Gil Wernovsky, MD, FAAP, FACC
For the first time in the history of this prestigious international conference, a comprehensive scientific track, “Cardiovascular Disease in the Neonate,” will be featured throughout the convention. This meeting is for all who care for neonates with heart disease, including neonatologists, bedside and advanced practice nurses, fellows and trainees, respiratory therapists, and more.
Background: The World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery (WCCPCS) is an international quadrennial meeting designed to promote the sharing of ideas to improve cardiac care for children across the globe. Separate pediatric cardiology (est. 1980) and cardiac surgery (est. 1989) were combined to form the current collaborative structure in 1993. In 2015, after six years of extensive research and planning and competing against seven other countries, the International Steering Committee awarded the bid to host the 8th Quadrennial Meeting to the USA for the first time ever. This historic meeting, considered the “Olympics of Our Field,” will occur in our nation’s capital, Washington DC, from August 27th – September 1st, 2023.
The WCPCCS will bring together over 4,500 physicians, nurses, the medical industry, administrative stakeholders, and technology leaders from around the globe to collaborate and develop innovative and sustainable models of care for children and young adults with congenital and acquired heart disease. As care for the neonate with cardiac disease has been increasingly collaborative and successful, the WCPCCS organizing team partnered with the Neonatal Heart Society, the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society, the Society of Pediatric Cardiovascular Nurses, and 11 other societies to form a comprehensive, collaborative program.
Vision: To improve the global standard for pediatric and congenital cardiac care.
Mission: To organize the most comprehensive scientific forum ever convened for this patient population and their caregivers to improve the duration and quality of life for neonates, infants, children, and adults with pediatric and congenital cardiovascular disease.
Special Features:
A Multi-Dimensional Anatomy Lab (first of its kind) integrates historical pathologic heart specimens, traditional angiography, echo and cross-sectional imaging, newer approaches to 3D printing, surgery and/or catheter intervention planning, as well as state-of-the-art virtual and augmented reality.
Digital Futures and Technology (first of its kind) features hands-on sessions with academic centers and tech industry partners. There will be scheduled demonstrations and presentations from global experts in artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented, virtual and extended reality, applied visual effects, and gamification/simulation.
Selected Sessions:
- Hemodynamics of the Extremely Premature Infant
- Cardiovascular Implications in Patients with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia
- Echocardiography by the Neonatal ICU Practitioner
- Hemodynamics of Septic Shock
- The Fetal and Neonatal Brain in Congenital Heart Disease
- Management Of the PDA in Very Tiny Babies: Does it Need Closure? If So, How?
- Oral Abstracts in Neonatal Cardiology
- The Effects of Pain, Analgesia, and Sedation on the Neonatal Brain
- Pulmonary Hypertension: Basics & Beyond in 2023
- Surgery and Cath in Tiny Babies – Why?, When?, How?
- Featured Plenary Sessions on Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, Transposition of the Great Arteries, and Tetralogy of Fallot
- Ethical Issues in Intensive Care
- Roundtable Lunch: How to Best Optimize Neurodevelopmental Care?
- Quality Improvement in the NICU
- Hands-On ECMO
- Acute Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn: State-of-the-Art Management
- Arrhythmias in the NICU
Hope to see you there!
Financial Funding/Disclosure: No disclosures indicated