Kathy Jenkins

Dr. Jenkins is a senior member of the Department of Cardiology and is also the Chief Safety and Quality Officer for Boston Children’s Hospital. She has special expertise in the design and implementation of regulatory trials, and studies variation in outcomes for cardiac surgical procedures, and more recently for other types of pediatric conditions. She created RACHS-1 (Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery), a method to adjust for case mix when evaluating mortality for pediatric heart surgery. She has identified myofibroblastic proliferation as the mechanism for progressive pulmonary vein stenosis, and is running a novel treatment protocol with chemotherapeutic agents. She teaches clinical research methods, and chairs the department Scientific Review Committee. She is a national leader in the field of pediatric cardiology, current Chair of the Congenital Heart Public Health Consortium, and a member of leadership councils for the American College of Cardiology and the American Academy of Pediatrics. She is also the leader of the International Quality Improvement Collaborative for CHD Surgery, aimed at reducing mortality after surgery in the developing world.