“Congenital Interventional Training: Past, Present and Future”

Featuring: Frank F. Ing, M.D., FSCAI
Thursday, May 9, at 1:00 PM

The father of pediatric interventional cardiology and the namesake of SCAI’s Mullins Lecture, Charles E. Mullins, M.D., FSCAI, has said it is the people he trained over the years who are his greatest legacy.

When he delivers the Mullins Lecture at the SCAI 2013 Scientific Sessions, Frank F. Ing, M.D., FSCAI, will build on that legacy, focusing on the past, present, and future of training in pediatric interventional cardiology and then co-moderating a panel discussion on fellowship training.

How the field trains its fellows is becoming increasingly important, said Dr. Ing, given the approval of multiple pediatric interventional devices by the Food and Drug Administration and the increasing collaboration between pediatric cardiologists and physicians specializing in adult structural heart disease and performing hybrid procedures with congenital heart surgeons.

“We’re experiencing a Golden Era in pediatric interventions,” Dr. Ing said. “We’re crossing a threshold that establishes this as a legitimate field that will have a huge impact on pediatric cardiology. As such, we need to start thinking more about how we train the people doing these procedures, to maintain both quality and movement going forward.”

Dr. Ing not only is a former protégé of Dr. Mullins, but was recruited to be cath lab director at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston when Dr. Mullins retired from that position. He is now associate chief of cardiology and director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Reflecting his close relationship with the pioneering inventor, Dr. Ing plans to inject affectionate fun into the lecture by putting together a collection of memories, tributes, and pictures from Dr. Mullins’ former trainees.

“It’ll be great to connect all of these people with their former mentor, and to see what they think Chuck’s greatest legacy is,” Dr. Ing said. “As a profession, we have a real sense of lineage.”

The Mullins Lecture, and the panel discussion that follows, will also explore new guidelines on fellowship training in pediatric interventional cardiology. Expected to be published soon, the guidelines make recommendations on the scope of fellowship training and the minimum number of cases needed to develop expertise in specific pediatric interventional procedures. The time is right for defining expert consensus on such issues, Dr. Ing said.

“To move forward, you have to maintain a legacy of teaching, of impacting the next generation and their careers, and of adding to the science of the field,” Dr. Ing said. “We’ve done it all along, but in a random fashion. Now we have enough critical mass to think hard about organizing guidelines and some common techniques to training, perhaps using SCAI as a sponsoring umbrella organization.”