Description

Director Pediatric Heart Failure &
Heart Transplant Program
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Jackson Health System | Holtz Children's Hospital | UM Jackson Children’s Care
Miami Transplant Institute

Miami, Florida

The Opportunity

The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Jackson Health System, Holtz Children's Hospital, and the Miami Transplant Institute seek an accomplished academic pediatric cardiologist to serve as Director of the Pediatric Heart Failure and Heart Transplant Program.

This position offers the opportunity to lead the next phase of an established pediatric heart failure and transplant program within a growing Congenital Heart Center and a major academic transplant environment.

The program is currently led by Paolo Rusconi, MD, who has provided leadership in advanced pediatric heart failure and transplantation.  Two advanced practice providers support are dedicated to the program. The broader congenital program identifies heart failure and transplantation as integral components of its continuum of care.

The program is continuing to expand. A dedicated pediatric heart failure and transplant surgeon is scheduled to join the faculty in November 2026, providing the incoming Director with an opportunity to lead and develop an expanding team rather than build a program in isolation.

The Director will set the clinical and academic direction for the program encompassing advanced pediatric heart failure, cardiomyopathy, mechanical circulatory support, heart transplantation, and advanced heart failure associated with congenital heart disease.

Program Environment

The Pediatric Heart Failure and Transplant Program sits at the intersection of several major clinical enterprises: the Congenital Heart Center at Holtz Children's Hospital, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Jackson Health System, and Miami Transplant Institute.

The program brings together pediatric heart failure and transplantation with congenital heart surgery, cardiac intensive care, interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, advanced cardiovascular imaging, fetal cardiology, and adult congenital heart disease.

The congenital heart program provides care across the lifespan, from fetal diagnosis through childhood and into adulthood. The fetal cardiology program emphasizes coordinated multidisciplinary planning and continuity from prenatal diagnosis through infancy and childhood, while the ACHD program provides comprehensive lifelong congenital cardiovascular care. The program also houses multi-disciplinary clinics such as neuromuscular disease clinics with further opportunities to develop a dedicated cardio-oncology program. 

Heart Center Leadership

The Heart Center is co-directed by Shailendra Upadhyay, MD, MBA, Chief of Pediatric Cardiology, and Daniel Nento, MD, MHA, Chief of Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Surgery. This shared leadership model brings pediatric cardiology and congenital heart surgery together in the strategic and clinical direction of the Heart Center.

Dr. Upadhyay provides leadership for pediatric cardiology and brings expertise in pediatric and adult congenital cardiology, electrophysiology, and lifelong congenital heart disease care. Dr. Nento leads pediatric and congenital cardiac surgery and has advanced training in complex congenital heart surgery, heart transplantation, and ventricular assist device therapy. Together, they provide a collaborative leadership structure designed to support multidisciplinary decision-making, program growth, quality improvement, and coordinated care across the congenital heart program.

For the incoming Director of Pediatric Heart Failure and Heart Transplantation, this structure provides direct partnership with both cardiology and surgical leadership. The Director will work closely with the Heart Center co-directors to further develop advanced heart failure, mechanical circulatory support, transplantation, Fontan failure, and other complex congenital heart failure services.

Congenital Heart Surgery

The Director will work closely with two dedicated pediatric and congenital heart surgeons:

•  Daniel Nento, MD, Chief of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery
•  Muhammad Ali Mumtaz, MD, Pediatric and Adult Congenital Heart Surgeon
•  Hidenori Hayashi, MD, Pediatric/Congenital Heart and Transplant Surgeon (anticipated start in November 2026)

This close integration between advanced heart failure cardiology and congenital heart surgery will be central to further development of transplantation, mechanical circulatory support, management of failing single-ventricle physiology, and care of medically and surgically complex transplant candidates.

Advanced Heart Failure Across the Congenital Lifespan
The incoming Director will have the opportunity to further integrate heart failure care across the congenital heart disease program.

The Adult Congenital Heart Disease program includes heart failure and ventricular dysfunction management, heart transplantation, Fontan surveillance and advanced care planning, surgical and postoperative congenital care, and multidisciplinary conferences for complex patients.

