Speakers-Pediatric – SWAAC ELSO

PEDIATRIC TRACK SPEAKERS

Dr. Jana Assy

Pediatric Cardiac Intensivist University Hospital of Liege, Belgium

Dr. Jana Assy is a Pediatric Cardiac Intensivist currently working in Belgium. She is the founder and former director of the adult and pediatric ECMO program at the American University of Beirut. She is a member of the SWAAC ELSO and Euro ELSO steering committees.

Dr. Jon Lillie

Consultant in Paediatric Intensive Care Evelina London Children's Healthcare NHS Guy's and St Thomas, United Kingdom

Dr Jon Lillie is a paediatric intensivist and ECMO lead at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, performing approximately 20 neonatal and paediatric ECMO runs annually with respiratory disease supported by VV ECMO. He believes that we should question everything as much of what we do is based on dogma rather than evidence.
He hopes to share ideas at SWAAC ELSO, encouraging others to choose VV ECMO for neonatal respiratory disease while learning lots to take back to Evelina.

Dr. Matteo Di Nardo

Pediatric intensive care unit Children’s Hospital Bambino Gesù, Rome Italy

Dr. Matteo Di Nardo graduated in General Medicine and Surgery in 2001 and ﬁnished the specialty in
Anesthesiology and Intensive Care in 2006 at the Catholic University of Sacred Heart. He worked for one
year in the service of Adult Cardiac Anesthesia and Intensive Care of the European Hospital of Rome.
After this experience, he started working in the pediatric intensive care unit of the Children’s Hospital
Bambino Gesù of Rome. From 2013, he is responsible of the Respiratory ECMO program in Bambino Gesù
Children’s Hospital. He is also the coordinator of the neonatal and Pediatric ECMO transport for the
Center and South of Italy in the “Rete Respira ECMO Project” of the Italian Minister of Health. From 2014
he is an active member of the EuroELSO Steering Committee. His scientiﬁc activities and interests are
related to the prevention of the ventilator-induced lung injury and to the use of extracorporeal life
support in children.

Dr. Nada Al Jassim

Consultant, pediatric Intensive Care & Head of pediatric Cardiac ICU King Fahad Medical City (KFMC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Consultant, pediatric Intensive Care covering general PICU and pediatric Cardiac ICU.
Head of pediatric Cardiac ICU at King Fahad Medical City (KFMC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The Pediatric Extracorporeal membrane oxygenator (ECMO) service line leader at second health
care Cluster in Riyadh that has gold award of ELSO.
Certiﬁcations: MBBS degree in medicine from King Faisal University in Dammam, Saudi & Arab
board in paediatrics, & sub-specialized in Pediatric intensive care, earned the Saudi board and
completed two years of fellowship at McGill University in Canada then certiﬁed in ECMO.
A member of ELSO and the organizing committee of Saudi ECLS.
A member of Saudi Ministry Of Health ECMO National program & a director of ECMO courses at KFMC.
A Speaker at many national & international conferences.
Interested in ultrasonography and simulation. I have experience in building up Cardiac ICU units
and ECMO program.

Dr. Benedict Griffiths

Paediatric Cardiac Intensive Care consultant Paediatric ECMO director Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi UAE

Dr. Benedict Griths is a Paediatric intensivist working at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in Abu Dhabi and is
Paediatric ECMO director.
Dr. Griths Completed his Paediatric Training in London before sub specialising in Paediatric Intensive
Care atGreat Ormond Street Hospital and the Evelina London where he worked as a consultant in PICU
and Retrieval Medicine.

Prof. Issam El Rassi

Chief of Congenital Cardiac Surgery Al Jalila Children's Hospital, Dubai UAE

Dr El-Rassi is Chief of Congenital Cardiac Surgery at Al Jalila Children’s – Dubai.

He trained in Necker Children’s Hospital in Paris, and the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.

Dr. El-Rassi earns worldwide recognition as a leading Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgeon.

Along with his surgical activities, he actively supports the establishment and development of ECMO programs. Dr. El-Rassi has an impressive track record in humanitarian activities related to congenital heart disease, through French, Lebanese, American, and Emirati Associations, and has facilitated the treatment of hundreds of needy children from the Mena Region.

Dr. Indira Jayakumar

Lead Pediatric Intensivist Senior Consultant (ER & PICU) Apollo Specialty Hospital, Chennai India

Dr. Indira Jayakumar is a distinguished Pediatric Critical Care specialist with over 25 years of experience, including advanced training in Australia. She currently leads the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Apollo Specialty Hospital in Chennai, India. Dr Jayakumar specialises in Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation and Pediatric Onco-Critical Care, where she has made notable contributions. In addition to her clinical role, she serves as the Chairman of the Pediatric Wing of the ECMO Society of India (ESOI) and Co-Convenor of the IAP Pediatric Transplant Critical Care group in India. She also contributes to the field as the Editor of the Indian Journal of ECMO. Dr. Jayakumar’s dedication to advancing pediatric critical care through both her practice and leadership roles has had a significant impact on the field.

