The PediaFlow Pediatric VAD is being developed by a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional consortium with decades of experience and world-class accomplishments in the blood pump field. The consortium received a $4.5M contract from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2004; one of only five such contracts awarded in the United States for the development of a pediatric heart pump.
The Principal Investigator for the NIH contract is Dr. Harvey Borovetz of the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Borovetz is Chairman of the Department of Bioengineering and is a faculty member in the Department of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).
| Consortium Member | Accomplishments |
|---|
University of Pittsburgh
| - Use of 500 ventricular assist devices since 1985
- Recipient of multiple RFP awards in the area of VADs
- Integrally involved in development of multiple clinically used blood pumps
|
Pittsburgh, PA
| - One of the top-10 engineering schools in the US
- #1 Computer Science Department in the US
|
Goleta, CA
| - Winner of the IEEE Control Systems Technology Award for the Streamliner™ Maglev VAD
- Winner of a Frost and Sullivan design innovation award
- Team member for multidisciplinary optimization (magnetics, fluids, control) of the Levacor VAD
|
Salt Lake City, UT and Oakland, CA
| - Thirty years in mechanical circulatory assistance
- First VAD used for successful bridge to transplant
- One of only two organizations in the world to receive a PMA for an implantable ventricular assist device (Novacor LVAS®)
- First bearingless maglev VAD to clinical feasibility trial (Levacor™ VAD)
|
Pittsburgh, PA
| - One of world’s most active clinical centers for pediatric cardiac surgery
- Twenty-nine (29) pediatric VAD patients
- Over 350 thoracic transplants since 1982
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