The ACHD service provides multidisciplinary care involving congenital cardiology, electrophysiology, advanced imaging, interventional cardiology, surgery, intensive care, heart failure, and high-risk pregnancy expertise.

This infrastructure offers an important opportunity to develop longitudinal pathways for patients with cardiomyopathy, Fontan failure, ventricular dysfunction, mechanical circulatory support, and transplantation as they transition from pediatric to adult care.

Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging

The Pediatric and Adult Congenital Cardiac Imaging and Echocardiography Service provides a comprehensive multimodality imaging platform including:

•  Advanced transthoracic and congenital echocardiography
•  Fetal echocardiography
•  Transesophageal and perioperative echocardiography
•  Strain imaging and advanced ventricular function assessment
•  Cardiac MRI and cardiac CT
•  Exercise-related imaging and longitudinal surveillance

These services support advanced myocardial assessment, transplant evaluation and surveillance, mechanical support, and longitudinal evaluation of ventricular function.

Interventional Cardiology

The congenital interventional cardiology program provides catheter-based care across infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood and is supported by dedicated pediatric and adult congenital catheterization laboratories.

Its capabilities include advanced hemodynamic assessment, Fontan evaluation, transcatheter valve therapy, structural interventions, and hybrid catheterization-surgical procedures. These services support the evaluation and optimization of patients with advanced heart failure, pulmonary vascular disease, failing Fontan physiology, transplant candidacy, and residual congenital lesions. A close collaboration with adult interventional cardiology also facilitates immediate availability if mechanical support with Impella etc. 

Electrophysiology and Device Therapy

The Pediatric and Adult Congenital Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia Service provides integrated rhythm care across the congenital lifespan, including 24/7 electrophysiology coverage, three-dimensional mapping-guided catheter ablation, pacemaker and ICD therapy, and perioperative rhythm management.

The heart failure and electrophysiology teams collaborate in the management of arrhythmia-mediated ventricular dysfunction, sudden cardiac death risk, advanced device therapy, and complex rhythm disorders in patients with cardiomyopathy and congenital heart disease.

Fetal Cardiology and Early Identification of Myocardial Disease
The Fetal Cardiology Service provides advanced fetal echocardiography, prenatal consultation, family counseling, and coordinated delivery planning in collaboration with maternal-fetal medicine, neonatology, cardiac surgery, intensive care, and pediatric cardiology.

The program specifically evaluates fetal cardiomyopathy and ventricular dysfunction, supporting longitudinal care for myocardial disease beginning before birth.

Leadership Mandate

• The incoming Director will have responsibility for defining the clinical and academic direction of the Pediatric Heart Failure and Heart Transplant Program and and for continued growth of its advanced cardiovascular services.
•  Provide strategic and clinical leadership for pediatric advanced heart failure and transplantation.
•  Expand a multidisciplinary program in cardiomyopathy, advanced heart failure, mechanical circulatory support, and heart transplantation.
•  Develop comprehensive pathways for referral, evaluation, listing, transplantation, postoperative management, and long-term transplant surveillance.
•  Advance multidisciplinary management of complex congenital heart disease, including single-ventricle and Fontan circulatory failure.
•  Build an integrated pediatric-to-adult pathway for patients with advanced heart failure and prior transplantation.
•  Partner closely with congenital heart surgery and critical care in the management of critically ill heart failure and transplant patients.
•  Expand regional, national, and international referral relationships.
•  Recruit, develop, and mentor faculty and multidisciplinary team members as the program grows.
•  Establish measurable standards for clinical quality, outcomes, patient safety, and program performance.
•  Expand clinical research, multicenter collaboration, quality improvement, education, and scholarly productivity.
•  Educate and mentor pediatric cardiology fellows, residents, medical students, and other trainees.
•  Represent the program institutionally and nationally within the pediatric heart failure and transplantation community.

The Ideal Candidate

The successful candidate will be an established academic pediatric cardiologist with advanced expertise in pediatric heart failure and heart transplantation and a demonstrated capacity to lead multidisciplinary programs.

Candidates should possess board certification or eligibility in Pediatric Cardiology, advanced training and substantial experience in pediatric heart failure and transplantation, and eligibility for medical licensure in Florida. Academic appointment at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine will be commensurate with experience and scholarly accomplishments.

