Research and Innovation

Heart defects are among the most common birth defects and are the leading cause of birth defect-related deaths.

Through The Heart Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Center for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research at The Research Institute, clinicians and scientists work together to match questions developed at the bedside with answers evidenced at the benchside. These collaborative endeavors then deliver improvements back to the bedside, all in the name of enhancing patient care. This “boomerang” approach to translational research ensures that patients receive the latest advances in cardiac care at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Faculty members conduct patient-centered research projects in cardiology and cutting-edge basic science in cardiovascular and pulmonary medicine.  For example, Nationwide Children’s Hospital is the only hospital in the country conducting pediatric translational research on individual heart cells. Get the latest Heart Center research and innovation.

Late 2009, Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University received a five-year, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute grant to provide in-depth training to clinicians and basic scientists in congenital and acquired heart disease. This training program is the first in the country that focuses on cardiovascular disease as a continuum from fetal life to senescence.