Steven J. Czinn, MD, the Drs. Rouben and Violet Jiji Endowed Professor and Chair of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, announced today that Thomas K. Chin, MD, has been appointed to serve as the new Division Head of Pediatric Cardiology in UMSOM’s Department of Pediatrics, and as Co-Director of the Children’s Heart Program at the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital (UMCH), effective January 2023.
“We are very excited to have been able to recruit Dr. Thomas Chin. Tom has a long track record of working with physicians and surgeons to create nationally recognized Children’s Heart and pediatric cardiology programs that provide outstanding care,” said Dr. Czinn. “He is also an excellent educator who will initiate a pediatric cardiology fellowship program to stimulate both teaching and research.”
Dr. Chin joins Dr. Joseph Forbess, MD, MBA, Professor of Surgery, as Co-Director of the Children’s Heart Program. “We are very excited to have Dr. Chin joining us in the Children’s Heart Program,” said Dr. Forbess. “He will play a valuable role in the further growth and success of the Program.”
UMCH was named a “Best Children’s Hospital” for Pediatric Cardiology & Heart Surgery by U.S. News & World Report in 2022 for the fifth year in a row. UMCH’s Children’s Heart Program itself is renowned for achieving outcomes that regularly exceed national standards in overall case survival, survival by complexity category, and length of stay. The program provides comprehensive cardiac care for children, from fetal life into adulthood, with congenital heart disease, and for children with acquired heart disease.
“I am excited to be joining the excellent team of cardiologists and surgeons at the Children’s Heart Program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine,” said Dr. Chin. “I believe the program is poised to lead the nation in patient care, research, and the training of the next generation of physicians—and I hope to be a part of the success of the program.”
Dr. Chin currently is a Professor of Pediatric Cardiology at Penn State College of Medicine, where he served as the Chief of Pediatric Cardiology for nine years. He is also the co-director of the perinatal program and former director of the pediatric cardiology fellowship program at the nationally ranked Penn State Health Children’s Hospital’s Children’s Heart Group, with a focus on pediatric and congenital heart surgery outcomes. Previously, he served as chief of pediatric cardiology at East Tennessee State University College of Medicine in Johnson City, TN, then served as chief of pediatric cardiology and co-chair of the Pediatric Heart Institute at LeBonheur Children’s Hospital at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, as well as chief of pediatric cardiology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN.
He has published 106 peer-reviewed scientific papers, abstracts, and book chapters, most recently as the co-author of the article, Use of AliveCor Kardia Mobile in the Detection of Supraventricular Tachycardia in a Pediatric Population, published in Congenital Cardiology Today, October 2021. He has also engaged in research activities, including the prediction of clinical outcome in patients with Left Ventricular noncompaction cardiomyopathy, and was a Site Investigator in a leading multi-center, phase I and II trials in a dose study of Tadalafil to assess the pharmacokinetics and safety in a pediatric population with pulmonary arterial hypertension sponsored by Eli Lilly. As a researcher in the laboratory, he measured electrical currents, calcium signals and contractions in individual heart cells from immature hearts, and worked with a number of collaborators including the intramural section of the NIH.
Dr. Chin is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American Academy of Pediatrics. He recently served as president of the Capital Region American Heart Association and reviews abstracts and grants for the national American Heart Association. Castle Connolly Top Doctors has named him a Top Doctor in Pediatric Cardiology nine times in the past ten years.
About University of Maryland School of Medicine:
Now in its third century, the University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States. It continues today as one of the fastest growing, top-tier biomedical research enterprises in the world — with 46 academic departments, centers, institutes, and programs, and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals, including members of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and a distinguished two-time winner of the Albert E. Lasker Award in Medical Research.
The School of Medicine, which ranks as the 8th highest among public medical schools in research productivity (according to the Association of American Medical Colleges profile) is an innovator in translational medicine, with 606 active patents and 52 start-up companies. In the latest U.S. News & World Report ranking of the Best Medical Schools, published in 2021, the UM School of Medicine is ranked #9 among the 92 public medical schools in the U.S., and in the top 15 percent (#27) of all 192 public and private U.S. medical schools. The School of Medicine works locally, nationally, and globally, with research and treatment facilities in 36 countries around the world.
The School of Medicine has nearly $600 million in extramural funding, with most of its academic departments highly ranked among all medical schools in the nation in research funding. As one of the seven professional schools that make up the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine has a total population of nearly 9,000 faculty and staff, including 2,500 students, trainees, residents, and fellows.
While our medical students comprise nearly half of the total student enrollment, our student body also includes Allied Health and Physical Therapy students, as well as graduate students and students pursuing combined degrees. We currently have ten joint degree programs: two doctorate programs (MD/PhD and MD/DDS), seven MD/Master’s degree programs, and a DPT/PhD degree program within the Department of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences.
About Dr. Thomas K. Chin, MD:
Thomas Chin, MD, began his academic career at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center in Salt Lake City where he practiced general pediatric cardiology and pursued research interests in excitation contraction coupling in immature cardiac myocytes at the Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute. He was chief of pediatric cardiology at East Tennessee State University College of Medicine in Johnson City, Tenn., then served as chief of pediatric cardiology and co-chair of the Pediatric Heart Institute at University of Tennessee College of Medicine, as well as chief of pediatric cardiology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. He is also the director of the pediatric cardiology fellowship program and co-director of the perinatal program at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital. Dr. Chin is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American Academy of Pediatrics. He currently serves as president of the Capital Region American Heart Association and reviews abstracts and grants for the national American Heart Association.
Community Service
- Board of Directors, Simon’s Heart (organizes cardiac screens and maintains a data base for research throughout PA, and nationally)
- Cardiac screening, Adams County high school students
- Founder and Medical Director, Camp Lionheart (annual summer camp for children with cardiomyopathy or congenital heart disease)
- President, Capital Region American Heart Association
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