Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence are leading the local charge to transform pediatric heart care. These hospitals are at the heart of our mission — providing international expertise in pediatric cardiac care, saving children’s lives and shaping the future of heart care in underserved regions.
What is a Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence?
Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence are hospitals that have demonstrated exceptional commitment and capability in providing pediatric heart care. These institutions are leaders in delivering high-quality, complex cardiac treatments to children with CHD and serve as regional hubs for training and mentoring more heart care providers, ensuring more children receive the lifesaving treatments they need.
Pictured: Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence Nhi Dong 1 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
As of 2025, six hospitals have earned the designation of Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence:
- Brazil: São José do Rio Preto: Hospital da Criança e Maternidade
- China: Chengdu: West China Hospital of Sichuan University
- India: Bangalore: Narayana Hrudayalaya Institute of Cardiac Sciences
- India: Kochi: Amrita Hospital Kochi
- Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur: Institut Jantung Negara (National Heart Institute)
- Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City: Nhi Dong 1 (Children’s Hospital 1)
How does a hospital become a Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence?
To become a Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence, a hospital in a low- and middle-income country consistently delivers high-quality, team-based pediatric cardiac care. The hospital will often begin by engaging in a multi-year Children’s HeartLink partnership with a medical volunteer team from a top teaching and research institution.
Together, the teams work together to reduce infection and mortality rates while increasing complexity of surgeries to improve outcomes for children.
By focusing on a train-the-trainer model, Children’s HeartLink partnerships ensure that hospitals aiming to become a Center of Excellence provide outstanding care and share their expertise with other healthcare teams in low-resource environments. Our Centers of Excellence train other hospitals in their region to provide high-quality heart care to children, both Children’s HeartLink partners and non-partners alike. This approach maximizes the number of children reached, thereby addressing the global shortage of pediatric heart specialists.
Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence are exemplary trainers for several reasons. Their clinicians are international experts in pediatric cardiac care, recognized for publishing and presenting their work globally. They understand the resource constraints and organizational challenges of regional hospitals first-hand and can brainstorm solutions and mentor partners with precision and finesse. And, they demonstrate that you don’t need to have a lot of resources to have exceptional clinical outcomes. In doing so, they serve as inspiring role models to heart care programs seeking to grow.
The mission of Children’s HeartLink is to save children’s lives by transforming pediatric heart care in underserved parts of the world. Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence are vital components in making this happen.
Every day these hospitals make a significant impact on global health, impacting the lives of children born with congenital heart disease (CHD), one heart at a time.
Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence in Action
Pediatric heart care training activities facilitated by Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence are happening year-round, all around the world.
Pictured: Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence Hospital da Criança e Maternidade in São José do Rio Preto, Brazil