Dr. Yasser Kazzaz

Program Director, Pediatric intensive care/ pediatric cardiac intensive care physician Associate professor of pediatrics/ Pediatric Critical Care King Abdulaziz Medical City/ King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), Saudi Arabia

Dr. Kazzaz received his medical degree from King Saud University in 2007, his training in pediatrics at McGill University in 2011, and his pediatric critical care fellowship at McGill University in 2013. He then completed an advanced critical care Fellowship at McGill for one year and then two years at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), including a paediatric Extracorporeal Life Support/Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation clinical fellowship. He obtained masters of public health in health systems and quality management in 2020 at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS).
He is currently appointed as program director, pediatric intensive care/pediatric cardiac intensive care physician, and associate professor of pediatrics/Pediatric Critical Care at King Abdulaziz Medical City/King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS).
He is a member of the pediatric critical care and paediatric cardiac critical care fellowship scientific committees, Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, and a member at the Scientific Committee of the International Critical Care Conference, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the years 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023.
Dr. Kazzaz current research interest is focused on improving quality of care in pediatrics critical care through quality improvement projects and simulation with a specific interest in extracorporeal life support, sepsis, and organ donation.

Dr. Grace Leeuwen

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar Senior Attending Physician, Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit Sidra Medicine, Doha Qatar

Grace van Leeuwen is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar and a Senior Attending in the Pediatric Cardiac ICU at Sidra Medicine since 2019. She is Co-Director of the ECMO program, member of the Ethics Committee and oversees the Neonatal and Pediatric ECMO transport in the country.

Grace is the Co-Chair of the Congenital Heart Academy, a web-based platform dedicated to sharing scientific knowledge on congenital heart diseases from fetal stages to adulthood. She served as the Co-Chair of Marketing and Communication for the 8th World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, held in Washington DC in August 2023. Additionally, she is on the editorial boards of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) ECMO Foundations Course and the Congenital Heart Disease Journal.

Board certified in Pediatrics, Pediatric Cardiology, Interventional Cardiology, and Critical Care, she is committed to delievering the most advanced, evidence-based care for her patients. She is currently engaged in the academic persuit of a Master of Science in Clinical Service Operations at Harvard Medical School, aiming to enhance her expertise in healthcare operations, optimizing patient outcomes through effective management and teamwork, driven by her passion to improve patient care and hospital efficiency.

Dr. Peter Paul Roeleveld

Pediatrician, Intensivist PICU, Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherland

Peter was trained as a pediatrician in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and did his fellowship in pediatric intensive care at the Royal Childrens Hospital in Melbourne. Since 2009 he works as a pediatric-intensivist at the PICU of the Leiden University Medical Center in Leiden, The Netherlands. He has a special interest in critical care in children with congenital heart disease and ECMO especially. Since 2017 he is the medical director of the PICU. He is also a member of the EuroELSO steering committee.

Dr. Kesava Ramakrishnan

PICU Consultant Burjeel Medical City, Abu Dhabi, UAE

To be updated soon

Dr. Malaika Mendonca

Consultant, Pediatric Critical Care Insel Gruppe, Switzerland

Dr Malaika Mendonca’s interest and involvement in ECLS started as early as her residency training for anesthesia and critical care in Essen (Germany).
After leading the CPICU at the Ludwig Maximilian University Hospital in Munich, she moved in 2004 to the United Arab Emirates to support the creation of the PICU in Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) in Abu Dhabi. As Division Chief of the Cardiac PICU from 2010 to 2017, she developed the SKMC ECMO Program until it became a leading center in the UAE and the Gulf region.
She organized the 3rd SWAAC ELSO Conference in 2016 in Abu Dhabi, during which she was elected Co-Chair of the Chapter, then Chairman in 2017. Her tenure included expanding the Chapter, establishing its modern scope and bylaws, and conducting workshops and conferences to provide and share further education and training within the Chapter.
She joined in 2018 the PICU of the Inselspital University Hospital in Bern, Switzerland, where she directs the Pediatric ECMO Program in addition to her clinical duties, and serves as a member of the EuroELSO Steering Committee.
Her dedication to education, teaching and knowledge exchange has made her a frequently invited speaker in local and international conferences

Dr. Mark Takashi Ogino

Neonatologist Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, USA

Dr. Mark Ogino is a pediatrician and neonatologist who received his medical education from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine. He completed his postgraduate training at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and further specialized in Neonatology and Pediatric Infectious Diseases (research) through fellowships at UCSD.
Having held positions at institutions like San Diego Rady Children’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, and Nemours Children’s Health, Dr. Ogino is an attending neonatologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. His academic role includes a Clinical Professorship in Pediatrics at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University.
Since 1989, Dr. Ogino has been actively involved in the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) community. He trained under Dr. Devn Cornish and opened ECMO programs in Hawaii and Delaware. He was the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) Chair of Logistics and Education from 2009 to 2015, leading the development of the ELSO educational programs. Additionally, Dr. Ogino served as the President of ELSO from 2018 to 2020.
Dr. Ogino’s academic focus is enhancing clinical teams’ proficiency and delivering safe and high-quality extracorporeal life support care through innovative educational methods.

Dr. Omar Al Dafaei

To be updated soon