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American College of Cardiology Honors Children's National Pediatric Cardiologist with Distinguished Fellowship Award at ACC Conference in San Diego

Gerard Martin

San Diego, CA – Gerard Martin, MD, Senior Vice President of the Center for Heart, Lung, and Kidney Disease at Children’s National Health System, received the Distinguished Fellowship Award at the American College of Cardiology’s Scientific Session. 

The Distinguished Fellowship Award recognizes an individual who has played a significant and influential role in improving healthcare. The award was presented to Dr. Martin during the Annual Convocation ceremony for being a dedicated champion of the ACC’s goal to improve clinical outcomes in cardiovascular care. Through his tireless work, he has succeeded in bringing to fruition a vision of making the ACC a “home” for both pediatric and adult cardiologists.

Through the years, Dr. Martin has endeavored to advance the College’s mission. He has served on the ACC’s Board of Governors and Board of Trustees. Recognizing that congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect in the United States, he helped to form the College’s Adult Congenital and Pediatric Cardiology Council and Section. The Section spearheads numerous education, advocacy, science, and quality congenital heart disease programs throughout the country. As the Section Chair for six years, he helped to position the Section as a model of success for the ACC. 

Dr. Martin’s leadership to bring together the congenital heart disease community is bar none. He helped to found the National Cardiovascular Data Registry IMPACT Registry® for adult and pediatric congenital treatment procedures. He led an effort among multiple organizations to establish adult congenital heart disease as an independent specialty and brought his critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) research to the national forefront. 

At Children’s National, Dr. Martin’s CCHD research led him to the evaluation and use of pulse oximetry (pulse ox) as a screening tool for CHD in neonates. It inspired him to collaborate with his colleagues on the creation of the Congenital Heart Disease Screening Program, an advocacy and education tool for healthcare providers, advocates, regulators, and legislators. 

At Children’s National, Dr. Martin has been practicing and teaching since 1986. He served as the Division Chief of Cardiology, a program recognized by the U.S. News and World Report, and was a Director of the Children’s National Heart Institute. He became a tenured Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in 1995. Today he holds the C. Richard Beyda Professorship of Cardiology at Children’s National.

Dr. Martin was educated at Syracuse University and the State University of New York, Upstate School of Medicine. After a residency at Brown University and the Rhode Island Hospital, he received his training in pediatric cardiology at the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco.  

Contact: Emily Hartman at 202-476-4500.

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