Introducing Our New Health Experts

Martin Bocks and Eric Devaney joined The Congenital Heart Collaborative in August 2016 following a national search and recently took a few moments for our brief interview.

Director, Pediatric Interventional Cardiology 

 Martin Bocks, MD

Q: Can you tell us about your special interests?

I perform diagnostic and interventional cardiac catheterization on infants, children and adults with congenital heart disease. I have special interest in transcatheter valve therapies and endovascular stent placement as a means to repair congenital heart anomalies.

Q: You are new to Cleveland – can you tell us about your training and career trajectory to-date?

I have received most of my education and training at the University of Michigan including undergraduate degree, internship, residency, general pediatric cardiology fellowship, and my interventional fellowship. I received my medical degree from Wayne State University. After finishing fellowship, I joined the faculty at the University of Michigan Congenital Heart Center. I am board certified in Pediatric Cardiology and Adult Congenital Heart Disease, so am certified to care for kids and adults.

Q: What is it about pediatric heart disease that has captured your passion?

Pediatric interventional cardiology allows for the intersection of intricate hemodynamics and novel device development … two of my favorite disciplines. It allows me to use creativity in my approach to treating patients where every patient is unique and the best approach is often determined by using two dimensional and now often times three dimensional imaging.

Q: What drew you to join The Congenital Heart Collaborative team and UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital?

The combination of having a great home base in UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital and the experience and success of the team making up The Congenital Heart Collaborative (UH Rainbow and Nationwide Children’s Hospital) is the reason I chose to take the Directorship in Cleveland. It really is a great collaboration and is a unique and progressive care model that I am certain other programs will try to emulate in the future.

Q: What unique expertise do you bring to your position as director of Pediatric Interventional Cardiology?

I am board certified in Pediatric Cardiology and Adult Congenital Heart Disease. I have experience in the cathlab taking care of neonates on up to the elderly population. I came from a center where complex interventions were performed on all age groups, so I am in a position to care for our babies and children who need interventional procedures, but also our rapidly growing adult congenital population, whose numbers now exceed kids with congenital heart disease in the United States.

Q: What goals have you mapped out for pediatric interventional cardiology?

To provide excellent interventional therapies to all of the patients with congenital heart disease within the UH care system and to achieve the highest measures of procedural and safety outcomes.
With Rainbow’s great reputation, our pediatric Cath Lab should be the premier center for congenital interventional referrals in the greater Cleveland and Northeast Ohio region.

Q: Can you share some about your research?

I focus my research on pediatric cardiovascular device development. I am very interested in bioresorbable devices as this is important given how long some of these devices will stay in our young patients’ bodies. If we can find a way to treat a condition with a device when a child is young and have it disappear over time, then the heart or blood vessel can then grow and develop normally without the device interfering. I am working on developing a bioresorbable stent and a bioresorbable device to close holes in the heart. I am involved in other device projects, as well and plan to continue to bring more projects to UH Case Medical Center over time.

Q: What excites you about the field of pediatric cardiology right now?

It is a wide open field for anyone interested in medical device development. We need smaller devices made from better materials that can be placed in and around the heart without the need for surgery. The biomedical engineering field is ripe with technology that can advance the field and I am really excited to continue these lines of work.

To contact Dr. Bocks, you can email at Martin.Bocks@UHhospitals.org or call 216-844-3058.

Eric J. Devaney, MD, FACS
Chief, Congenital Cardiac Surgery

 Eric J. Davaney, MD

Q: Please share your special interests.

I am a congenital heart surgeon, which means that I operate on infants, children, and even adults who were born with heart defects. My primary clinical interests are in the neonatal repair of complex congenital heart disease and in the treatment of heart failure with ventricular assist devices and cardiac transplantation.

Q: Where did you train and what has been your career trajectory to-date?

I trained in General Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, and then Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Michigan, followed by a fellowship in Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery at Mott Children’s Hospital at the University of Michigan. I joined the staff in Ann Arbor in 2002 and remained there for over a decade. In 2012, I took a position at UCSD Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego where I started a pediatric cardiac transplant program in addition to a busy practice in Congenital Heart Surgery. I just relocated to Cleveland, and I am very excited about the opportunity to contribute to the success of the program here at Rainbow.

Q: When was it that you decided to center your career on pediatric heart disease? What was it about congenital heart disease that captured your interest?

I became interested in congenital heart disease as a first year medical student, initially fascinated by the complex embryology and anatomy of the heart. My devotion to the subject amplified over time, and I quickly was drawn into the surgical side of therapy for congenital heart disease.

Q: What drew you to join The Congenital Heart Collaborative team and UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital?

Rainbow is a unique institution with a respected tradition. The Congenital Heart Collaborative was engineered to rejuvenate the Heart Program. Care of patients with congenital heart disease requires a multidisciplinary team approach, and all the key elements have been assembled here at Rainbow.

Q: What unique expertise do you bring to your position as chief of congenital heart surgery? Anything that has not been available in our region before?

I have broad expertise ranging from neonatal surgery to repair of adult congenital heart disease. I also have extensive experience in cardiac transplantation and mechanical circulatory support. Moreover, I bring a collaborative approach which allows for optimal decision-making for patient care.

Q: What goals have you mapped out for pediatric heart surgery and the services we will provide?

Our goal is to provide complete cardiovascular services for our pediatric population as well as our population of adults with congenital heart disease. We will strive to become the premiere institution in the region and the nation.

Q: Can you share your research goals and interests?

My basic research laboratory focuses on the molecular mechanisms of heart failure. We are developing novel molecular inotropes to augment cardiac function in heart failure. We have also developed expertise in the generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells which we are using for diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

To contact Dr. Devaney, you can email at Eric.Devaney@UHhospitals.org or call 216-844-3058.