Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital (YNHCH) today announced that it has become the first hospital in Connecticut and Rhode Island to receive certification from the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) to perform pediatric heart transplants. UNOS serves as the nation’s Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network under federal contract.

Last summer, YNHCH, in collaboration with Yale School of Medicine and its clinical practice Yale Medicine, recruited world-renowned leaders in pediatric cardiac surgery to join the team of specialists at the children’s hospital. Dr. T-Y Hsia is Yale Medicine’s (YM) new chief of pediatric cardiac surgery at YNHCH and professor of surgery at Yale School of Medicine (YSM), and Dr. Peter J. Gruber is YM’s associate chief of pediatric cardiac surgery at YNHCH and professor of surgery at YSM. They join Dr. Jeremy Asnes, YM’s director of the cardiac catheterization lab at YNHCH and associate professor of cardiology at YSM, and the rest of the new YNHCH Heart Center team.

Children and families from Connecticut and Rhode Island will now have access to the best in pediatric cardiac care close to home. In addition, adults with congenital heart disease requiring heart transplants will receive the best care possible through a collaboration between pediatric and adult heart transplant physicians and surgeons. By coalescing all the specialists’ expertise within the new Children’s Heart Center, YNHCH is now the only destination for comprehensive care in heart care in newborns, infants, and children in Connecticut and Rhode Island. A full spectrum of medical and surgical treatments for children with congenital heart defects, cardiomyopathy, and other heart conditions round out the expertise of this team.

“We’re treating not just the patient but the family, to help parents understand their child's medical condition, what can be expected from surgery and the entire care process, and especially how to partner with families to reduce the stress of having a critically ill child,” said Dr. Hsia.