What We Fund

Each year, the Mend a Heart Foundation selects one or more projects that support our mission of extending and enriching the lives of children born with congenital heart defects. Stay tuned for more information about the 2023-2024 grant funding process.

Here’s a highlight of initiatives we have funded:

  • Utilization of diagnostic tools in treating and understanding structural heart disease.

  • Fetal brain development and fetal well-being of children with congenital heart disease.

  • A peer surgical coaching program to promote learning and improve surgical outcomes.

  • Cardiac tissue engineering to treat structurally abnormal, diseased heart muscle.

  • Impact of biochemical markers, vital signs and operative strategies on neurodevelopment.

  • Feeding in infants and children with congenital heart disease.

 

  • Resources for families coping with the stress and psychosocial care of congenital heart disease.

  • Preventive screenings of thousands of high school students to identify risk for sudden cardiac death, contributing to national and international screening guidelines.

  • Hundreds of heart camp scholarships and supported Camp Odayin’s 2017 Wisconsin expansion.

  • A multi-center Fetal Heart Society study to define predictors in fetal transposition of the great arteries to improve outcomes.

  • A Fontan blood pump that aims to address circulatory failure issues in people with a single ventricle.

 

2022 Recipients

Cerebral Autoregulation and Neurodevelopment Outcomes in Neonates with Single Ventricle Congenital Heart Disease 
During the 2022 - 2023 funding cycle, we partnered with The Children’s Heart Foundation to review and evaluate grant applications. Through collaboration with their medical review board, we selected to fund this research.
PI: Nimrod Goldshtrom, MD, MS
Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Amount funded: $200,000

Young Hearts For Life
Dr. Joseph Marek
Downers Grove, IL
Amount funded: $20,500 to sponsor cardiac screenings of high school children in the western suburbs of Illinois.

Camp Odayin
Sara Meslow, Executive Director
Stillwater, MN
Amount funded: $30,000
Click here for more information.

2021 Recipients

Camp Odayin
Sara Meslow, Executive Director
Stillwater, MN
Amount funded: $50,000
Click here for more information.

Young Hearts For Life
Dr. Joseph Marek
Downers Grove, IL
Amount Funded: $50,000 to support cardiac screenings of high school children in the western suburbs of Illinois.

2020 Recipients

Analysis of Hepatocyte-derived sVEGFR1 in Pulmonary Arteriovenous Malformations 
PI: Andrew D. Spearman, MD
Co-Investigators: Ramani Ramchandran, PhD  and Amy Y. Pan, PhD
Medical College of Wisconsin
Amount Funded: $48,966
Click here for more information about this project.

Young Hearts For Life
Dr. Joseph Marek
Downers Grove, IL
Amount funded: $15,000 to sponsor cardiac screenings of high school children in the western suburbs of Illinois.

2019 Recipients

Surgeons Helping Surgeons Take Better Care of Children: The Development of a Peer Coaching Model for Congenital Heart Surgeon
Brett Anderson MD MBA MS & Damien LaPar MD MSc
Amount Funded: $47,400
Click here for more information about this project.

Camp Odayin
Sara Meslow, Executive Director
Stillwater, MN
Amount funded: $20,000
Click here for more information.

Predicting Newborn Outcomes in Fetal Transposition of the Great Arteries: A Collaborative Multi-center Prospective Study of the Fetal Heart Society
Lisa K Hornberger, MD; Shaine Morris, MD, MPH; and Mary Donofrio, MD
Amount Funded: $60,000
Click here for more information about this project

Young Hearts For Life
Dr. Joseph Marek
Downers Grove, IL
Amount Funded: $15,000 for the purchase of equipment to be used in cardiac screenings of high school children in the western suburbs of Illinois.

2018 Recipients

Candidate Identification for the Elusive “Hepatic Factor”
Ramani Ramchandran, PhD and Andrew D. Spearman, MD
Amount Funded: $32,000
Click here for more information about this project.

Camp Odayin
Sara Meslow, Executive Director
Stillwater, MN
Amount funded: $45,000.
Click here for more information.

Young Hearts For Life
Dr. Joseph Marek
Downers Grove, IL
Amount Funded: $25,000 for the purchase of equipment to be used in cardiac screenings of high school children in the western suburbs of Illinois.

2017 Recipients

Banking for the Future of Congenital Heart Disease
Dr. Conrad L. Epting, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago Amount Funded: $45,100
Click here for more information about this project.

Fontan Blood Pump: Advanced Prototype Completion
Dr. Mark D. RodefeldIndiana University Amount Funded: $60,000
Click here for more information about this project.

Camp Odayin
Sara Meslow, Executive Director
Stillwater, MN
Amount funded: $25,000.
Click here for more information.

Young Hearts For Life
Dr. Joseph Marek
Downers Grove, IL
Funding granted: $15,000 for the purchase of digital EKG machines to be used in cardiac screenings of high school children in the western suburbs of Illinois.

2016 Recipients

Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston
Dr. Cynthia Ortinau, Primary InvestigatorResearch
Project: Understanding Fetal Brain Development in Critical Congenital Heart Disease
Amount funded $21,414 (Year 2 funding)
Click here for more information about this project.

Camp Odayin
Sara Meslow, Executive Director
Stillwater, MN
Amount funded: $46,500 to help fund the cost of expansion into
the Wisconsin-Illinois region.
Click here for more information

Boston Children’s Hospital
Dr. Sunil Ghelani, Primary Investigator
Research Project: Cross-sectional analysis of non-invasive measures of ventricular systolic and diastolic function and biomarkers in the Fontan circulation
Amount funded: $30,000

Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago Foundation
Dr. Brad Marino, MD, Primary Investigator
Research Project: Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Support Program
Amount funded: $40,000
Click here for more information about this project.

