American Heart Association Congenital Heart Disease Congressional Briefing

On February 24th, the American Heart Association joined with the Congressional Heart and Stroke Coalition and the American College of Cardiology to provide a briefing on congenital heart disease. Gerard Martin, MD, pediatric cardiologist and Senior Vice President for the National Children’s Medical Center, Jodi Lemacks, Mended Little Hearts National Program Director and mother of a child with congenital heart disease, and congenital heart disease survivor Lauren Gray spoke at the briefing. Dr. Martin described the devastating impact of this disease on children and families and reiterated the need for more research. Lemacks detailed her family’s struggle with the health insurance system, and Gray spoke about her challenges living with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) as an adult. CHD remains the top birth defect and killer of infants in the U.S.