MacCutcheon Gift to Improve Intensive Care for Children with Congenital Heart Disease

With a $2 million gift from James A. “Jim” MacCutcheon and his family, Children’s National Health System has established the MacCutcheon Family Professorship in Cardiac Critical Care Medicine to ensure world-class care for children in the cardiac intensive care unit (CICU). The gift was made by Mr. MacCutcheon and his daughters, Megan MacCutcheon, Candice Kessler, and Colleen Crowley.

Kurt Newman, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Children’s National, said, “We are grateful for the MacCutcheon family’s tremendous leadership and philanthropic support of Children’s National over the past three decades. By establishing this new professorship, Jim and his daughters are helping elevate the level of care we can provide for our sickest cardiac patients.”

This endowed professorship allows Children’s National to establish a new position, the Chief of Cardiac Critical Care Medicine and Co-Director of Children’s National’s Heart Institute, to help optimize outcomes for vulnerable cardiac patients and pursue new treatments, therapies, and cures. Annually, Children’s National treats nearly 20,000 patients in need of specialized cardiac care, including children in the CICU facing and recovering from cardiovascular surgery, experiencing advanced heart failure, or in need of mechanical circulatory support.

This generous gift builds on 34 years of support and leadership from Mr. MacCutcheon, who currently serves on the Children’s Hospital Foundation Board and the Bearacuda Board, a financial advisory board for the hospital. Among other generous gifts to Children’s National, the MacCutcheon family established the Halle MacCutcheon Playroom and the MacCutcheon Family Cardiovascular Operating Suite.