Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Rachel White Receives Enduring Heart and Soul Transplant Coordinator Award

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is proud to announce that Rachel White, BSN, RN, CCTC, cardiac transplant coordinator in the Cardiac Center at CHOP, has received the Enduring Heart and Soul Transplant Coordinator Award from Enduring Hearts. The award is designed to give families the chance to recognize and acknowledge heart heroes that play such a critical role in a child's transplant team, and creates an opportunity to honor the many unsung heroes that go the extra mile. Rachel was nominated by the Cardiac Center’s transplant team, and two grateful families who received care from Rachel and the entire care team.

"Rachel is the glue that holds our transplant team together. She makes sure that our registry data is entered accurately and organizes every transplant evaluation,” said Kimberly Lin, MD, an attending cardiologist in the Cardiac Center and the Medical Director of Cardiomyopathy at CHOP. “Rachel spearheads numerous institutional quality improvement (QI) initiatives, including our ventricular assist devices (VAD) committee; and she serves as CHOP’s representative locally on the Regional UNOS Board and internationally on the PHTS Steering Committee.”

“Rachel’s true love and passion is in working with our patients. She is a tireless advocate for our listed patients, an invaluable resource for our VAD families, and a wonderful cheerleader for our outpatients,” Lin added.

The Cardiac Center at CHOP cares for babies prior to birth, infants, children, and young adults with congenital and acquired heart conditions. Whatever the heart condition, whether complex or rare, present at birth or acquired our Cardiac Center offers and advanced treatment options.

The CHOP cardiac team is one of the largest and most accomplished in the world: we have more than 125 experts, including pediatric cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, critical care intensivists, pediatric cardiac anesthesiologists, advanced practice nurses and physician assistants. These experts are pioneers in the treatment of congenital and acquired heart conditions, and international leaders in diagnosis, patient care, research and education.

The Pediatric Transplant Center at CHOP includes a multidisciplinary team of world-renowned experts that addresses all of the solid organ transplant needs of children and families, from evaluation through long-term, post-surgical care. CHOP’s team treats patients with some of the most complex cases and performs more than 100 transplants a year, typically exceeding national expected outcomes.

Atlanta-based Enduring Hearts launched in 2013 with a mission to fund research that increases the longevity of pediatric heart transplants, improves the quality of life for children living with a new heart and eliminates pediatric heart diseases that may lead to a transplant.