San Diego – April 23, 2012 – Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego announced today that Eric J. Devaney, M.D., has joined the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery at Rady Children’s, part of the largest and most comprehensive pediatric heart program in San Diego, Imperial and Orange Counties, as the Hospital’s first heart transplant surgeon.
“Hiring a surgeon of Dr. Devaney’s caliber is a game-changer for the cardiology program at Rady Children’s,” said John J. Lamberti, M.D., the Eugene and Joyce Klein Director in Cardiovascular Surgery at Rady Children’s Heart Center. “Providing heart transplants here in San Diego will relieve the tremendous burden that is placed on families who, until now, had no choice but to travel long distances for care.”
In addition to heart transplantation, Dr. Devaney specializes in congenital heart surgery and circulatory support. He comes to Rady Children’s from the University of Michigan, where he completed his training in cardiothoracic surgery and pediatric cardiac surgery. Dr. Devaney developed his surgical practice over the last decade at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Devaney will serve as Director of Cardiac Transplantation at Rady Children’s.
“I’m very excited to make pediatric heart transplantation a reality for the Heart Center at Rady Children’s,” said Dr. Devaney. “In addition to the services already available at Rady Children’s, the ability to perform heart transplants will allow us to provide comprehensive care for all children with any form of heart disease.”
Dr. Devaney’s clinical interests and expertise are in the surgical management of complex congenital heart disease in neonates, infants and children, and young adults. He also conducts basic research studies in the molecular biology of cardiac muscle function and heart failure, seeking possible therapies for the complications of congenital heart disease.
Rady Children’s hopes to conduct its first pediatric heart transplant by the end of 2012.
About Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego:
Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, the largest children’s hospital in California, is a 442-bed pediatric care facility providing the largest source of comprehensive pediatric medical services in San Diego, Southern Riverside and Imperial counties. Rady Children’s is the only hospital in the San Diego area dedicated exclusively to pediatric healthcare and is the region’s only designated pediatric trauma center. On October 10, 2010, Rady Children’s opened the Acute Care Pavilion, a LEED-Certified (green) building that is home to the incredible Peckham Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, the state-of-the-art Warren Family Surgical Center, and a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that cares for our community’s most fragile newborns. In May 2011, U.S. News & World Report ranked Rady Children’s among the best children’s hospitals in the nation in all ten pediatric specialties the magazine surveyed. For more information, visit www.rchsd.org and find us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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