SCAI celebrates legacies of pioneer pediatric cardiologists
The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography Interventions (SCAI) has shared the latest installment of its ongoing series highlighting key developments throughout the history of interventional cardiology.
The “Pioneers of Interventional Cardiology” series is designed to provide fresh insights and helpful context about historic moments in the specialty’s history. This latest edition includes in article published in JSCAI as well as a video.[1] It takes a look at five pioneers of pediatric interventional fellowship training:
- Charles E. Mullins, MD, with Texas Children’s Hospital
- James E. Lock, MD, with Boston Children’s Hospital
- William E. Hellenbrand, MD, with Yale School of Medicine
- Lee N. Benson, MD, with The Hospital for Sick Children
- Albert P. Rocchini, MD, with the University of Michigan.
“Those who perform pediatric cardiac interventions have clear memories of the teachers and mentors who have had a huge impact on their training and careers,” wrote first author Frank F. Ing, MD, a pediatric cardiologist with UC Davis Health, and colleagues. “The pediatric interventional community is a relatively small one, and there are only a few early pioneers in the field from North America who are recognized as significantly contributing to the training of fellows over the past three decades.”
The pioneers of pediatric interventional cardiology. (A) Lee N. Benson; (B) Wiliam E. Hellenbrand; (C) James E. Lock; (D) Charles E. Mullins; (E) Albert P. Rocchini. Images and caption courtesy of SCAI, JSCAI and Ing et al.
The JSCAI article includes tributes to each pioneers written by a former fellow.
Ing, for instance, shared a loving tribute to Mullins, or “Chuck” as many people called him.
“I fondly recall when I was a categorical fellow at Columbia considering an interventional fellowship and attended an American College of Cardiology conference at which Chuck spoke in 1992,” Ing wrote. “At the end, I wanted to go up and introduce myself to him. There was a big crowd around him, and I sat in the back and waited until the crowd thinned to finally approach him. Surprisingly, he spent the next 20 minutes explaining why that was a great decision, and we talked about the excitement of new procedures and devices in the field. By the time we finished, I looked around and the entire room was empty. It was just me and him sitting there. I thought to myself, “here I was, a nobody and he was a famous cardiologist, but he spent those 20 minutes with me.” I will forever treasure that memory.”
Meanwhile, Audrey Marshall, MD, MPH, a pediatric cardiologist with The Hospital for Sick Children, wrote about Lock. Ziyad Hijazi, MD, MPH, medical director and senior attending cardiologist with Sidra Medicine, wrote about Hellenbrand. Evan M. Zahn, MD, director of the congenital heart program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, wrote about Benson. And Robert H. Beekman III, MD, a pediatric cardiologist with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, wrote about Rocchini.
Each loving tribute captures the close relationship the fellows had with these pioneers. Click here to read the full in-depth article in JSCAI.
For additional contact about these impactful cardiologists, a video discussion focused on honoring their legacies is available here.
Michael has more than 19 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.