Nicklaus Children’s Hospital’s Heart Institute provides specialized care for children and young adults with congenital and acquired heart conditions. The Institute offers medical management, interventional cardiology, and advanced pediatric cardiac surgery supported by comprehensive imaging, intensive care, and coordinated specialty services. Families benefit from a collaborative, family-centered model designed to support patients at every stage of their cardiac journey.
The Heart Institute is ranked #1 in South Florida for Pediatric Cardiology & Heart Surgery by U.S. News & World Report, reflecting the Institute’s breadth of services, clinical outcomes, and investment in leading technologies and surgical approaches for both common and complex heart conditions.
Under the leadership of co-directors David Kalfa, M.D., Ph.D., chief of cardiovascular surgery and Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at Florida International University College of Medicine, and Shyam Sathanandam, M.D., chief of cardiovascular medicine, the Heart Institute is advancing pediatric cardiac care through innovation, research, and collaboration with health systems throughout Florida and beyond. This structure integrates surgical and interventional cardiology, enabling more unified decision-making and individualized treatment plans.
Redefining Pediatric Cardiac Surgery
A hallmark of the Heart Institute is its focus on innovative valve repair and replacement techniques that prioritize long-term function and quality of life for growing children. Many of these approaches use living tissue capable of growth and repair, helping reduce the need for repeat operations when possible.
One example of this innovation is the Ozaki technique, now performed for both pediatric pulmonary and aortic valve procedures at Nicklaus Children’s. This method, which reconstructs valves using the child’s own tissue, is currently offered at only a limited number of centers nationally and is unique among centers in Florida.
The Heart Institute is also contributing to national research in partial heart transplantation, also known as living allogenic valve transplantation, which provides children with viable valves that can grow with them over time. Surgeons at Nicklaus Children’s have played a key role in the early clinical adoption of this technique, including performing the “Domino Infant” valve transplant and contributing to multicenter research efforts focused on living valve transplantation.
In addition to valve innovation, surgeons at the Heart Institute provide advanced procedures for highly complex conditions such as transposition of the great arteries, hypoplastic left heart variants, Ebstein anomaly, and ventricular malformations, many of which are available at only a small number of pediatric heart centers in the United States.
The Institute is also establishing early experience in robotic pediatric cardiac surgery for select conditions, aiming to reduce surgical trauma, scarring, and recovery time for eligible children. Early cases have included children as young as six years old, with procedures addressing holes between heart chambers, complex valve repairs, and congenital vascular abnormalities.
Interventional Cardiology and Hybrid Care
Interventional cardiology services complement surgical care and include interventional cardiac MRI, bedside transcatheter PDA closure in the NICU, augmented reality to support surgical navigation, and use of the first FDA-approved heart stent that expands as a child grows. These offerings provide multiple pathways to treatment and allow cardiology and surgical teams to determine the best approach based on patient needs, anatomy, and clinical stability.
Patient Navigation and Access
To support continuity of care, patient navigators serve as a central point of contact for referring providers and families. Navigators assist with scheduling and care coordination, helping families move efficiently between diagnostic evaluation, intervention, surgery, or long-term follow-up.
Same- and next-day pediatric and fetal cardiology appointments are available across more than 11 locations throughout Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Martin counties, and growing. Regional access enables families to receive ongoing care close to home while remaining connected to the Heart Institute’s advanced surgical and interventional capabilities in Miami.
A Heart Institute Shaping the Future of Pediatric Cardiac Care
As the Heart Institute continues to expand capabilities and reach, it remains committed to patient-centered care, clinical innovation, and collaboration with physicians and hospitals throughout Florida and beyond. By advancing surgical and interventional expertise and supporting families through navigation and regional access, the Institute provides children with congenital heart disease the opportunity to live healthy and fulfilling lives.
For more information, please visit nicklauschildrens.org/Heart
Pediatric Cardiac Surgical Offerings
- The Heart Institute offers a comprehensive and evolving range of surgical options tailored to individual patient anatomy and clinical need, including:
- Robotic pediatric cardiac surgery avoiding chest scarring when possible
- Partial heart transplantation and living heart valve transplantation
- Complex neonatal cardiac surgery
- Advanced valve reconstruction using autologous, living, and growing tissue
- Ross procedure
- Aortic and pulmonary Ozaki procedures
- Cone repair and Starnes take-down for Ebstein anomaly
- Complex biventricular repair
- En-bloc rotation and Nikaidoh procedures for transposition of the great arteries
- Left ventricular rehabilitation for hypoplastic left ventricle
- Ventricular switch procedures for heterotaxy and complex heart malformations
- Ventricular septation for double-inlet ventricle
- Double-switch operation
- MAPCA unifocalization and pulmonary artery reconstruction
- Adult congenital cardiac surgery
- Tracheal reconstruction
- Croissant tricuspid valve repair
- Complex and innovative mitral valve repair and replacement options