About Us | Enduring Hearts

OUR MISSION:

A HEART TRANSPLANT IS NOT A CURE, BUT A BRIDGE TO LIFE …

Atlanta-based Enduring Hearts launched in 2013 with a mission to fund research that increases the longevity of pediatric heart transplants, improves the quality of life for children living with a new heart and eliminates pediatric heart diseases that may lead to a transplant.

OUR STORY

WHO IS ENDURING HEARTS?

Enduring Hearts is a registered 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to funding innovative research aimed at improving the lives of children living with transplanted hearts.

WHAT DOES ENDURING HEARTS DO?

We work with our team of leading doctors and scientists in the field of transplantation, pediatric cardiology and immunology to drive leading-edge research that will make a transplant last a lifetime. Our leadership and Board of Directors follow the research process closely, utilizing our business acumen to ensure that the funding is used efficiently and that our investments make an impact.

WHY OUR WORK IS NECESSARY:

A transplant is not a cure. The average heart transplant lasts only 17 years.
One in four transplants will fail largely due to organ rejection. Of those who have another transplant, nearly half will not survive.
Anti-rejection drugs and rejection detection procedures negatively affect their quality of life.
Enduring Hearts is the only nonprofit solely dedicated to research that helps kids with heart transplants live longer, healthier lives.
We fund the critical, yet often overlooked research needed to eliminate rejection, prevent life-threatening complications and reduce the risk that a second transplant will be needed.

WHO OUR WORK WILL HELP:

Babies born with congenital heart defects that cannot be surgically repaired and require a heart transplant.
Children who experience end-stage heart failure through heart disease, infection, and Cardiomyopathy.
Not only patients, but their entire families that all live with the stress of knowing that the transplanted heart may eventually fail.
Many kids who receive other transplanted organs will also experience organ failure due to rejection.
Adult heart transplant recipients.

OUR TEAM

ENDURING HEARTS LEADERSHIP & BOARD

Enduring Hearts is led by our Chief Executive Officer and governed by a body of independent professionals in addition to advisement from our Scientific Advisory Committee. Together, we are spurring the momentum of Enduring Hearts to rapidly make a significant impact, at a time when opportunities to advance transplantation science is greater than ever. Our Board of Directors continues to demonstrate a commitment to governance, fundraising, grant-making and establishing partnerships with leading institutions to achieve long-term success.

Carolyn Salvador – Chief Executive Officer
Ruth Manlapas – Board President
Dean Bellmoff – Board Vice President
Mike Gahan – Board Treasurer
Patrick Gahan – Founder
Dr. Robert Boucek, M.D.- Board Scientific Liaison
Ankur Chatterjee – Board Member
Stephen Ochs – Board Member
Derek Cunningham – Board Member
John Hawkins – Board Member

Avi Yashchin – Board Member
Jason Decker – Board Member
Alok Gupta – Board Member
Joshua Weiner – Board Member
Victoria Ornstein – Board Member
Scott Stephens- Board Member
Joe Brownlee- Board Member
Kelly Fechalos – Director, Business Development
Raeann Tighe – Executive Administrative Assistant

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD

Our Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) is a critical part of the team at Enduring Hearts. The SAC peer-reviews grants several times a year and helps provide invaluable input that enables us to dedicate funds to the most promising research that will save lives for kids who are alive TODAY.

The SAC is comprised of top pediatric cardiologists and immunologists from highly esteemed institutions with many years of both patient care and clinical research.

The SAC ensures that our funding is used to serve the mission of our organization to increase the longevity of pediatric heart transplants, improve the quality of life for children living with a new heart and eliminate pediatric heart diseases that may lead to a transplant.

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Janet N. Scheel, M.D.

Washington University, School of Medicine

Department of Pediatrics, Division of Cardiology

St. Louis, MO

To learn more, click here.

Kurt R. Schumacher, M.D.

Pediatric Cardiologist – C.S.
Mott Children’s Hospital Assistant
Professor of Pediatrics – University
of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan

To learn more, click here.

George T. Nicholson, M.D.

Washington University, School
of Medicine Department of
Pediatrics, Division of
Cardiology St. Louis, MO

Justin Godown, M.D.

Pediatric Cardiologist- Monroe
Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics,
Thomas P. Graham Jr. Division of
Cardiology Vanderbilt University
Nashville, Tennessee

To learn more, click here.

Dave Mathews, PhD

Emory University School
of Medicine MSTPEmory Transplant
Center, Immunology Research
Fellow Atlanta, GA.

Shriprasad Deshpande, M.D.

Children’s National Medical
Center Medical Director of
Pediatric Heart Transplantation
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
– Emory University Atlanta, Georgia

Melissa Cousino Hood, PhD

Pediatric Heart Transplant
Psychologist, C.S. Mott Children’s
Hospital Assistant Professor of
Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric
Psychology University of Michigan
Transplant Center Ann Arbor, Michigan

To learn more, click here.

Brian Feingold, M.D.

Pediatric Cardiology, University
of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Children’s Hospital Assistant
Professor of Heart Failure
and Heart Transplant Programs,
University of Pittsburgh
School of Medicine Pittsburgh, PA

To learn more, click here.

Robert Boucek, M.D.

Board Scientific Liaison Research
Affiliate, Seattle Children’s Research
Institute Past Associations: Chief,
Division of Pediatric Cardiology,
Department of Pediatrics, University
of Washington School of Medicine,
Seattle WA Chief of Pediatric Cardiology,
University of South Florida/All Children’s
Hospital St. Petersburg, FL Medical
Director, Pediatric Cardiac Transplant
Program, Vanderbilt University,
Nashville, TN

Michael Davis, PhD, FAHA

Director, Children’s Heart Research
and Outcomes Center (HeRO)
Assistant Professor of Biomedical
Engineering and Medicine, Emory
University Children’s Healthcare of
Atlanta Research Scholar Atlanta, GA

To learn more, click here.

OUR EXPERT REVIEW PANEL

Lori West, M.D.

Professor, Depts. of Pediatrics, Surgery, Medical Microbiology/ Immunology and Laboratory Medicine/Pathology
Canada Research Chair in Cardiac Transplantation
Director, Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program
Director, Alberta Transplant Institute
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada

David Rosenthal, M.D.

Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine
Medical Director, PACT Program at Stanford Children’s Health
Roma and Marvin Auerback Pediatric Cardiology Scholar

Richard Chinnock, M.D.

Professor & Chair of Pediatrics
Loma Linda University School of
Medicine Chief Medical Officer
Loma Linda University Children’s
Hospital Loma Linda, CA

Stephanie Nakano, PhD

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Advanced Heart Failure / Heart
Transplant University of Colorado
and Children’s Hospital Colorado

OUR PARTNERS

We are so grateful to our many donors and community and corporate partners who are committed to improving the quality of life for transplant recipients. With their support, we are funding research aimed at building stronger hearts for longer lives. Please visit/learn about them, and consider supporting them as they’ve supported us and our mission!