Young Hearts For Life
Dr. Joseph Marek
Downers Grove, IL
Funding granted: $20,000 for the purchase of digital EKG machines to be used in cardiac screenings of high school children in the western suburbs of Illinois.

2015 Recipients

Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston
Dr. Cynthia Ortinau, Primary Investigator
Research Project: Understanding Fetal Brain Development in Critical Congenital Heart Disease
Amount funded: $32,948 (Year 1)
Click here for more information about this project.

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
Dr. Conrad L Epting, Primary Investigator
Research Project: Unraveling Pediatric Heart Failure and the Stem Cell Compartment
Amount funded: $22,000
Click here for more information about this project.

Seattle Children's Heart Center
Dr. Stephen Seslar and Dr. Charles Murry, Primary Investigators
Research Project: Stem Cell Therapy to Treat Heart Rhythm Problems in Patients with Congenital Heart Disease: Initial Evaluation in a Canine Model
Amount funded: $36,447
Click here for more information about this project.

Camp Odayin
Sara Meslow, Executive Director
Stillwater, MN
Amount funded: $25,000 to help fund the cost of sending heart families from the Midwest to Camp Odayin's Family Camp in the fall of 2015, held at Camp Wunderland near Lake Geneva
Click here for more information about this project.

Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Delaware
Dr. Erica Sood, Primary Investigator
Amount funded: $7,880
Research Project: Incorporating parent perspectives in the development of a family-based psychosocial intervention in a pediatric cardiac center
Click here for more information about this project.

Medical College of Wisconsin
Dr. Michael E. Mitchell, Primary Investigator
Milwaukee, WI
Research Project: Non-Invasive Indicator of Fetal Well Being for Unborn Infants with Congenital Heart Disease
Amount funded: $40,000 (Year 2)
Click here for more information about this project.

Young Hearts For Life
Dr. Joseph Marek
Downers Grove, IL
Funding granted: $18,000

2014 Recipients

Medical College of Wisconsin
Dr. Michael E. Mitchell, Primary Investigator
Milwaukee, WI
Research Project: Non-Invasive Indicator of Fetal Well Being for Unborn Infants with Congenital Heart Disease
Amount funded: $40,000 (Year 1)
Click here for more information about this project.

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
Dr. Delaney and Dr. Mussatto, Primary Investigators
Milwaukee, WI
Research Project: FEED ME Study
Amount funded: $20,117
Click here for more information about this project.

Young Hearts For Life
Dr. Joseph Marek
Downers Grove, IL
Funding granted: $24,000 for the purchase of digital EKG machines to be used in cardiac screenings of high school children in the western suburbs of Illinois.

Camp Odayin
Sara Meslow, Executive Director
Stillwater, MN
Funding granted: $20,000
Click here for more information about this project.

2012 Recipients

Medical University of South Carolina
Shahryar Chowdhury, MD, Primary Investigator
Charleston, SC
Research Project: Validation of Non-Invasive Measures of Contractility in the Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease Population
Amount funded: $15,000
Click here for more information about this project.

Children's Hospital of Boston Harvard Medical School
Jane Newburger, MD, Primary Investigator
Boston, MA
Research Project: International Study of Neurodevelopmental Outcomes Following Cardiac Surgery in Neonates and Infants
Amount funded in Year 2 of study: $17,500
Click here for more information about this project.

Camp Odayin
Sara Meslow, Executive Director
Stillwater, MN
Funding granted: $16,000
Click here for more information about this project.

2011 Recipients

Children's Hospital of Boston Harvard Medical School
Jane Newburger, MD, Primary Investigator
Boston, MA
Research Project: International Study of Neurodevelopmental Outcomes Following Cardiac Surgery in Neonates and Infants
Amount funded in Year 1 of study: $17,500
Click here for more information about this project.

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
David Hehir, MD, Primary Investigator
Herma Heart Center Milwaukee, WI
Research project: Correlation of Cerebral Near-Infrared Spectroscopy with Serum Biomarkers of Brain Injury in Infants After Cardiac Surgery
Amount funded in Year 2 of study: $9,714
Click here for more information about this project.

Camp Odayin
Sara Meslow, Executive Director
Stillwater, MN
Funding granted: $7,500
Click here for more information about this project.

2010 Recipients

University of Utah
Shaji Menon, MD, Primary Investigator
Division of Pediatrics
Salt Lake City, UT
Research project: Effect of Sildenafil on Exercise Capacity in Pediatric Fontan Patients
Amount funded: $24,106
Click here for more information about this project.

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
David Hehir, MD, Primary Investigator
Herma Heart Center
Milwaukee, WI
Research project: Correlation of Cerebral Near-Infrared Spectroscopy with Serum Biomarkers of Brain Injury in Infants after Cardiac Surgery
Amount funded in Year 1 of study: $20,000
Click here for more information about this project.

Camp Odayin
Sara Meslow, Executive Director
Stillwater, MN
Funding granted: $5,000
Click here for more information about this project.

2009 Recipients

Camp Odayin
Sara Meslow, Executive Director
Stillwater, MN
Funding granted: $15,000
Click here for more information about this project.

2008 Recipients

University of Washington
Dr. Charles E. Murry
Induction of Cardiac Differentiation from IPS Cells
Funding granted: $37,500
Click here for more information about this project

2007 Recipients

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
Dr. Nancy Ghanayem
Herma Heart Center
Milwaukee, WI
Research project: Long-term neurological outcomes of children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome
Funding granted: $20,000