The next application window for all members will begin in September of 2024
2024 Pillar Award Recipients
New 2024 Recipients
Billings Clinic
Billings Clinic is Montana’s largest independent health care system serving Montana, Wyoming, and the western Dakotas. Billings Clinic Hospital is an integrated multi-specialty group practice with a 336-bed hospital and the regions only Level I Trauma Center. Billings Clinic cardiovascular surgery team performs some of the most complex cases in the region. The perfusion service at Billings clinic comprises a group of highly skilled clinicians focused on our mission of Health Care, Education, and Research.
As a team, we believe in perpetual learning, and implementation of the newest and most up to date technologies and practices to provide our patients with the most advanced and best care. We strive to collaborate as a team, with the help and support of our surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses, to advance our practice and create patient driven care. As a group we are excited and honored to accept the AmSect Pillar Award. Our team believes that through development and implementation of institutional protocols and guidelines that adhere to or exceed AmSect’s standards and guidelines we have been able to meet our vision and provide best in nation quality, patient safety, service, and value to our community. The team also believes that being Pillar Award recipients has helped forward our mission in providing education and has allowed us to help train the next generation of perfusionists, providing them with skills necessary to provide the highest level of patient care possible.
Kentucky Children's Hospital
At Kentucky Children’s Hospital, we provide care that has been recognized as among the best in the nation. In 2023, U.S. News & World Report honored our pediatric heart program with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, our pediatric orthopedics program with Shriners Hospital and our pediatric urology program as some of the country’s top programs. These rankings demonstrate our dedication to providing the best care possible to children of the Commonwealth.
Our team consists of 3 highly experienced perfusionists, with a commitment to best practices and quality improvement. While our team is always looking for improvement as a department, we strive to be a leading driver for advances in quality, safety, and value for the hospital and the Joint Pediatric Heart Care Program with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
We thank AmSECT for selecting us for the Pillar Award this year and wish to thank the leadership groups in Kentucky and Cincinnati for their support.
2024 Renewal Recipients
Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital
Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital is situated in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The Roanoke campus includes the Virginia Tech Carilion Medical School and Research Institute. Since 1982 Roanoke Memorial has offered Cardiothoracic Surgery and now, with the creation of the Cardiovascular Institute, considers it one of their signature services. Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital is in the process of building a new 400,000 sq.ft. tower to house the Cardiovascular Institute.
Our staff of six perfusionists are committed to delivering the highest quality of care possible while following our mission statement - to improve the health of the communities we serve. The perfusion team, by promoting cohesiveness and open communication with a mutual respect for one another, sets an example for teamwork. Our strongest attribute is the ability to evaluate, embrace and implement change utilizing evidence-based medicine and goal directed perfusion. We fully believe in a coherent QC/QI program monitored by peer review. We are grateful for a supportive administration.
We are very pleased and honored to be a recipient of the AmSECT Pillar Award for our second term. It brings well deserved attention and appreciation within our hospital to an incredibly dedicated team.
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
The Perfusion Department at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is a team dedicated to providing safe and quality care to every patient, from the tiniest neonate up to the adult congenital patient. Within our institution we are not only responsible for conducting cardiopulmonary bypass in the operating room but also for managing ventricular assist devices and for cardiac ECMO support. In addition, we currently serve as a clinical affiliate for three perfusion education programs.
Our team recognizes the important role we play in the outcome of our patients. As a result, our department is always looking for ways to optimize patient care- through continuing education, research, as well as quality assurance and quality improvement programs. We also take great pride in being heavily involved in professional societies and contributing to the advancement of the pediatric perfusion knowledge base.
The Pillar Award is a reflection of our dedication to the field of cardiovascular perfusion and to the great responsibilities of the profession. We are committed to demonstrating continued excellence because we know that is what our patients and their families deserve.
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Our CCHMC perfusion team is honored to continue to be recognized as a Pillar Award recipient. We strive for excellence for every patient, and this is one example of how this team continues to push that effort forward. Each member of this team is an integral part of ensuring we live up to and exceed the standard of care set by AmSECT and our peers for the practice of perfusion.
Thank you,
Zach Wilkes
Braley Hendrix
Sean Clingan
Leslie Gonzalez
Molly O'Brien
Jed Larson
Jim Reagor
Art Bourne
Duke University Hospital
Duke Perfusion Services provides superior patient care to over 3000 patients a year while cultivating a culture of teamwork, safety, integrity, diversity, and innovation. Duke Perfusion is one of the largest perfusion teams in the country. Scope of practice includes cardiopulmonary bypass, extracorporeal support, mechanical circulatory support, and autotransfusion for adult and pediatric patients. Areas of expertise include major aortic surgery, advanced heart failure, heart and lung transplantation, minimally invasive and robotic surgery, blood conservation, surgical oncology, and complex congenital surgery. Duke Perfusion supports OCS/Transmedics heart procurements, inter-hospital ECMO and VAD transports, and intraoperative apheresis. The Duke Perfusion Team is devoted to our community providing perfusion services for Duke Regional Hospital and engaging in multiple outreach and service initiatives each year.
Duke Perfusionists are committed to advancing the profession through leadership in education, quality, research, and collaboration. Duke Perfusion Faculty are clinical instructors affiliated with four perfusion schools and host over twenty perfusion students each year from Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), State University of New York Upstate Medical College (SUNY), Midwestern University, and the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Perfusion student rotations include both adult and pediatric perfusion as well as a specialized ECMO elective. The department hosts many courses and trainings including high fidelity simulation. The team is active in clinical, laboratory, and animal research, routinely presents regionally, nationally, and internationally in addition to being widely published. Perfusion Faculty are active members in professional societies such as NCSP, AmSECT, AACP, ELSO, ASAIO, ISHLT, AATS and STS.
Nationwide Children's Hospital
The Cardiovascular Perfusion Department at Nationwide Children’s Hospital consists of Perfusionists, MCS/ECMO Coordinators as well as a sizable bedside MCS/ECMO team. The team works seamlessly to provide exceptional care for congenital heart disease patients from womb to adult. In addition, the cardiovascular perfusion department provides care to various non-cardiac patient populations across the state, nation and world. Our team continually identifies and increases our roles and responsibilities within the hospital and collaborative with sister hospitals.
We have an ever-advancing quality & safety program that has a foundation in AmSECT’s Standards and Guidelines as well as an electronic perfusion/MCS/ECMO record that incorporates safety alerts in real-time for not only the Perfusionist but the MCS/ECMO bedside team as well. In an effort to enhance the NCH cardiovascular perfusion department’s quality and safety program, a Quality Strategist, who specializes in clinical outcomes, has been engaged to assist the team. The perfusion department has representatives that hold positions on both the hospital’s and The Heart Center’s quality and safety committees. The department is heavily involved with many of our professional societies with some members holding board and committee seats with AmSECT.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital Perfusion team’s Mission Statement: Working and supporting one another as a team, we will achieve the safest and best patient outcomes by embracing education, training and growth all while utilizing current equipment, novel techniques and medical knowledge. This pillar award validates the hard work our team has put into becoming a respected center for Cardiovascular Perfusion. We are honored to be part of AmSECT, proud of the team’s efforts and are humbled to receive this award.