9/21/2017
Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC has announced new leadership appointments in its Heart Institute and Division of Pediatric Cardiology.
Jacqueline Kreutzer, M.D., professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, is now appointed as chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology.
An internationally recognized leader in interventional cardiology, Kreutzer currently is serving as director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Children’s Hospital. She completed a pediatric cardiology fellowship and training in interventional cardiology at Boston Children’s Hospital and is board-certified in pediatric cardiology and adult congenital heart disease. Kreutzer joined Children’s Hospital in 2005.
Kreutzer has been a clinical champion for the Division of Pediatric Cardiology, distinguished in the field of interventional cardiology innovation, bringing new techniques to Children’s Hospital. She has served as the institutional investigator on numerous clinical trials for investigational devices and currently is the national principal investigator for the Melody transcatheter pulmonary valve post-approval study.
Kreutzer has authored more than 80 publications and serves as editor and reviewer for several journals, including the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. She has lectured extensively and served in numerous academic positions such as for the American Board of Pediatrics, American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association and the Society of Cardiac Angiography and Intervention.
Vivek Allada, M.D., professor of pediatrics at the Pitt School of Medicine, has been appointed executive director of the Heart Institute at Children’s Hospital.
Allada completed his pediatric cardiology fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles, specializing in non-invasive imaging. He has served as the clinical director of pediatric cardiology in the Department of Pediatrics since 2006 and as the interim division chief since 2012. He is recognized nationally, having co-chaired the Committee on Pediatric Echocardiography Laboratory for the American Society of Echocardiography. Allada has distinguished himself as a clinical leader with outstanding administrative talents while leading the Division of Pediatric Cardiology and the Heart Institute. Along with his new role overseeing the Heart Institute strategic plans, he will continue as clinical director for the Division of Pediatric Cardiology.
“Drs. Kreutzer and Allada have been instrumental in the development and success of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology and the Heart Institute,” said Terence Dermody, M.D., chair of the Department of Pediatrics, Pitt School of Medicine, and physician-in-chief and scientific director at Children’s Hospital. “Under their leadership, many new clinical initiatives have been developed, resulting in the highest quality ratings and substantial growth for the overall cardiology program.”
In addition to Kreutzer and Allada, Children’s Heart Institute is co-directed by Victor Morell, M.D., chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery. Under Morell’s leadership, Children’s pediatric cardiovascular surgery program has outcomes that are among the highest in the nation. Children’s had one of the lowest overall four-year surgical mortality rates among all high-volume programs with a mortality rate under 2 percent and was awarded a 3-Star rating by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (2012-2016), one of only eleven programs to receive this distinction. Nationally, the average mortality rate for all pediatric cardiovascular programs was 3.1 percent during the same reporting period.
To learn more about the Heart Institute, please visit www.chp.edu/heart.