Our Providers: Children’s Heart Center grows in cardiologists, outreach
Published on Friday, September 13, 2019
By: Annie Oeth, aoeth@umc.edu
Pediatric heart patients in Mississippi have never had so many cardiologists by their side.
“We are growing, because the need is growing,” said Dr. William Moskowitz, chief of UMMC’s Division of Pediatric Cardiology.
The Children’s Heart Center, which will have a new home in the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s $180 million pediatric expansion, now has a record 15 pediatric cardiologists. The latest additions include Dr. David Weiland, who specializes in electrophysiology; Dr. Stephanie Ghaleb, whose expertise is in cardiac stress tests, and Dr. Himanshu Adlakha, who will join Dr. Brad Troutman at Children’s of Mississippi’s specialty clinic in Biloxi.
Moskowitz is excited about the changes now and in fall 2020, when the children’s hospital addition opens.
“Having a comprehensive program, which is what we have, with a dynamic team, and now to have a new state-of-the-art facility coming – this is what we cardiologists pray for,” Moskowitz said.
About one baby in every 100 is born with a heart defect, and these can range from mild to critical.
The care team at the Children’s Heart Center is continuing to grow as the Children’s of Mississippi pediatric expansion nears completion.
The progress that has been made in pediatric cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery, though, is nothing short of phenomenal, Moskowitz said.
About 50 years ago, most of children born with congenital heart defects, or CHD, died in early childhood.
“Years ago, about 95 percent of these kids were not going to reach adulthood,” he said. “Now, more than 90 percent survive into adulthood.”
Children’s Heart Center cardiologists also see patients who need heart transplants and those who have high blood pressure.
Dr. Brian Kogon, chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery, was joined this year by Dr. Mohammed Ghanamah, who specializes in surgeries to treat congenital heart disease in children and adults.
Batson is the only place in the state where pediatric heart surgery is performed, and Children’s of Mississippi physicians and surgeons have a record that rivals the nation’s leading children’s heart programs. In the past year, the most complex congenital heart operation, the Norwood procedure, was performed eight times with a 100 percent survival rate.
The Children’s Heart Center will have its new home in UMMC’s pediatric expansion, with outpatient cardiology care in the specialty clinic.
“It will be a state-of-the art facility,” said Moskowitz, “and it is being built with collaboration in mind. When this new expansion is open, we will have a program that will be among the best in the country.”