Heart Center experts contribute to Annual Update on Pediatric and Congenital Cardiovascular Disease

The 28th Annual Update on Pediatric and Congenital Cardiovascular Disease took place from February 19-23, 2025, at the Disney Yacht & Beach Club Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The conference, themed “Hope, Heal, Learn,” emphasized critical advancements and practices in pediatric cardiovascular care.  Children’s National Heart Center experts presented their latest research findings, insights and innovations during the conference.

Children’s National speakers and topics

Wayne J. Franklin, MD

• Speaker: Structuring Administration for Pediatric & Congenital Cardiovascular Care
• Moderator: It Doesn’t Always Turn Out the Way We Want: Disappointments and Errors in Pediatric & Congenital Cardiovascular Disease
• Panelist: Pediatric and Congenital Cardiovascular Healthcare Administration II: A Conversation Amongst Leaders

Yves d’Udekem, MD, PhD

• Speaker: Does the Nature and Size of the Fontan Pathway Make a Difference?
• Speaker: 3^rd Annual Thomas L. Spray Surgery Lecture

Awards and recognitions

• 3^rd Annual Thomas L. Spray Surgery Lecture in Pediatric and Congenital Cardiovascular Surgery Selected Speaker: And We Thought That the Fontan Was the Last Operation, Yves d’Udekem, MD, PhD
• Top 8 Nursing Abstracts: Early Outcomes of Lost to Follow Up Outreach in Pediatric Congenital Heart Disease Survivors, Arielle Scarpati, NP

Poster and abstract presentations

• An Unusual Case of Partial Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Connection with Dual Connection to the Superior Vena Cava and Left Atrium, David Finkelstein, MD, MS
• Early Outcomes of Lost to Follow Up Outreach in Pediatric Congenital Heart Disease Survivors, Arielle Scarpati, NP
• From Competency to Care: Advancing Breastfeeding Support Through Nursing Education, Jennifer Rowe, NP, and Sofia Mendieta, MD
• Pseudoaneurysm of Mitral-Aortic Intervalvular Fibrosa with Left Ventricular Dilation of Arrhythmias, David Finkelstein, MD