April 14, 2025

Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence in Action

Last updated January 2025

Catch up on the latest pediatric heart care training activities facilitated by Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence around the world. 

Dr-Mahesh-XR-Software

January 2025

Transforming global heart care training through innovation

We’re kicking off a cutting-edge project, piloting the training potential of new medical software using extended reality (XR) to virtualize learning with 3D heart renderings. The software was developed by Dr. Mahesh Kappanayil at Amrita Hospital, Kochi, a Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence.

This project, funded by The Ping and Amy Chao Family Foundation Transparent Fish Fund, allows participants to interact with CT scan-based 3D models of children with CHD, enhancing case discussions and understanding of complex heart conditions around the world.

Leading this initiative alongside Dr. Kappanayil is Dr. Rafael Guerrero from Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, UK with virtual training trials involving our hospital partners in Brazil, India, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Congratulations to all involved—this innovative work is truly a global effort and could impact training for years to come!

Partner hospitals participating in this project, include G. Kuppuswamy Naidu Memorial Hospital (Coimbatore, India), Narayana Superspeciality Hospital (Howrah, India), Instituto do Coração (São Paulo, Brazil) and two Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence, Nhi Dong 1 (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) and Institut Jantung Negara (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).

Drs-Kow-and-Nana-at-Amrita-Kochi-and-PCSI

November 2024

Doctors from Ghana Visit India

Drs. Kow and Nana from the National Cardiovascular Centre of Ghana visited Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence Amrita Hospital Kochi and attended the Pediatric Cardiac Society of India conference in November 2024. We are grateful to have sponsored these doctors’ travel and learnings abroad as part of our Africa Children’s Hearts Initiative.

Africa-Childrens-Hearts-Initiative

August 2024

Addressing the critical need for children’s heart care in Africa

Hospital da Criança e Maternidade (HCM), the Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence in Brazil, is partnering with Children’s HeartLink as we enter a discovery phase in Africa. In August 2024, HCM clinicians traveled with Children’s HeartLink staff to Angola to meet with and assess a hospital there. 

In the coming years, we plan to explore partnerships with hospitals in Africa to build capacity for pediatric and congenital heart care. An estimated 500,000 children are born with congenital heart disease (CHD) each year in Africa, resulting annually in 34,000 preventable deaths. Become a part of this exploratory phase and support our efforts to address the growing burden of heart disease in children to ensure every child has access to lifesaving care. 

When you support Children’s HeartLink, you make sustainable training opportunities like these possible — transforming pediatric heart care and saving the lives of children with congenital heart disease around the world.

Donate Now

Amrita-Hosptial-Kochi-Training-June-2024

june 2024

Amrita Hospital Kochi hosts heart care clinicians from India and Vietnam for training

Surgeons and perfusionists from several partner hospitals in India and Vietnam gathered at a Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence for training in June 2024. Amrita Hospital in Kochi in India hosted Dr. Mohan Reddy and perfusionist Clinton Jones from University of California San Francisco for training on best practices in complex neonatal surgery focusing on unifocalization. 
The teams from the partner hospitals were happy to interact, learn and perform some procedures together. 
This is a wonderful example of a Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence in action, providing training to other pediatric cardiac specialists from low-resource environments in their region. This is how we treat the most children the fastest!  

ECMOKIDSCON-2024-amrita-hospital-kochi-india

June 2024

Amrita Hospital Kochi conference improves pediatric ECMO use in India 

Children’s HeartLink proudly sponsored ECMOKIDSCON, a hybrid event hosted by our Center of Excellence Amrita Hospital in Kochi, India. An international panel of experts led discussions on improving the utilization of pediatric ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) life support to ensure better care for children in need. 

NHI Dong 1 Center of Excellence Webinar

May 2024

Nhi Dong 1 hosts their first Centers of Excellence webinar, a virtual event series led by Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence

This session on Central Line Insertion and Management was well attended by hospitals around the world. Congratulations to Nhi Dong 1 for this great accomplishment as they approach their one-year anniversary of achieving Center of Excellence status. Watch the webinar recording. Passcode: 0x$jj0K@ 

May 2024

Nurses Week webinar features nurse from Center of Excellence in Brazil 

Did you miss our webinar about leadership pathways in pediatric cardiac nursing? Catch the replay, available now on YouTube. 
 
Hear from three exceptional nursing leaders as they discuss how to develop more leaders and specialists in pediatric cardiac nursing.  
 
