Canada is blessed to have some of the world’s leading Congenital Heart Disease specialists and we at the Canadian Congenital Heart Alliance are truly honoured to have them working with us. It is our wish that this Board will grow with the addition of their peers from across Canada so that all areas of the country will be well represented. With its collective wisdom in the area of Congenital Heart Disease (CHD), the Board will be instrumental in guiding CCHA as to where we should best focus our efforts. The following members are:

CHAIR

Erwin Oechslin MD, FESC

Director, Toronto Adult Congenital Clinic [TACCC]

MEMBERS

Jeanine Harrison ACNP, Nurse Practitioner TACCC

Candice Silversides MD, MS, FRCP (C), FACC

Cardiologist at TACCC specializing in Women’s issues with CHD

Vice President: Canadian Adult Congenital Heart Network [CACHnet]

Arianne  Marelli, FRCP (C) FACC

Associate Professor of medicine at McGill University

Director, MAUDE Unit [McGill Unit for Congenital Heart Disease]

Judith Therrien MD, FRCP (C)

Cardiologist at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital, McGill University

President of CACHnet

Andrew Redington MB, BS, MRCP [UK], MD, FRCP [UK], FRCP [C]

Director of Cardiology for the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto

LIAISON ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Gary Webb, MD

Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Director of the Philadelphia Congenital Heart Clinic, and Chair of the Medical Advisory Board to the American Adult Congenital Heart Association.

We will also be working closely with Amy Verstappen, the President and CEO of the American Congenital Heart Association – a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life and extending the lives of Americans with congenital heart defects.

More about CHD and the Canadian Congenital Heart Alliance

CHD is the world’s leading birth defect and with the incredible advancements of paediatric cardiac care there are now more adults with CHD than there are children. Unfortunately, due to a severe lack of funding at the adult level the “graduates” from the paediatric system are entering a medical system that is financially unable to cope with the increasing demands. One of our first goals is to help those who help us – we are aiming to raise funds to Fund a Fellow who will train in the Toronto Congenital Clinic. This will help lighten the load at the clinic and will allow more patients to be seen each year. We hope to extend this to clinics across Canada.

The Canadian Congenital Heart Alliance is comprised of 100% volunteers made up of patients with CHD and their families. We have launched a pilot project of our Cardiac Key™ and are the first country in the world to offer our members, aged 40 plus, guaranteed life insurance without a medical, and low cost travel insurance which covers pre-existing conditions. With the addition of the Medical Advisory Board to guide us, we will continue to make progress in helping Canadians with CHD.

For further information please visit our website: www.cchaforlife.org or contact me at president@cchaonline.ca