Kathryn Dodds is the Fontan FORWARD Program Clinical Program Manager at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and on faculty at The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program.
Kathryn has been a nurse at CHOP since 1989 when she started as a new graduate in the CICU. She graduated from University of Pennsylvania’s first acute care nurse practitioner program in 1994 and was hired as the first nurse practitioner with the cardiac program at CHOP in 1996. She has worked in all aspects of the program including cardiac surgery, cardiology, transplant, and the cardiac center referral program. She is one of the founding members of the Single Ventricle Survivorship Program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and is now part of the Fontan FORWARD multidisciplinary team responsible for the inpatient and outpatient management of patients with single ventricle congenital heart disease after the Fontan operation. Kathryn’s clinical and research interests have focused on the consequences and impact of single ventricle physiology. Kathryn has been teaching in the graduate pediatric acute care and critical care nurse practitioner program at The University of Pennsylvania School of nursing since 2005 and is committed to the education, training, and mentorship of tomorrow’s pediatric nurse practitioners.
Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (CPNP)Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner - Acute Care (CRNP-AC)
BSN - University of Delaware, Newark, DE
MSN, Acute/Chronic Nurse Practitioner - University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Clinical Program Manager, Fontan FORWARD Program
Houlihan TH, Lopez S, Dodds K, Goldberg D, Wernovsky G, Baluarte HJ, Meyer K, Rychik J. Living-Related Donor Kidney Transplant in a Patient with Single Ventricle and Fontan Circulation. World J Pediatr Congenit Heart Surg. 2021 Sep;12(5):673-675. doi: 10.1177/2150135120978959. Epub 2021 Apr 25. PMID: 33899567.
Mancilla E, Zielonka B, Roizen J, Dodds K, Rand E, Heimall J, Feiyan C, Wu C, Goldberg D, Rychik J. 3 Growth in Children with a Fontan Circulation. Journal of Pediatrics. January 2021.
Weinreb S, Dodds K, Burstein D, Juang F, Rand E, Mancilla E, Heimall J, McBride M, Paridon S, Goldberg D, Rychik J. End-Organ Function and Exercise Performance in Patients with Fontan Circulation: What Characterizes the High Performers? J Am Heart Assoc. 2020;9: e016850. DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.120.016850. December 2020
Rychik J, Dodds K, Goldberg D, Glatz A, Fogel M, Rossano J, Chen, J, Pinto E, Ravishankar C, Rand E, Rome J, Dori Y. Protein Losing Enteropathy after Fontan Operation: Glimpses of Clarity through the Lifting Fog. World Journal for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery Vol. 11(1) 92-96, January 2020.
Surrey Lea F, Russo Pierre, Rychik Jack, Goldberg David J, Dodds Kathryn, O'Byrne Michael L, Glatz Andrew C, Rand Elizabeth B, and Lin Henry C: Defining the role of liver biopsy in the assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with Fontan circulation-reply. Human pathology 69: 141, Jun 2017.
Goldberg DJ, Surrey LF, Glatz AC, Dodds K, O'Byrne ML, Lin HC, Fogel M, Rome JJ, Rand EB, Russo P, Rychik J: Hepatic fibrosis is universal following Fontan operation, and severity is associated with time from surgery: a liver biopsy and hemodynamic study. Journal of the American Heart Association 6(5), Apr 2017.
Patel JK, Tanes CE, Bittinger K, Dodds K, Goldberg DJ, Bushman FD, Wu GD, Rychik J: Changes in gut microbiome early after Fontan operation. Circulation 134(Suppl 1): A17908, Nov 2016.
Surrey LF, Russo P, Rychik J, Goldberg DJ, Dodds K, O'Byrne ML, Glatz AC, Rand EB, Lin HC: Prevalence and characterization of fibrosis in surveillance liver biopsies of patients with Fontan circulation. Human Pathology 57: 106-115, Jul 2016.
