedures. She has published institutional data demonstrating the positive impact that this care coordination has had on perioperative outcomes in this unique patient population. Her research interests have been primarily focused on the perioperative outcomes of children with pulmonary hypertension presenting for non-cardiac surgical procedures. Children with pulmonary hypertension pose significant perioperative challenges to the anesthesiologist so risk stratification and mitigation have been of particular interest to her. In addition to her research interests, she thrives in the clinical setting and enjoys working closely with medical students, residents, and fellows. She currently serves on the CCAS Education Initiatives Committee as a question writer and has been a coach in the CCAS coaching mentoring initiative for advanced congenital cardiac anesthesia fellows. She, herself, has also benefited tremendously from coaching and is an advisee in the SPA Women’s Empowerment and Leadership Initiative (WELI). She is married with three boys and her eldest son is 6 years of age. She is a very active parent and highly involved in her local PTA and District level parent leadership. Her children are her greatest source of joy and represent her greatest accomplishment.

A Professor of Anesthesiology at Baylor College of Medicine and a Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiologist at Texas Children's Hospital since 2008, Dr. Vener has been in practice since 1994 after completing his Fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, ON. From 1994 - 2004 he was a pediatric and cardiac anesthesiologist at All Children's Hospital in St Petersburg, FL and from 2004 - 2008 at the Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital and Heart Center. Dr. Vener has been actively involved in the CCAS since its inception and been Chair of the Database Committee for over 15 years. He served two terms on the Board of Directors of the CCAS and has been nominated to be Secretary Treasurer of the Society.

Assistant Professor Pediatrics and Anesthesiology George Washington School of Medicine Washington, DC Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiologist Children's National Hospital Washington, DC

Dr. Zaleski is an Associate in Cardiac Anesthesia in the Boston Children's Hospital's Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine as well as an Assistant Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School. She is a graduate of Georgetown University and Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Zaleski completed her residency training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital followed by fellowships in Pediatric Anesthesiology and Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is board-certified in both Anesthesiology and Pediatric Anesthesiology and currently cares exclusively for patients with congenital heart disease.