Thank you, Bruna Cury with CardioPedBrasil, Anna Fisk PhD RN CCRN with Boston Children’s Hospital and Connie White Delaney with University of Minnesota School of Nursing. 

Amrita-Faridabad_CHOP_Medical-Assessment-India

April 2024

Lymphatics Lecture Series hosted by Center of Excellence and hospital partner collaboration 

Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence Amrita Hospital Kochi and hospital partner Amrita Hospital Faridabad in India are in the midst of hosting a successful monthly webinar series providing foundational knowledge on lymphatics and its management from experts at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), USA. Photo from a training visit of CHOP medical volunteers to Faridabad. Read about their partnership! 

March 2024

Photos from latest nurse leader training at Center of Excellence in Brazil

Did you know? Brazil’s first postgraduate nursing course in pediatric cardiac care was developed by nursing leaders at Hospital da Criança e Maternidade (HCM), a Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence. 
 
To date, 80 nurses from across the country have benefited from this 18-month virtual and in-person program, gaining expertise in diagnosis, treatment and long-term care for children with CHD. Thanks to Children’s HeartLink scholarships, we’re continuing to make this vital training accessible to nurses nationwide! 

Support more nurse development opportunities like this with a donation today.

march 2024

Celebrating our volunteer institutions, Centers of Excellence and partner hospitals making waves in cardiac surgery

Mayo Clinic is ranked #1 in Newsweek’s list of world’s best specialized hospitals for 2024. University of California San Francisco in San Francisco, USA; Instituto do Coração (InCor) in São Paulo, Brazil and Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence Narayana Hrudayalaya Institute of Cardiac Sciences in Bangalore, India also shine!  

See the full list!

While our focus is on transforming pediatric cardiac care worldwide, it’s fantastic to see the institutions we collaborate with recognized for their excellence. Congratulations! 

When you support Children’s HeartLink, you make sustainable training opportunities like these possible — transforming pediatric heart care and saving the lives of children with congenital heart disease around the world.

Donate Now

Paper-framework-for-effective-quality-improvement-strategies-in-congenital-heart-care-drawing-from-successful-initiatives-in-low-and-middle-income-countries-LMICs-Pediatric-Cardiology

december 2023

Center of Excellence doctor author on published study 

We’re excited to share this new published paper proposing a framework for effective quality improvement strategies in congenital heart care, drawing from successful initiatives in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Authors of this paper published in Pediatric Cardiology include Bistra Zheleva, vice president of global strategy and advocacy at Children’s HeartLink, and Dr. Krishna Kumar from Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence Amrita Hospital, Kochi in India.

Congratulations to all the authors! 

advanced-practice-nursing-malaysia

October 2023

Institut Jantung Negara in Malaysia hosts training for nurses from India 

Training local providers is vital for treating children with heart disease.

Our medical volunteer teams help hospital partners become Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence. Those Centers of Excellence train their peers. Last year, Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence Institut Jantung Negara Malaysia hosted this training for nurses from Kolkata, India. 

The impact is clear: more education opportunities for nurses means better care for children after surgery. This is how our volunteers and partners work together to expand access to high-quality heart care.  

Netflix-the-surgeons-cut-thumbnail

October 2023

Hospital system that includes three Children’s HeartLink partner hospitals, including one Center of Excellence, featured on Netflix 

Looking for something to watch? If you have Netflix, we highly recommend the fourth episode in this series, featuring Dr. Devi Shetty, the founder of Narayana Health in India. Search The Surgeon’s Cut episode four Heart and Soul.

Children’s HeartLink partners with three Narayana programs:  

  • Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence Narayana Hrudayalaya Institute of Cardiac Sciences in Bangalore
  • Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences in Kolkata
  • Narayana Superspeciality Hospital in Howrah 
HCM Center of Excellence Celebration at International Conference

September 2023

Celebrating Excellence in Brazil

Congratulations to our partner hospital Hospital da Criança e Maternidade in São José do Rio Preto, Brazil for being named a Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence.  