Sharma S, Ruebner RL, Furth SL, Dodds KM, Rychik J, Goldberg DJ: Assessment of kidney function in survivors following Fontan palliation. Congenital Heart Disease 11(6): 630-636, Apr 2016.
Dori Y, Keller MS, Rome JJ, Gillespie MJ, Glatz AC, Dodds K, Goldberg DJ, Goldfarb S, Rychik J, Itkin M: Percutaneous lymphatic embolization of abnormal pulmonary lymphatic flow as treatment of plastic bronchitis in patients with congenital heart disease. Circulation 133(12): 1160-70, Mar 2016
Patel JK, Loomes KM, Goldberg DJ, Mercer-Rosa L, Dodds K, Rychik J: Early impact of Fontan operation on enteric protein loss. Ann Thorac Surg 101(3): 1025-30, Mar 2016.
Morsheimer MM, Rychik J, Forbes L, Dodds K, Goldberg DJ, Sullivan K, Heimall JR: Risk factors and clinical significance of lymphopenia in survivors of the Fontan procedure for single-ventricle congenital cardiac disease. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract 4(3): 491-6, Feb 2016
Avitabile CM, Goldberg DJ, Zemel BS, Brodsky JL, Dodds K, Hayden-Rush C, Whitehead KK, Goldmuntz E, Rychik J, Leonard MB: Deficits in bone density and structure in children and young adults following Fontan palliation. Bone 77: 12-6, Aug 2015.
Avitabile, C., Goldberg, D., Dodds, K., Dori, Y., Ravishankar, C., Rychik, J. A Multifaceted Approach to the Management of Plastic Bronchitis after Cavopulmonary Palliation. Annals of Thoracic Surgery. 2014.
Avitabile CM, Leonard MB, Zemel BS, Brodsky JL, Lee D, Dodds K, Hayden-Rush C, Whitehead KK, Goldmuntz E, Paridon SM, Rychik J, Goldberg DJ. Lean mass deficits, vitamin D status and exercise capacity in children and young adults after Fontan palliation. Heart, June 2014.
Rychik, J., Goldberg, D., Rand, E., Semeo, E., Russo, P., Dori, Y., Dodds, K. End organ consequences of the Fontan: liver fibrosis, protein losing enteropathy, and plastic bronchitis. Cardiology in the Young, 23: 831-840, 2013.
Goldberg DJ, Dodds K, Avitabile CM, Glatz AC, Brodsky JL, Semeao EJ, Rand E, Mancilla EE, Rychik J: Children with protein-losing enteropathy after the Fontan operation are at risk for abnormal bone mineral density. Pediatr Cardiol 33(8): 1264-8, Dec 2012.
Goldberg, D., Dodds, K., Rychik, J., New concepts: development of a survivorship program for patients with a functionally univentricular heart. Cardiology in the Young, 21:77-90, December 2011.
Goldberg, D., Dodds, K., Rychik, J., Rare problems associated with the Fontan circulation. Cardiology in the Young, 20:113-119, December 2010.
Thacker,D., Patel, A., Dodds, K., Goldberg, D., Semeao, E., Rychik, J. Use of Oral Budesonide in the Management of Protein Losing Enteropathy after Fontan Operation. Annals of Thoracic Surgery, 89:837-842, March 2010.
Dorfman, A., Marino, B., Wernovsky, G., Dominguez, T., Ravishankar, C., Godinez, R., Priestley, M., Dodds, K., Rychik, J., Gruber, P., Gaynor, J., Levey, R., Nicolson, S., Montenegro, L., Spray, T., Tabbutt, S. Critical Heart Disease in the Neonate: Presentation and Outcome at a Tertiary Care Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, 9 (2):193-202, March 2008.
Wernovsky, G., Rome, J., Tabbutt, S., Rychik, J., Cohen, M., Paridon, S., Webb, G., Dodds, K., Gallagher, M., Fleck, D., Spray, T., Vetter, V., Gleason, M. Guidelines for the Outpatient Management of Complex Congenital Heart Disease. Congenital Heart Disease, 2006.