Particularly attractive candidates will bring expertise in one or more areas including mechanical circulatory support, ventricular assist devices, cardiomyopathy, failing Fontan physiology, complex congenital heart disease, transplant outcomes, clinical investigation, quality improvement, or program development.

Candidates should demonstrate collaborative leadership, a record of building teams, academic productivity, mentorship, commitment to measurable clinical excellence, and a compelling vision for the future of pediatric heart failure and transplantation.

The Leadership Opportunity
The successful candidate will be expected to provide both clinical and programmatic leadership.

The University of Miami and Jackson Health System seek a leader who can build on the existing strengths of the Congenital Heart Center and Miami Transplant Institute to continue the development of an integrated pediatric advanced heart failure and transplantation program.

The incoming Director will join a growing congenital cardiovascular program with established expertise in surgery, ACHD, electrophysiology, interventional cardiology, multimodality imaging, and fetal cardiology. The ACHD program includes four board-certified ACHD physicians with complementary expertise and provides integrated congenital, interventional, imaging, electrophysiology, and heart failure care.

With additional dedicated pediatric heart failure/transplant surgeon joining in November 2026, the next Director will have the opportunity to build a team, define program priorities, grow clinical volume and referrals, advance transplantation and mechanical circulatory support, and develop an academically distinguished program.

Holtz Children's Hospital

Holtz Children's Hospital, located on the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center campus, is one of the largest children's hospitals in the southeastern United States and serves as a major tertiary and quaternary pediatric referral center. The hospital provides care from infancy through young adulthood and receives referrals from South Florida, across the United States, and internationally. Holtz is the principal pediatric teaching hospital for the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and is part of Jackson Health System. Its academic model brings together University of Miami physicians, Jackson nursing and clinical teams, pediatric subspecialists, intensive care services, and surgical programs in a single campus environment.

Holtz Children's Hospital has a longstanding commitment to advanced pediatric cardiac care. It was the first pediatric heart failure program in Florida to receive Heart Failure Institute accreditation and the eighth pediatric program in the nation to receive that designation. This history, together with the expanding Congenital Heart Center, provides an established clinical and academic foundation for the next phase of the pediatric heart failure and transplant program.

Miami Transplant Institute

The Miami Transplant Institute is a collaboration between Jackson Health System and UHealth, the University of Miami Health System. With more than 50 years of transplant experience, MTI is one of the largest and most comprehensive transplant centers in the United States and provides transplantation services for both adults and children. The institute performs the full spectrum of solid organ transplantation, including heart, lung, heart-lung, kidney, pancreas, kidney-pancreas, liver, intestinal, and multivisceral transplantation.

MTI performs more than 700 transplants annually and is consistently among the highest-volume transplant centers in the country. Its multidisciplinary infrastructure includes transplant physicians and surgeons, dedicated inpatient transplant units, intensive care, mechanical circulatory and cardiopulmonary support, transplant coordinators, pharmacy, infectious disease, immunology, social work, nutrition, rehabilitation, and other specialized services. Pediatric transplantation is provided in partnership with Holtz Children's Hospital, allowing children with advanced heart failure to benefit from the resources of both a comprehensive children's hospital and a major multiorgan transplant institute on the same medical campus.

Miami

Miami serves a diverse patient population and serves as an important gateway to Florida, the Caribbean, and Latin America. The location provides substantial potential for developing regional and international referral relationships for children with complex congenital heart disease, cardiomyopathy, advanced heart failure, and transplantation.

The combination of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Jackson Health System, Holtz Children's Hospital, the Congenital Heart Center, and Miami Transplant Institute provides a strong setting for the continued development of pediatric heart failure and transplantation.

Applications and Nominations

Interested candidates should submit a curriculum vitae and letter of interest describing their clinical expertise, leadership experience, academic accomplishments, and vision for building a comprehensive pediatric advanced heart failure and heart transplantation program.

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Jackson Health System
Holtz Children's Hospital
Miami Transplant Institute
Miami, Florida

Academic rank will be commensurate with qualifications, experience, and academic accomplishments.