CHKD Virginia Adult Congenital Cardiology Clinic

Director's Description

The Virginia Adult Congenital Cardiac Program at CHKD is a specialized cardiac service that provides comprehensive congenital cardiac care to adolescents and adults who were born with a wide range of congenital cardiac conditions. Established in 2007, we have grown to meet the medical and surgical needs of the Hampton Roads/Tidewater region's ACHD patients. The program now includes 3 board-certified ACHD cardiologists and 3 PAs and a dedicated R.N., along with other 7 other pediatric/congenital cardiologists in addition to 2 congenital cardiac surgeons and our specialized congenital cardiac nurses, sonographers, rhythm techs, and a social worker. We see approximately 800 adults with CHD throughout the greater Hampton Roads area annually and continue to grow. We work collaboratively with our adult cardiology colleagues, seeking to co-manage many patients with their adult cardiologist or other referring medical specialists.

Our primary ACHD physicians, Dr. Alexander Ellis and Dr. Ashish Saini, are board-certified in Pediatric Cardiology and Adult Congenital Heart Disease. Dr. Ellis is also board-certified in adult Internal Medicine. Our physicians assistants are Tammy DiChiara, Amanda Boyd, and Lauren Dean. We also work closely with our adult cardiology and ACHD colleague Dr. Mohit Bhasin at Innovation Cardiology and our structural heart and EP outpatient and inpatient colleagues at Sentara Heart Hospital.

Our program provides complete, personalized, expert care for ACHD patients, including:
-- complete clinical cardiac diagnostic evaluations and medical treatment.
-- imaging services (congenital transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography, and advanced imaging with cardiac MRI and CT).
-- congenital interventional cardiac catheterization.
-- congenital electrophysiology and rhythm evaluation (EKG, Holter/event monitoring, and pacemaker/ICD services).
-- exercise testing laboratory.
-- pulmonary hypertension.
-- maternal-fetal medicine/pregnancy collaborative program with genetic counseling.
-- congenital cardiac surgery.
-- "The NEXT STEP" transition program for teens and young adults

Patients are seen by our team at the main CHKD hospital and at satellite clinics in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. Many cardiac procedures are performed at CHKD or but we also work closely with Sentara Heart Hospital as well as our congenital cardiology and cardiac surgical colleagues throughout the state to provide the best treatments for our ACHD patients.