What it takes to host a pediatric
HEART TISSUE BANK
16
Theoretically , anyone could do what Shelley Miyamoto , MD , pediatric cardiologist at Children ' s Hospital Colorado , does – study pediatric heart failure through muscle bath research – but it seems that almost no one else is doing it .
At least , that ’ s according to Dr . Miyamoto , who doesn ’ t think her work is ingenious , but instead lauds the visionaries who had the foresight to build an infrastructure to study pediatric heart failure .
Part of that is what she calls the “ serendipity ” of having the right people in the right place at the right time . Those right people include Mike Bristow , MD , a cardiologist at University of Colorado Hospital , who first brought the muscle bath technology to Denver 40 years ago . Based at the Anschutz Medical Campus , he shares his equipment with other researchers in close proximity , including Dr . Miyamoto at Children ’ s Colorado ( which is also on the Anschutz Medical Campus ).
Those right people also include Dunbar Ivy , MD , Chief of Pediatric Cardiology , whom she credits as having the vision to invest in several special freezers to store the tissue , allow her protected time to keep the tissue bank active , build a pediatric heart transplant program that would eventually amass enough hearts to create a significant tissue bank , and build an on-call team that could collect heart transplant tissue any time of the day or night , any day of the week .
“ I ’ ve been fortunate because Dr . Ivy gets it ,” Dr . Miyamoto says . “ We can do both excellent clinical care and cutting-edge research because Dr . Ivy ' s leadership has made it happen .”
“ We can do both excellent clinical care and cutting-edge research because Dr . Ivy ' s leadership has made it happen .”
SHELLEY MIYAMOTO , MD
Director , Cardiomyopathy Program ; Millisor Endowed Chair in Pediatric Heart Disease