Brenner Children’s Hospital named to NIH Pediatric Heart Network

January 24, 2005

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Brenner Children’s Hospital, part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, was recently invited to participate in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Pediatric Heart Network. Brenner Children’s Hospital will join 10 other children’s hospitals in the nation conducting clinical trials on patients with heart defects.

“This is a real honor for Brenner Children’s Hospital,” said Wesley Covitz, M.D., chairman of pediatric cardiology at Brenner Children’s Hospital. “This allows us to merge resources with other prestigious academic medical centers and find ways to improve care for children with heart problems.”

Brenner Children’s joins Boston Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and other leading academic medical centers who are part of the network.

Researchers will conduct clinical trials to find the best treatment methods for children suffering from heart conditions that may result in heart failure. They will test both medications and surgical interventions to find the best treatments. Brenner Children’s Hospital will conduct four clinical trials in 2005 as part of their participation in the network.

“By conducting clinical trials, we are able to offer our patients the very latest treatment advances, placing them on the road to recovery with better outcomes,” said Covitz.

Brenner Children’s Hospital has joined the network for the next two years and hopes to renew for another five, Covitz said.

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Media Contacts: Rae Beasley (336) 716-6878, rabeasle@wfubmc.edu; Shannon Koontz (336) 716-2415, shkoontz@wfubmc.edu; or Karen Richardson (336) 716-4453, krchrdsn@wfubmc.edu.


About Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center: Wake Forest Baptist is an academic health system comprised of North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Brenner Children’s Hospital. It is licensed to operate 1,282 acute care, rehabilitation, psychiatry and long-term care beds and is consistently ranked as one of “America’s Best Hospitals” by U.S. News & World Report. Brenner Children’s was named one of the top 30 best children’s hospitals in the nation by Child magazine.

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