Dodds, K, Merle, C. Discharging Neonates with Congenital Heart Disease Following Cardiac Surgery: A Practical Approach. Clinics in Perinatology. Vol .32, No. 4, Dec 2005.
Dodds, K., Kohr L. (2008). Unit II: Cardiovascular System, AACN Procedure Manual for Pediatric Acute and Critical Care. Saunders: St Louis.
Foltz, R., Dodds, K. (2003). “Nursing Care”. In J. Rychik, & G. Wernovsky (Eds.), Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers
Dodds, K., Curley, M., Elixon, M., (1996). "Tissue Perfusion". In M. Curley, J. Smith, & P. Maloney - Harmon (Eds.), Critical Care Nursing of Infants and Children. Philadelphia: Saunders.
Seivert, N.P, Park, C., Rychik, J, Goldberg, D.J., Demianczyk, A., & Dodds, K.M.: Mental health symptoms and health related quality of life in youth with Fontan circulation. Poster presentation at the Society of Pediatric Psychology Annual Conference. Phoenix, AZ. April 2022.
Seivert, N.P, Park, C., Rychik, J, Goldberg, D.J., Demianczyk, A., & Dodds, K.M.: Psychological functioning and parameters of physiological status in youth with Fontan circulation. Poster presentation at the American Heart Association Scientific Session. Boston, MA. November 2021
Dodds, KM. “Single Ventricle Congenital Heart Disease”. Acute Care NP Program Virtual Lecture. UCSF School of Nursing. 11/17/2022.
Dodds, KM. “The Neonate with CHD”. Thomas Jefferson School of Nursing. NNP Program Virtual Lecture. 11/4/2021.
Dodds, KM. “Liver, Kidney, Lymphatic Systems After Fontan”. Single Ventricle Patient Day with Fontan Outcomes Network. Virtual International Patient Day. 10/30/2021.
Dodds, KM. “Why We Need Fontan Outcomes Network”. Fontan Outcomes Network Virtual Learning Session. Virtual Conference. 10/29/2021.
Dodds, KM. “Pediatric ECG”, Drexel University. Acute Care NP Program. 10/5/2021.
Dodds, KM. “Development of a Structured Fontan Interdisciplinary Follow-up Program”. Congenital Heart Academy Master Class Virtual Conference. 6/12/2021.
Dodds, KM. “Surveillance Monitoring for the Patient with Fontan Circulation”. Cardiology 2021: 24th Annual Update on Pediatric and Congenital Cardiovascular Disease. Virtual International Conference. February 12, 2021.
Dodds, KM. “Cardiac Surgery and Postoperative Management for the Bedside Nurse and Front-line Provider: Screening and Diagnosis, TGA, Truncus, HLHS”. Cardiology 2020: 23rd Annual Update on Pediatric and Congenital Cardiovascular Disease. Orlando, Florida. February 12-16, 2020.
Dodds, KM. “Let’s Talk About Cardiovascular Drugs: Old & New Drugs in the Management of Pediatric Heart Failure”. Cardiology 2020: 23rd Annual Update on Pediatric and Congenital Cardiovascular Disease. Orlando, Florida. February 12-16, 2020.
Dodds, KM. “Nursing Dilemmas and Conundrums: Managing PLE”. Cardiology 2020: 23rd Annual Update on Pediatric and Congenital Cardiovascular Disease. Orlando, Florida. February 12-16, 2020.
1989-present, Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society
1988-present, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
1988-present, Mortar Board Honor Society
2010-present, National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP)
2006-present, Society of Pediatric Cardiovascular Nursing (SPCN)
1995-present, Northeast Pediatric Cardiology Nurses Association (NPCNA)
1992-present, Association of American Critical Care Nurses (AACN)