National Institutes of Health (NIH) Pediatric Heart Network

Brenner Children’s Hospital participates in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Pediatric Heart Network and joins 10 other children’s hospitals in the nation conducting clinical trials on patients with heart defects.

“This is a real honor for Brenner Children’s Hospital,” said Wesley Covitz, M.D., chairman of pediatric cardiology at Brenner Children’s Hospital. “This allows us to merge resources with other prestigious academic medical centers and find ways to improve care for children with heart problems.”

Brenner Children’s joins Boston Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and other leading academic medical centers who are part of the network.

Researchers conduct clinical trials to find the best treatment methods for children suffering from heart conditions such as single ventricle atrioventricular canal, hypoplastic left heart and dilated cardiomyopathy. They will test both medications and surgical interventions to find the best treatments.

“By conducting clinical trials, we are able to offer our patients the very latest treatment advances, placing them on the road to recovery with better outcomes,” Covitz said.