Cleveland Clinic Children’s Names Bradley S. Marino, M.D., Chair of the Department of Pediatric Cardiology

After an extensive national search, Bradley S. Marino, M.D., MBA, has been named chair of the department of pediatric cardiology at Cleveland Clinic Children’s, effective Jan. 4, 2021. Dr. Marino will succeed Peter Aziz, M.D., who has served as interim chair since March 2020.

Dr. Marino is an internationally recognized pediatric cardiovascular outcomes researcher, and an expert in pediatric cardiology and cardiac critical care medicine. As chair of pediatric cardiology, he will join Hani Najm, M.D., chair of pediatric and congenital heart surgery, in leading Cleveland Clinic Children’s nationally recognized congenital heart program. Cleveland Clinic Children’s cardiology and heart surgery program is ranked No. 15 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in the 2020 -2021 edition of its “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings.

Cleveland Clinic Children’s in partnership with Cleveland Clinic’s top-ranked Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute (HVTI), is home to the only pediatric and adult congenital heart center in Northeast Ohio, offering comprehensive cardiac care from in-utero through adulthood. The pediatric and adult congenital heart center specializes in treating the most complex heart disease in children and adult congenital heart patients. In 2019, the comprehensive team of 21 pediatric cardiologists and heart surgeons saw 27,615 outpatient visits at 11 locations and completed 500 cardiothoracic surgeries, 324 catheterization procedures, 7,733 echocardiograms and 10 pediatric heart transplants.

“Dr. Marino is an international leader and advocate for children with congenital and acquired heart disease. We are honored to welcome him to our team that manages congenital heart patients,” said Dr. Najm. “We are confident that his expertise and leadership will further enhance our ability to deliver family-centered, and integrated medical, interventional and surgical care to a growing population of patients.”

“Cleveland Clinic Children’s and the HVTI adult congenital heart center is well known for its innovation and commitment to provide the most advanced treatments, superior patient care and highest-quality outcomes,” said Dr. Marino. “I look forward to collaborating with my new colleagues to further innovate and advance world class congenital cardiac care at Cleveland Clinic Children’s.”

Dr. Marino comes to Cleveland Clinic Children’s from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago (Lurie Children’s) where he served as the director of Regenstein Cardiac Care Unit, inpatient cardiology, and co-director of the NICU-Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Program which provided long-term neurodevelopmental follow-up for children with complex congenital, severe acquired heart disease, and high-risk NICU graduates. He was also the creator and director of the Center for Cardiovascular Innovation in the Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute, and Co-Director of Research and Academic Affairs in the Heart Center at Lurie Children’s.

Dr. Marino’s research interests have focused on the impact of surgical and intensive care unit factors on mortality and morbidity, as well as the impact of neurodevelopmental, psychosocial, and physical morbidities on quality of life, functional status, and behavioral and emotional outcomes in the high-risk complex congenital heart disease population. He is pursuing novel investigations on how to prevent brain injury in infants with complex congenital heart disease undergoing heart surgery. His work has been published in 250 peer-reviewed manuscripts, reviews, case reports, editorials, letters and books. He has been invited for 40 visiting professorships and given more than 160 international and national lectures based on his scientific inquiry.

He has also served as the American Heart Association (AHA) Chair of the Young Hearts Council, President of the AHA Chicago Metropolitan Board, inaugural Co-Chair for the international Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Outcome Collaborative, and the inaugural Chair of the Medical Advisory Board for Conquering Congenital Heart Disease. He served as a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery Executive Committee, Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society Board of Directors, and Congenital Heart Public Health Consortium steering committees.

Dr. Marino earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, where he also completed a master’s degree in public policy in healthcare at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He completed his pediatrics residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and two fellowships, one in pediatric cardiology and the second in pediatric critical care medicine, both at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He holds additional master’s degrees in clinical epidemiology from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and in business administration with a focus in healthcare management from the University of Texas at Dallas.