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Ginnie Abarbanell MD

Contact

210-450-7334

abarbanell@uthscsa.edu

Departments & Divisions

Ginnie L Abarbanell, MD

Professor/Clinical

Division Chief, Division of Cardiology

Pediatric Heart Center

Ginnie Abarbanell, MD, is the chief of pediatric cardiology and professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Cardiology.  Dr. Ginnie Abarbanell grew up in rural America in Montana.  She earned her medical degree from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA and completed her residency in pediatrics at Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, CA. Dr. Abarbanell completed her pediatric cardiology fellowship at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI.  Prior to joining the University of Texas Health and the University Congenital Center in San Antonio, Dr. Abarbanell practiced pediatric cardiology in Indianapolis, IN, Atlanta, GA and St. Louis, MO. She has been involved in public health research with the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) as well as clinical research in the areas of echocardiography and cardio-neurodevelopment.   Dr. Abarbanell currently holds the office of Treasurer with the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Outcomes Collaborative (CNOC).  Her interests include quality improvement, cardio-neurodevelopment and fetal cardiology.   On a more personal note, Dr. Abarbanell and her husband Dr. Aaron Abarbanell are a team.  Dr. Aaron Abarbanell is the chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery at University of Texas Health and the University Congenital Center in San Antonio.

  • Professional Background

    Education

    • 2020 - Post Graduate - Academic Medical Leadership Program for Physicians and Scientists - Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
    • 2019 - Post Graduate - Teaching Scholar Program - Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
    • 2018 - Post Graduate - Leadership Development Training - Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics
    • 2006 - Post Graduate - Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship - University of Michigan Health System, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, Ann Arbor, MI
    • 2003 - Post Graduate - Internship and Residency in Pediatrics - Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA
    • 2000 - MD - University of Washington, Seattle, WA
    • 1996 - Bachelor of Science - Nutrition, Food and Agriculture - Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

    Appointments

    • 2020- present - Professor - UT Health Science Center San Antonio
    • 2017-2020 - Associate Professor of Pediatrics Cardiology - Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
    • 2018-2020 - Co-director of Pediatric Echocardiography Laboratory - St. Louis Children's Hospital
    • 2016-2017 - Emory Pediatric Residency Global Health Track Faculty - Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Atlanta, GA
    • 2013-2017 - Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Cardiology - Emory University School of Medicine, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Sibley Heat Center, Atlanta, GA
    • 2006-2013 - Clinical Pediatric Cardiologist, Children's Heart Center - Peyton Manning Children's Hospital, St. Vincent Hospital, Indianapolis, IN
    • 2006-2013 - Director of Pediatric Echocardiography, Children's Heart Center - St. Vincent, Indianapolis, IN

  • Instruction & Training

    • 2016, Emory Physician Assistant Master's Program, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, “Congenital Heart Disease”
    • 2016, Emory Physician Assistant Master's Program, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, “Cardiac Evaluation in the Pediatric Patient”
    • 2015, Emory Physician Assistant Master's Program, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, “Overview of Congenital Heart disease”
    • 2014, Global Health Organization of Pediatrics at Emory Lecture Series, Atlanta, GA, “Heart Disease in the Developing World”

  • Research & Grants

    “Safety, Tolerability and Efficacy of PfSPZ Vaccine Administered by Direct Venous Inoculation (DVI) to Healthy Children and Infants 5 Months through 9 Years of Age Living in an Area of High Malaria Transmission in Western Kenya" 
    Role: Co-Investigator  
    PI: PI -Oneko, Martina  
    Total cost: $8,010,263.00 

  • Service

    Institutional

    2018-2020  Co-director of Pediatric Echocardiography Laboratory, St. Louis Children's Hospital

    2006-2013  Director of Pediatric Echocardiography, Children's Heart Center at St. Vincent, Indianapolis, IN 

    National

    2020-Pres Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Outcome Collaborative (CNOC). Steering Committee. Treasurer 

    2017-Pres Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Outcome Collaborative (CNOC). Neurodevelopmental Education, Outreach and Advocacy working group 

    2016 - Pres Congenital Heart Public Health Consortium (CHPHC). Cognitive, Neurodevelopmental and Psychosocial Quality of Life working group  

    2014-2018 Centers for Disease Control, National Center, Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD). CH STRONG Website/Facebook Working group 

    Community

    2019-2020 Carver Project, Faculty Fellow

  • Publications

      1. Abarbanell G, Janner D. Failure to thrive and history of pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in a six-year-old Hispanic boy. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2002;21(3):259, 268-9. PMID:12005094

      2. Abarbanell G, Mulla N, Chinnock R, Larsen R. Exercise assessment in infants after cardiac transplantation. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2004;23(12):1334-8. PMID:15607660

      3. Abarbanell GL, Goldberg CS, Devaney EJ, Ohye RG, Bove EL, Charpie JR. Early surgical morbidity and mortality in adults with congenital heart disease: the University of Michigan experience. Congenit Heart Dis. 2008;3(2):82-9. PMID:18380757

      4. Abarbanell GL, Morrow G, Kelleman MS, Kanter KR, Border WL, Sachdeva R. Echocardiographic Predictors of Left Ventricular Outflow Tract Obstruction following Repair of Atrioventricular Septal Defect. Congenit Heart Dis. 2016. PMID:27834986

      5. Riehle-Colarusso TJ, Bergersen L, Broberg CS, Cassell CH, Gray DT, Grosse SD, Jacobs JP, Jacobs ML, Kirby RS, Kochilas L, Krishnaswamy A, Marelli A, Pasquali SK, Wood T, Oster ME, Congenital Heart Public Health Consortium.. Databases for Congenital Heart Defect Public Health Studies Across the Lifespan. J Am Heart Assoc. 2016;5(11). PMCID:PMC5210337 PMID:27912209

