Director Pediatric Heart Failure and Heart Transplant Program

Director Pediatric Heart Failure &
Heart Transplant Program
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Jackson Health System | Holtz Children's Hospital | UM Jackson Children’s Care
Miami Transplant Institute
Miami, Florida
The Opportunity

The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Jackson Health System, Holtz Children's Hospital, and the Miami Transplant Institute seek an accomplished academic pediatric cardiologist to serve as Director of the Pediatric Heart Failure and Heart Transplant Program.

This position offers the opportunity to lead the next phase of an established pediatric heart failure and transplant program within a growing Congenital Heart Center and a major academic transplant environment.

The program is currently led by Paolo Rusconi, MD, who has provided leadership in advanced pediatric heart failure and transplantation. Two advanced practice providers support are dedicated to the program. The broader congenital program identifies heart failure and transplantation as integral components of its continuum of care.

The program is continuing to expand. A dedicated pediatric heart failure and transplant surgeon is scheduled to join the faculty in November 2026, providing the incoming Director with an opportunity to lead and develop an expanding team rather than build a program in isolation.

The Director will set the clinical and academic direction for the program encompassing advanced pediatric heart failure, cardiomyopathy, mechanical circulatory support, heart transplantation, and advanced heart failure associated with congenital heart disease.

The Pediatric Heart Failure and Transplant Program sits at the intersection of several major clinical enterprises: the Congenital Heart Center at Holtz Children's Hospital, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Jackson Health System, and Miami Transplant Institute.

The program brings together pediatric heart failure and transplantation with congenital heart surgery, cardiac intensive care, interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, advanced cardiovascular imaging, fetal cardiology, and adult congenital heart disease.

The congenital heart program provides care across the lifespan, from fetal diagnosis through childhood and into adulthood. The fetal cardiology program emphasizes coordinated multidisciplinary planning and continuity from prenatal diagnosis through infancy and childhood, while the ACHD program provides comprehensive lifelong congenital cardiovascular care. The program also houses multi-disciplinary clinics such as neuromuscular disease clinics with further opportunities to develop a dedicated cardio‑oncology program.

The Heart Center is co‑directed by Shailendra Upadhyay, MD, MBA, Chief of Pediatric Cardiology, and Daniel Nento, MD, MHA, Chief of Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Surgery. This shared leadership model brings pediatric cardiology and congenital heart surgery together in the strategic and clinical direction of the Heart Center.

Dr. Upadhyay provides leadership for pediatric cardiology and brings expertise in pediatric and adult congenital cardiology, electrophysiology, and lifelong congenital heart disease care. Dr. Nento leads pediatric and congenital cardiac surgery and has advanced training in complex congenital heart surgery, heart transplantation, and ventricular assist device therapy. Together, they provide a collaborative leadership structure designed to support multidisciplinary decision‑making, program growth, quality improvement, and coordinated care across the congenital heart program.

For the incoming Director of Pediatric Heart Failure and Heart Transplantation, this structure provides direct partnership with both cardiology and surgical…