Columbia Launches Garrett Isaac Neubauer Center for Cardiovascular Innovation

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) today announced the launch of a new center for pediatric cardiovascular innovation, made possible through a gift by Lawrence Neubauer. The mission of the new center is to improve outcomes for patients through groundbreaking research and care and to define the next cures for and future practice in congenital heart disease (CHD)—here and across the world. The center will be named the Garrett Isaac Neubauer Center for Cardiovascular Innovation in memory of Lawrence Neubauer’s son, Garrett, who passed away from CHD in 2001. The $50 million center was launched with a $15 million gift from Lawrence Neubauer, with additional support from Columbia University Irving Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian. Columbia’s new center seeks to ensure that more children born with heart disease will not only survive to adulthood but also thrive.

The new center will leverage the existing resources and strengths of Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian’s pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery programs in addition to accelerating research that will enhance our understanding of CHD and the care of patients and their families. Specifically, the center will:

• Measure outcomes following CHD surgery/interventions to identify the best treatments for specific conditions and establish evidence-based benchmarks for performance.
• Conduct research to uncover why CHD develops in some infants as well as how to treat it. The Neubauer Center will harness existing resources at Columbia, including leading programs in genetics and functional genomics, to define the mechanisms underlying CHD; cardiac xenotransplantation to expand the pool of available donor organs; valve development to improve the treatment of pediatric heart valve disease; and 3D printing to guide complex pediatric cardiac surgery while improving outcomes today.
• Recruit and train the next generation of experts in CHD and pediatric cardiology.

Lawrence Neubauer shared news of his gift with attendees at Columbia’s annual Babies Heart Fund Gala, where he was honored for his support of pediatric cardiology.

“After we lost Garrett, we wanted to help other families avoid our situation,” Neubauer said. “We know that our work with Columbia will support new research and care that will aid so many other families and patients facing congenital heart disease. His memory is our inspiration.” Garrett would have turned 22 in 2023.

Editor's note: A version of this article was originally published by Columbia University Irving Medical Center