Dr. Ginnie Abarbanell is chief of pediatric cardiology at UT Health San Antonio. She takes care of all kinds of kids, ranging from little ones with heart murmurs to children with congenital heart disease – which is more common than you might think.
“Congenital heart disease is the most common heart common birth defect,” Abarbanell said. “So one in about 100 to 110 babies are born with a heart defect.”
More children with congenital heart abnormalities are surviving infancy than ever before and Abarbanell wants to make sure they are also thriving.
“We're finding that kids born with congenital heart disease are at increased risk for having issues with executive function, ADHD. They're also more at risk for having learning disabilities or learning differences at school. So it can sometimes make school very difficult.” she said. “They can struggle learning how to read, they can struggle doing math. And we all know that those kinds of things in elementary school – if you really struggle – put you on a different trajectory as an adult.”
She is involved in the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Outcome Collaborative, a national organization made up of pediatric cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, as well as neuropsychologists. As part of the group, Abarbanell advocates for increased awareness of neurodevelopmental issues among people who have or have had pediatric cardiac and congenital heart disease.
“My specific interest is really how can we make sure they're actually thriving?” she said. “Are there services that they can get from a neurodevelopmental standpoint so that they can actually even be more productive and thrive and have more productive lives?”
Abarbanell said it’s not only her job to help her patients be the best kids they can be but also the best adults they can be, and she takes that job seriously.
Science & Medicine is a collaboration between TPR and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, about how scientific discovery in San Antonio advances the way medicine is practiced everywhere.
