WVU Medicine recruits Dr. Christopher Mascio to lead Children’s Heart Center
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – WVU Medicine is pleased to announce that Christopher E. Mascio, M.D., will lead pediatric cardiac services for WVU Medicine Children’s, serving as the executive director of the new WVU Medicine Children’s Heart Center and division chief of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery.
The WVU Medicine Children’s Heart Center will be headquartered in the new $215-million, nine-story, 150-bed free-leaning Children’s Hospital on WVU Medicine’s main campus in Morgantown. WVU Medicine Children’s is the only children’s hospital in the state that offers full cardiac care, and the Children’s Heart Center follows a model that cares for patients with congenital heart disease from the prenatal period through adulthood.
“We’re putting the West Virginia spirit to work by welcoming Dr. Mascio home and expanding our expertise in the area of advanced pediatric heart care for the children of West Virginia. His leadership will help us further transform WVU Medicine Children’s as a destination for people across the country and allow families to receive the highest level of care while staying closer to home,” Albert L. Wright, Jr., president and CEO of the West Virginia University Health System, said.
Mascio comes to WVU Medicine Children’s from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he served as an attending surgeon in the Cardiac Center and associate clinical chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery. He is board certified in cardiothoracic surgery and congenital heart surgery and performs the full spectrum of congenital heart surgery, including complex newborns and adult congenital operations.
“I am deeply honored to come back to the state of West Virginia to lead this important new venture with the extraordinary team at WVU Medicine Children’s,” Mascio said. “With the collaboration of superb colleagues in cardiology, intensive care, anesthesiology, and nursing and with the full strategic support of WVU Medicine, I embrace the opportunity to serve the children from the region in which I grew up.”
“We are truly fortunate to have been able to recruit someone of Dr. Mascio’s stature to lead one of our most critical pediatric programs,” Amy L. Bush, B.S.N., M.B.A., R.N., C.N.O.R., chief operating officer for WVU Medicine Children’s, said. “Our goal is to provide West Virginians with the world-class care they deserve and make it so that no child has to leave the state for congenital heart care, whether that’s an open-heart operation, a cardiac catheterization, or a noninvasive procedure.”
To learn more about WVU Medicine Children’s, visit Childrens.WVUMedicine.org.