A highlight reel of their achievements: 

  • Significant reduction of mortality rate in complex procedures and in major infections: Infection rates decreased from 25% to 7% between 2010 and 2022
  • Established formal training programs (Pediatric Cardiology Residency & Pediatric Perfusion Training)  
  • Created a Post Graduate Pediatric Cardiology and Surgery Program in Nursing  
  • Opened the Women and Children’s Hospital, a major milestone for congenital heart disease services throughout Brazil  
  • Innovated with creation of CardioPedBrasil – a free community resource for those with CHD  

Since our partnership began in 2009, they’ve transformed pediatric heart care, performing thousands of surgeries and procedures, and positioned themselves to train others in their region so more children with heart disease have access to high-quality heart care. They became a Center of Excellence in 2021, and we were finally able to celebrate their achievement with them in 2023. 
 
We are grateful we could celebrate with you in Brazil.

See their summary video of the event

Nurse-Cury-2023-World-congress

august 2023

Nurse from Center of Excellence in Brazil presents at World Congress 

Bruna Cury, a nurse from our Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence in Brazil, spoke about Quality Improvement (QI) in pediatric cardiac care at the 8th World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery 2023. Nurse Cury highlighted Children’s HeartLink as an example of effective and sustainable change.

Her promising strategy for elevating patient care? Collaborative partnerships tailored to specific needs, long-term capacity-building over short-term interventions, and the transformative power of telemedicine and teleconsultations.

But it doesn’t stop there. She stressed the importance of knowledge-sharing, skill transfer and resource guidance as vital components for lasting impact.

Thank you, Bruna, for championing a patient-centered approach and for your ongoing commitment to serving children with congenital heart disease. 

 

Jackie-and-Hari-at-World-congress-2023

august 2023

World Congress: Amrita Hospital, Kochi represented in Global Health and Advocacy Village 

You never know who you’ll run into or the conversations that will be had at the Global Health and Advocacy Village at the World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery.

Children’s HeartLink President Jackie Boucher was spotted with Harikrishnan “Hari” AM from Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence Amrita Hospital in Kochi, India. Hari works with 3D printing to build models of hearts for children with congenital heart disease. 3D technologies that helped the team at Amrita Hospital Kochi perform heart surgery on Hari several years ago. We’re so grateful for Hari and his continued efforts to support others born with CHD. See his story.

This is exactly what the Global Health and Advocacy Village was meant to be – a community of NGOs and patient and family organizations working to improve access to pediatric and congenital heart care globally. Children’s HeartLink played a leading role in bringing nearly 100 organizations from 36 countries together to advocate for children. 

Dr-KK-Healing-Hearts-India-Amrita-Hospital-Kochi

august 2023

Surgeon from Amrita Hospital Kochi speaks in Minnesota during USA visit

Dr. Krishna Kumar with Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence Amrita Hospital Kochi in India joined us for our Healing Hearts India in August 2023 to tell supporters directly about our impact in India.
 
Since 1999, Children’s HeartLink hospital partners in India have served 561,000 children.  
We plan to expand our impact in the country by 2030 through:  

  • Providing patient care and clinical training  
  • Expanding patient referral and care pathways  
  • Enhancing diagnostic skills at hospital partners  
  • Supporting research and advocacy for improving pediatric health care programs  

Thank you to event co-hosts Anu Codaty and Abhi Patangay for bringing so many together for this event! 

When you support Children’s HeartLink, you make sustainable training opportunities like these possible — transforming pediatric heart care and saving the lives of children with congenital heart disease around the world.

Donate Now

3D-Heart-news-article-GKNM-Hospital-Amrita-Hospital-Kochi

august 2023

Lifesaving collaboration features 3D printed heart 

An example of the lifesaving collaboration that happens between Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence and hospitals in their region.

This 3D-printed heart model was prepared by Amrita Hospital in Kochi, India for a surgery being done at our partner hospital G. Kuppuswamy Naidu Memorial (GKNM) Hospital about 109 miles away in Coimbatore.

Amrita Hospital Kochi is one of two Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence in India and an excellent example of our train-the-trainer delivery model in action.

Dr-KK-Kumar-with-patient

july 2023

Interview with surgeon from Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence Amrita Hospital Kochi

Cardiology in the Young published an inspiring interview with Dr. Krishna Kumar from Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence Amrita Hospital, Kochi (and Children’s HeartLink is mentioned)!

