The PediaFlow® Consortium

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 MemberAccomplishments
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
Carnegie Mellon University
  • One of the top-10 engineering schools in the US
  • #1 Computer Science Department in the US
LaunchPoint Technologies
  • Winner of the IEEE Control Systems Technology Award for the Streamliner™ Maglev VAD
  • Team member for multidisciplinary optimization (magnetics, fluids, control) of the Levacor VAD
WorldHeart Corporation
  • 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)
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
  • One of world’s most active clinical centers for pediatric cardiac surgery
  • Twenty-nine (29) pediatric VAD patients
  • Over 350 thoracic transplants since 1982