Partners at Work and Home

Duraisamy Balaguru M.D. and Meena Nathan M.D. form a unique husband and wife partnership as they join forces with our Children’s Heart Center team.

Dr. Balaguru is a pediatric cardiologist with special expertise in both interventional cardiac catheterization and cardiac intensive care. He joins The Children’s Heart Center from Tufts-New England Medical Center where he served as Director of the Pediatric Cardiac Catheterization Service. Dr. Nathan is a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon with expertise in surgical treatment of congenital heart disease in newborns, children and adults. She comes to The Children’s Heart Center from Children’s Hospital in Boston where more pediatric heart surgery is performed annually than any other single institution in the United States.

“The addition of Drs. Balaguru and Nathan tremendously enhance our Center’s ability to provide comprehensive and locally expert care for children and adults with congenital heart disease,” says
Dr. Joel Hardin, Director of Cardiology at Children’s Hospital of New Jersey (CHNJ). The Children’s Heart Center is New Jersey’s most comprehensive pediatric cardiovascular diagnosis and treatment center, boasting 8 full-time pediatric cardiologists and 2 full-time pediatric cardiothoracic surgeons. The Center’s cardiologists provide expertise in all major subdisciplines of pediatric cardiology, including interventional cardiac catheterization; 3-D, intraoperative and fetal echocardiography; cardiac electrophysiology and pacing; and cardiac intensive care.

“I enjoy the challenge of pediatric heart surgery,” says Dr. Nathan. “The physiology and complexity of each surgical case is different, even if the diagnosis is the same. The most rewarding aspect of restoring a child’s health is not only the relief it provides for the child, but also his or her entire family.”

“The Children’s Heart Center is committed to remaining at the forefront of interventional cardiology,” says Dr. Balaguru. “The very latest technology is being applied to provide safe and effective treatments for complex conditions that once required surgical intervention,” he goes on to explain. In addition to his responsibilities in the cardiac catheterization suite, Dr. Balaguru will join 3 other cardiac intensivists, 7 pediatric intensivists, and 3 cardiovascular anesthesiologists in providing specialized cardiac intensive care in the Children’s Hospital’s 10-bed cardiac intensive care unit. Dr. Balaguru is also a co-investigator for several clinical research trials that will test efficacy of new technology to treat congenital heart defects, and he will continue this work at CHNJ.

Dr. Nathan’s ambitious goals for the Center include expanding neonatal surgery services, establishing an adult congenital heart surgery program and initiating a pediatric heart transplant program. “It is important to provide the most complex and sophisticated procedures so families can receive the very best care available close to home,” emphasizes Dr. Nathan. She will also continue her laboratory and clinical research, including study of ventricular failure at the cellular level.

Married for 10 years, this is the first time that the couple will be members of the same medical staff. “The cardiac facilities at CHNJ are among the most advanced in the country, and thankfully we both found exciting opportunities in the same center,” states Dr. Balaguru. “It is a chance to develop our careers alongside a truly outstanding team of other pediatric cardiovascular specialists,” adds Dr. Nathan.

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