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Heart Center Leadership

Heart Center Leadership

Thomas R. Kimball, MD
Co-Director, The Heart Center at Children's Hospital New Orleans

Thomas Kimball, MD

Dr. Thomas Kimball is the Director of the Heart Center and Division Chief of Cardiology at Children’s Hospital New Orleans. A native of Oakland, California, he received his undergraduate degree at Stanford University. Dr. Kimball attended medical school at New York University followed by a pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. He completed a cardiology fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and remained at that institution as an attending cardiologist for 34 years.

Dr. Kimball is currently the Nelson K Ordway Professor of Pediatrics at the LSU Health Center, and is board-certified in both Pediatrics and Pediatric Cardiology. His clinical interests include non-invasive cardiac imaging and pediatric coronary artery disease (Kawasaki Disease and congenital anomalies of the coronaries). His research interests relate to the cardiovascular effects of obesity and decreasing patients lost to follow-up rates. Dr. Kimball values the physician/patient relationship because it is career-defining to see his patients who were once critically ill babies develop into healthy husbands/wives, college graduates and elite athletes.

Frank A. Pigula, MD
Co-Director, The Heart Center at Children's Hospital New Orleans

Frank Pigula, MD

One of the country’s most accomplished congenital heart surgeons, Dr. Frank Pigula joined Children’s Hospital New Orleans as Chief of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery and Co-Director of The Heart Center in January 2021. Dr. Pigula brings a level of experience and expertise in congenital heart surgery that is unmatched in the region.

Dr. Pigula’s extensive background includes 12 years as Clinical Director of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital, the number 1 ranked Children’s Hospital in the country by US News & World Report. Dr. Pigula has also held leadership positions in cardiac surgery at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Norton Children’s (formerly Kosair Children’s), and most recently at AdventHealth Children’s Hospital in Orlando, FL.

After completing his residency in surgery at the University of Vermont, Dr. Pigula completed fellowships in Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh and in Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital. An accomplished academician, he is the author of more than 140 peer reviewed articles and 25 book chapters and invited reviews.

Melvin Almodóvar, MD
Director, Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care
Co-Director, The Heart Center at Children's Hospital New Orleans

Frank Pigula, MD

Dr. Almodóvar joined the Children’s Hospital New Orleans Heart Center team in 2023. He most recently served as the George E. Batchelor Chair in Pediatric Cardiology, Director of the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, and Co-Director of the Children’s Heart Center at the University of Miami and Jackson Health System. He attended medical school at Stanford University School of Medicine and completed his residency in pediatrics and fellowships in pediatric cardiology and cardiac intensive care at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Almodóvar has held leadership positions at Boston Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital Colorado, and Johns Hopkin’s All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. He brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the management of complex congenital heart disease, has authored more than 50 peer reviewed publications and book chapters, and has mentored many trainees and junior faculty now practicing in or leading cardiac intensive care units across the country.

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