Jennifer S. Nelson, M.D., M.S., a pediatric heart surgeon at UNC, started a multidisciplinary research program at UNC that brings people from different specialties together to focus on treatment of congenital heart disease. The UNC Children’s Heart Collaborative has been studying a common heart defect, Tetralogy of Fallot, which is caused by a combination of four anatomical anomalies of the heart. Until the 1960s, babies born with this defect rarely survived infancy. Now, with good surgical treatment available, more than 80 percent of babies who receive surgery live to adulthood. Nelson and her colleagues are trying to figure out how best to care for these patients with repaired hearts, who face a whole new set of problems. At the same time, the Collaborative is creating new opportunities for a variety of different projects that reflect the interests of its members. The research group has received grant support and various help from the North Carolina Translational & Clinical Sciences Institute (NC TraCS).
Read more here in a story by Marla Vacek Broadfoot of NC TraCS.
More information about the UNC Children’s Heart Collaborative is on the research group’s web site.