The Beat of Our Hearts

After years of caring for kids as the executive co-directors of Le Bonheur’s Heart Institute, Jeffrey A. Towbin, MD, and Christopher Knott-Craig, MD, have retired from their leadership positions. During their tenure, Le Bonheur’s Heart Institute grew in national reputation and was recognized multiple times as a top cardiac program by U.S. News & World Report. Thanks to the dedication and expertise of Dr. Towbin and Dr. Knott-Craig, countless kids’ lives were saved and changed for the better.

A Visionary with Heart

Le Bonheur need not look far for one of its new leaders. Jason Johnson, MD, MHS, was named Le Bonheur’s chief of Pediatric Cardiology and executive co-director of the Heart Institute — an appointment that feels less like a new beginning and more like the next natural step in a journey more than a decade in the making.

Johnson joined the Le Bonheur Heart Institute in 2013 following residency and fellowship training at Duke University, bringing with him a clinical passion for advanced cardiovascular imaging and a sense of purpose grounded in his personal experience. While he initially studied animal sciences in school, cardiology beckoned.

“My brother was born with severe congenital heart defects and only lived 11 months. I was 5 years old when he died,” shared Johnson. “I think that experience is why I was drawn to this field; it felt like part of who I was.”

When Johnson joined Le Bonheur, he was the 13th cardiologist on staff. Johnson saw the tremendous opportunity for growth and specialty expertise and the chance to help shape something with enormous potential, right from the ground floor.

Today, there are 34 cardiologists on staff in a recently expanded facility with more beds and advanced technology, including a state-of-the-art hybrid cardiac catheterization and MRI suite, one of just eight in the country and the first of its kind in Tennessee. The cutting-edge facility allows clinicians to perform MRI-guided heart catheterizations while avoiding the harmful effects of radiation for patients.

“The hybrid lab is a game-changing advancement in pediatric care,” said Johnson. “Our partnership and collaboration with national leaders in technology is leading to new diagnostic and interventional procedures for children living with heart disease.”

The result of an eight-year vision and four years of active work, the MRI-guided cardiac cath lab could easily be viewed as the primary feather in Johnson’s professional cap. Asked about his greatest career achievement, however, Johnson stated without hesitation that his proudest accomplishment is “the connections I’ve built with my families.”

“New technologies are incredible, and it’s inspiring to see the progress in our field over the last few decades,” he said. “But the core of our work will always be those relationships with families — helping them feel seen, heard and cared for. That’s what keeps me coming back. You’re at Le Bonheur long enough and you build meaningful relationships — and that’s why we’re here, is to take care of our patients.”

Pursuit of Perfection

While Johnson leads the way in cardiology, Bret Mettler, MD, serves as the chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and executive co-director of Le Bonheur’s Heart Institute. Mettler’s future vision is to build on the Heart Institute’s current successes and expertise to advance patient care at Le Bonheur and the entire field of cardiac surgery for the sake of kids.

“I have an internal desire to always be tested, to always do the best at everything, even at what seems like it’s the hardest,” said Mettler.

It’s this mindset that led him directly into medicine and drove him to push the boundaries of his field. The first in his family to go to college, Mettler wanted to emulate a family friend who was a family practice physician.

“Medicine and pediatric hearts were a natural fit for me,” said Mettler. “In pediatrics, every patient is different, and you can make a difference in a whole family’s life and a child’s entire lifespan.”

Mettler says he was drawn to work at Le Bonheur because it is a freestanding children’s hospital that has proven successes, expertise and resources that could take the field of pediatric cardiac surgery to the next level.

“Le Bonheur has a great regional reputation with excellent patient care, strong culture and a sense of collaboration,” said Mettler. “The resources that have already been put into the Heart Institute with the recent state-of-the-art expansion mean the structural pieces are in place to allow us to grow the inpatient programs.”

Mettler’s vision for pediatric cardiac surgery at Le Bonheur centers around two goals: advancing patient care to prolong and improve the lives of people with congenital heart disease, and creating a center for biomedical innovation. 

In order to build on Le Bonheur’s excellence and take patient care to the next level, Mettler aims to develop various destination centers for specific congenital heart diseases and conditions where he sees an opportunity to fill needs in the region surrounding Le Bonheur.

Innovative Discoveries

Mettler also wants to move his field forward so that children are better cared for, even when they aren’t in the hospital or at a clinic appointment. Memphis is one of the best places in the country for medical device innovation, according to Mettler, and his vision for a center for biomedical innovation includes developing cardiac monitoring devices to improve the lives and care of kids when they are at home.

Mettler will pursue this vision alongside pediatric cardiac surgeon Danielle Gottlieb Sen, MD, MPH, MS, who joined the Heart Institute earlier this year. Gottlieb Sen has long been committed to helping mitigate health disparities in underserved communities and ensure every child has access to the care they need.

Her world-class research has led her to pioneer a groundbreaking device called “Little Lifeline” — a wearable device for single ventricle heart patients. The device attaches to a patient’s diaper to monitor vital signs and identify life-threatening events from the comfort of a patient’s home.

“Currently, single ventricle patients typically undergo three surgeries in five years. Between surgeries, in the interstage monitoring phase, patients without access to consistent care at home must stay in the hospital for monitoring,” said Gottlieb Sen. “With ‘Little Lifeline’, these patients could be discharged home for real-time monitoring until it is time for their next surgery.”

Patients and families could spend less time in the hospital while still being closely followed by Le Bonheur cardiac experts.

“These monitoring devices for children would be able to take an accurate level of vital signs and have an early warning system while at home,” said Mettler. “It’s another way to improve the life and care of kids — preventing missed cardiac events, morbidity or mortality.”

“Little Lifeline” would have a tangible impact on patients like 2-year-old Lawson Nichols, who was diagnosed with four congenital heart defects, including hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

After Lawson’s first surgery, the Nichols family drove two hours from their Mississippi home to Le Bonheur every other week so Lawson could be monitored at the high-risk cardiac clinic and undergo an echocardiogram. In between appointments, Lawson’s parents, Emily and Martin Nichols, checked in daily with Lawson’s care team via an app to submit his oxygen levels, which they monitored at home with a pulse oximeter, and his weight. Lawson’s care team monitored this data closely to help determine when his next cardiac surgery was needed.

“Having constant at-home monitoring would have made a huge difference for our family. When we were between surgeries, we monitored Lawson’s weight and oxygen twice a day and then uploaded the data to an app for review by his care team,” Emily said. “A device that provides constant monitoring for heart patients would save lives because when you are sent home, it can be scary, and this would provide comfort and peace of mind to families like ours. It would also help decrease the number of trips to the hospital.”

“Little Lifeline” is the first of hopefully many devices that surgeon innovator Gottlieb Sen plans to pioneer for pediatric cardiac patients.

“I want to make an impact beyond helping just one child at a time, and creating new wearable devices for heart patients will make a big difference for kids,” Gottlieb Sen said.