What excites you most about leading the Nicklaus Children’s Heart Institute together?
Dr. Shyam K. Sathanandam: I’m inspired by the opportunity to create a program where innovation is built into every step of care. When families walk through our doors, especially those with premature or medically fragile infants, they should know there is no challenge too small or too complex for us to take on.
Dr. David Kalfa: What excites me is shaping a future where children not only survive but thrive. The synergy between our expertise allows us to reinvent what surgical and interventional heart care can look like for the next generation.
Can each of you share your background and what drew you to pediatric heart care?
Dr. Sathanandam: I grew up in Chennai, India, and trained in pediatrics and advanced cardiology at institutions including the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Very early on, I knew I wanted to work with the tiniest hearts, premature and low-weight babies who require precise and creative catheter-based interventions. Being able to fix a life-threatening heart defect through a tiny tube, often at the bedside in the NICU, is what keeps me pushing boundaries every day. Dr. Kalfa: My journey started in France, where I earned both my medical degree and a PhD in cardiovascular tissue engineering. I was drawn to surgery not only to save lives today but to discover how children can live better tomorrow. I’ve dedicated my career to the most complex neonatal heart surgeries and to designing valves that grow as a child grows so they can enjoy long, active lives with fewer operations.
Where do you each see the future of pediatric cardiovascular innovation?
Dr. Sathanandam: We’re entering a new era of catheter-based therapies. Interventional cardiac MRI, lymphatic interventions, and virtual and augmented-reality guidance are expanding what can be achieved without opening the chest. I’ve spent years developing procedures that can be performed right in the NICU, eliminating high-risk transports for fragile infants. Those advances are only the beginning of what we plan to accomplish here.
Dr. Kalfa: Surgery is also evolving rapidly. Robotics, artificial intelligence, and regenerative tissue engineering are allowing us to personalize operations, repair hearts more effectively, and even create new structures when nature has not. The future is about precision and durability, and we are bringing that future to every child we serve.
How will your teamwork change the face of congenital heart care?
Dr. Sathanandam: Historically, interventional and surgical programs sometimes worked in parallel. Here, we are building a single, unified vision: one team deciding together what is best for the child. When all options are on the table, innovation accelerates and outcomes improve.
Dr. Kalfa: Exactly. Collaboration is how transformation happens. By combining Shyam’s expertise in catheter-based solutions with my experience in complex surgical repairs, we eliminate silos and open new pathways. Together, we aim to make Nicklaus Children’s a global destination where families know their child has access to the most cutting-edge care in one place.
What is your shared mission as co-directors?
Dr. Sathanandam: To ensure that every family, no matter where they come from or how complex the diagnosis, receives world-class, compassionate care close to home.
Dr. Kalfa: And to measure success not only by survival statistics, although a 97.5 percent heart-surgery survival rate since 2018 places us among the nation’s best, but also in celebrating milestones: a first day of school, a birthday, a future made possible.
What do you hope families feel when they meet you and your team?
Dr. Sathanandam: Hope. Confidence. Relief. A sense that their child’s heart is in the very best hands.
Dr. Kalfa: And that they are not alone. We are partners in every step of the journey. Together, we are committed to advancing care, advancing innovation, and advancing what is possible, one child, one family, and one heartbeat at a time.
DAVID KALFA, MD, PHD, CHIEF OF CARDIOVASCULAR SURGERY AND CO-DIRECTOR
SHYAM K. SATHANANDAM, MD, CHIEF OF CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE AND CO-DIRECTOR
NICKLAUS CHILDREN’S HEART INSTITUTE
3100 SW 62nd Avenue, Miami, FL 33155
12+ Outpatient Heart Clinics Throughout South Florida
305-662-8301
Nicklauschildrens.org/Heart
