BYLINE: By: Jack Rychik, MD, Director of the Fetal Heart Program and the Fontan Rehabilitation, Wellness, Activity and Resilience Development (FORWARD) Program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Daniel A. Velez, MD, Co-Director of the Center for Heart Care and Division Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Phoenix Children’s Hospital
Newswise — Our mission as pediatric cardiologists is simple but powerful: protect and restore the hearts of children, ensuring that every child has access to the highest quality care. Every young person deserves the opportunity to grow, flourish, and enjoy a healthy and fulfilling life.
For anyone who hasn’t lived with congenital heart disease (CHD), a structural abnormality that arises as the heart forms before birth, it can seem abstract. Yet its reach is profound. CHD affects about 1 in 110 newborns in the United States and is the most common birth defect. The numbers translate to thousands of families every year whose lives are deeply shaped by lifelong medical care, surgeries, and ongoing challenges – making CHD a public-health priority that deserves far greater awareness and resources.
The good news is that conditions once deemed fatal now have clear treatment pathways because of advances in prenatal diagnosis and life‑saving surgery. A fetus with a complex heart defect can now receive interventions that make a hopeful future possible. Many children with CHD are living full, productive lives well into adulthood – ushering in a new era in medicine.
However, recovery depends on the confluence of innovative scientific discovery with clinical, emotional, and social influences. A truly holistic approach – one that addresses emotional, social, and physical needs – must guide our care.
Facing resource limits and rising clinical complexity, we rely on collaboration and shared commitment from an expanding community of providers, patients and families. This work is bigger than any single hospital or specialty. This is why Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Phoenix Children’s Hospital are hosting Cardiology 2026, the 29th Annual Update on Pediatric and Congenital Cardiovascular Disease conference, held in Scottsdale, Arizona February 25 – March 1, 2026.
The meeting theme, “Together,” unites multidisciplinary teams, along with advocates, families, and caregivers to focus on real-life factors that affect heart health. Sessions will cover topics that highlight complex conditions, improving global access, mental health support, practical updates for nurses and perfusion teams and ways to involve patients and families in care and advocacy. We celebrate our progress and sharpen our focus on the innovations and partnerships that will drive the next breakthroughs together, as a community.
By pairing innovation with a commitment to equity and compassion, we reaffirm our mission: advance research and practice, so every child with pediatric heart disease has an opportunity to chase their dreams.
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