  • Here are some snippets of what Dr. KK shared in his interview:  
     
    “I started in the state of Kerala in 1998, and we had significant issues with the older children with advanced CHD, babies were dying, and newborns were not being identified.”
  • “We clearly identified the need for early recognition of CHD. We started to conduct educational programmes. A lot of those programmes were in partnership with Children’s HeartLink.”
  • “Up until ~ 2015, we had infant mortality of 12%, and the dream for the state of Kerala was to get a single-digit infant mortality. The programme for CHD was introduced in 2015 with universal pulse ox screening and guaranteed care for every single baby with significant heart disease. We’ve had a 40% reduction in congenital heart mortality and a 21% reduction in infant mortality, which is down substantially between 6 and 7% when we last measured it.”
  • “It’s a very powerful story here in the state of Kerala, which a lot of people want to emulate.”

 

Read the interview abstract

anesthesiologists-at-gknm-hospital

july 2023

Center of Excellence in India mentors several partners in their region 

Children’s HeartLink is ALWAYS connecting partners to learn from one another. Amrita Hospital, Kochi, a Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence, has mentored several of our partners in the region, including G. Kuppuswamy Naidu Memorial (GKNM) Hospital in Coimbatore, on best pediatric cardiac care practices. 
 
GKNM Hospital is successfully fast-tracking children with CHD after surgery in the operating room, due to the efforts of their anesthesiologist Dr. Jothinath Kaushik. 
 
Amrita Hospital sent their anesthesiologist, Dr. Jessin P Jayashankar, to observe and learn from GKNM Hospital’s practices of fast tracking (on table extubation) from the operating room and enhanced recovery protocols (after surgery for pediatric cardiac surgical patients).  
 
GKNM Hospital has demonstrated the feasibility of fast-tracking cases from the operating room (OR) and this has resulted in the patient spending less time in the intensive care unit (ICU), earlier mobilization, faster hospital discharge and more cost-efficient treatment. 
 
When we work together, we learn from one another and together, we become stronger! 

Vietnam-Nhi-Dong-1-Center-of-Excellence-Ceremony

july 2023

Vietnamese news outlets celebrate Nhi Dong 1’s naming as Center of Excellence 

Continued celebration of success in Vietnam! Our hospital partner Nhi Dong 1 was named a Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence, and we’re thrilled to share a glimpse of the MANY news articles from across Vietnam showcasing their remarkable achievement.

We extend our warmest congratulations to Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence Nhi Dong 1 on this well-deserved recognition as we work together to advance pediatric cardiac care and change lives for the better. 

Vietnam-Nhi-Dong-1-Center-of-Excellence-Ceremony

july 2023

Nhi Dong 1 named Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence

We are honored to announce our partner hospital Nhi Dong 1 in Vietnam as a Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence. Over the past 15 years, Nhi Dong 1 has strived to improve their pediatric cardiac program to consistently deliver high-quality, complex care to children with congenital heart disease. They are the first Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence in Vietnam and the seventh hospital in the world to earn this designation. 

Nhi Dong 1 is a dedicated children’s hospital that provides services to children of Ho Chi Minh City and southern Vietnam, where two-thirds of the country’s population lives. Since 2008 when our partnership began, the hospital has reached more than 146,000 children with heart disease. The improvements made to their program will have a lasting effect on the care children with heart disease receive in the region and country. 

India_Jones_Perfusion_Amrita-Hospital-Kochi_UCSF_February-2023

may 2023

Perfusionist training for local hospitals hosted by Amrita Hosptial, Kochi

A recent Children’s HeartLink medical volunteer training visit provided insight into the nuances of complex cardiac surgeries.

“Even though we were doing surgeries, an insight into a few technical modifications will help us to avoid complications and modify our surgical techniques. We do feel that such surgical workshops help tremendously in the development of the unit.” -Dr. Brijesh with Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence Amrita Hospital – Kochi, on the February surgical workshop in India.  

Thank you to all of our supporters whose caring donations make training visits like this possible!

Kartheek meeting Hari at the ACHD symposium

april 2023

Advancing pediatric heart care with cutting-edge technology 

Amrita Hospital Kochi, a Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence, is a leading regional trainer in pediatric cardiac care. Recently, it hosted the Adult Congenital Heart Disease symposium, showcasing advanced 3D printing and virtual reality technologies for heart surgeries. These innovations allow precise surgical planning, significantly enhancing patient outcomes. As a Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence, Amrita Hospital is committed to training cardiac professionals from India and beyond, leveraging cutting-edge technology to improve pediatric heart care globally. Read more about their achievements.  

When you support Children’s HeartLink, you make sustainable training opportunities like these possible — transforming pediatric heart care and saving the lives of children with congenital heart disease around the world.

Donate Now