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Penn State Hershey Center for Pediatric Cardiovascular Research

History and Objectives

Over the past eight years at Penn State Hershey we have established a multi-disciplinary research team with the goal to improve the outcomes for children undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass and mechanical circulatory support. The Penn State Hershey - Center for Pediatric Cardiovascular Research has been established with the collaboration of teams from multiple academic departments and representing multiple disciplines. This center combines basic science, engineering, and clinical applications under the unified mission of pediatric cardiovascular research. Scientists and clinicians in the center represent the departments of Pediatrics, Surgery, Bioengineering, Anesthesiology, Comparative Medicine, Public Health Sciences, Pharmacology, and Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Our major objective is the development of novel technologies and methodologies to be used in minimizing the adverse effects of cardiovascular operations and cardiopulmonary bypass in neonates, infants, and children. Particular attention will be focused on reducing the associated morbidity of cerebral, myocardial, pulmonary, and renal injury.

Our long term aspirations are to:

  1. Establish The Penn State Hershey Center for Pediatric Cardiovascular Research as a leading center for further development of novel treatments and cutting edge devices for cardiovascular health in pediatric populations, both at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital and other pediatric heart centers around the world;
  2. Educate more bio-engineers, medical students, residents, post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty members in pediatric cardiovascular research;
  3. Ensure that our international conference continues to be the leading conference for defining the problems of current mechanical circulatory support systems in pediatric patients and suggesting appropriate solutions for these pediatric cardiac patients.

Akif Ündar, PhD
Professor of Pediatrics, Surgery, and Bioengineering
Founder & Director, Penn State Hershey Center for Pediatric Cardiovascular Research

Pediatric Cardiovascular Research Center reaches out to Istanbul, Turkey

Faculty members (Linda Pauliks, MD, MPH; Bonnie Weaver, RN, MSN, CCRN and Akif Ündar, PhD) of the Penn State Hershey Pediatric Cardiovascular Research Center organized two recent Extracorporeal Life Support Systems (ECLS) symposiums held in the Swiss Hotel: the Istanbul Mehmet Akif Ersoy Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Training and Research Hospital (IMAEH) in Istanbul, Turkey on June 26, 2011 and July 23, 2011, respectively.

The main goal of these symposiums was to share with invited clinicians around the Republic of Turkey, the most recent advances in a custom-made Penn State Hershey ECLS system that was developed at the Pediatric Cardiovascular Research Center at Penn State Hershey College of Medicine and Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital.

The symposiums shared the latest ECLS technology and outcomes with 182 clinicians from 44 centers located throughout Turkey. All participants had an opportunity for hands-on training with several different ECLS systems. Participants have shown a sincere appreciation of the new ECLS systems and a willingness to adopt the systems themselves. In addition, faculty members from Penn State Hershey visited local hospitals (IMAEH by L.P., B.W. and A.Ü.; Baskent University Hospital by L.P., B.W. and A.Ü; Kartal Kosuyolu Training and Research Hospital by A.Ü.) to share their experiences with their colleagues.

Click here to view a video recording of the second symposium.