      6. Abarbanell G, Border WL, Schlosser B, Morrow G, Kelleman M, Sachdeva R. Preoperative echocardiographic measures in interrupted aortic arch: Which ones best predict surgical approach and outcome? Congenit Heart Dis. 2018. PMID:29520990

      7. Farr SL, Downing KF, Riehle-Colarusso T, Abarbanell G. Functional limitations and educational needs among children and adolescents with heart disease. Congenit Heart Dis. 2018;13(4):633-639. PMID:30033554

      8. Abarbanell G, Tepper NK, Farr SL. Safety of contraceptive use among women with congenital heart disease: A systematic review. Congenit Heart Dis. 2019;14(3):331-340. PMID:30681774

      9. Steinhardt LC, Richie TL, Yego R, Akach D, Hamel MJ, Gutman JR, Wiegand RE, Nzuu EL, Dungani A, Kc N, Murshedkar T, Church LWP, Sim BKL, Billingsley PF, James ER, Abebe Y, Kariuki S, Samuels AM, Otieno K, Sang T, Kachur SP, Styers D, Schlessman K, Abarbanell G, Hoffman SL, Seder RA, Oneko M. Safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of PfSPZ Vaccine administered by direct venous inoculation to infants and young children: findings from an age de-escalation, dose-escalation double-blinded randomized, controlled study in western Kenya. Clin Infect Dis. 2019. PMID:31555824

      10. Anderson KN, Tepper NK, Downing K, Ailes EC, Abarbanell G, Farr SL. Contraceptive methods of privately insured US women with congenital heart defects. Am Heart J. 2020;222:38-45. PMID:32014720

      Invited Publications with CHiP Network Journal Watch

      1. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "A Comparison of Retesting Rates Using Alternative Testing Algorithms in the Pilot Implementation of Critical Congenital Heart Disease Screening in Minnesota"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;October.

      2. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Congenital heart disease in monochorionic twins with and without twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome"][http://achdlearningcenter.org/category/journal-watch/][Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;October.

      3. Abarbanell, G. [Commentary on "Effectiveness of pulse-oximetry in addition to routine neonatal examination in detection of congenital heart disease in asymptomatic newborns"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;October.

      4. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Etienne-Arthur Louis Fallot and his tetralogy"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;October.

      5. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Impaired Brain Growth of Intracranial Structures in Fetuses with Complex Congenital Heart Disease as measured by 3D Ultrasonography"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;October.

      6. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Long Term Outcomes in Children with Congenital Heart Disease: National Health Interview Survey"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;October.

      7. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Myocardial perfusion, scarring, and function in anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery syndrome: a long-term analysis using magnetic resonance imaging"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;October.

      8. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Pediatric prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;October.9. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Prenatal and newborn screening for critical congenital heart disease: findings from a nursery"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;October.

      10. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Prenatal detection of congenital heart disease in a low risk population undergoing first and second trimester screening"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;October.

      11. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Prevalence of associated extracardiac malformations in the congenital heart disease population"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;October.

      12. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Rac1 signaling is critical to cardiomyocyte polarity and embryonic heart development"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;October.

      13. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "2014 Appropriate Use Criteria for Initial Transthoracic Echocardiography in Outpatient Pediatric Cardiology: A Report of the American College of Cardiology Appropriate Use Criteria Task Force"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;December.

      14. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Community socioeconomic disadvantage and the survival of infants with congenital heart defects"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;November.

      15. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Congenital heart disease in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria: a four-year prospective echocardiographic analysis"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;November.

      16. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Postmortem microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) of small fetuses and hearts"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;November.

      17. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Public Health Research in Congenital Heart Disease"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;November.

      18. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "The potential and limitations of plasma BNP measurement in the diagnosis, prognosis, and management of children with heart failure due to congenital cardiac disease: an update"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;November.

      19. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Two-dimensional global longitudinal strain rate is a preload independent index of systemic right ventricular contractility in hypoplastic left heart syndrome patients after fontan operation"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;November.

      20. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Bone Density in Children with Single Ventricle Physiology"][Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;December.

      21. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Calculation of Pediatric Left Ventricular Mass: Validation and Reference Values Using Real-Time Three-Dimensional Echocardiography"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;December.

      22. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Chromosome microarray testing for patients with congenital heart defects reveals novel disease causing loci and high diagnostic yield"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;December

      .23. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Community-Based Case-Control Study of Childhood Stroke Risk Associated With Congenital Heart Disease"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;December.

      24. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Echocardiography in pediatric pulmonary arterial hypertension: early study on assessing disease severity and predicting outcome"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;December.

      25. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Executive Function in Children and Adolescents with Critical Cyanotic Congenital Heart Disease"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;December.

      26. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Genotype-Phenotype Correlations in Apical Variant Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;December.

      27. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Intravenous Home Inotropic Use is Safe in Pediatric Patients Awaiting Transplantation"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;December.

      28. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Infants with Ductal-Dependent Congenital Heart Disease"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;December.

      29. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Pediatric inpatient hospital resource use for congenital heart defects"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;December.

      30. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Physical and neurodevelopmental outcomes in children with single-ventricle circulation"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;December.

      31. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Risk of selected structural abnormalities in infants after increased nuchal translucency measurement"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;December.

      32. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Targeted next-generation sequencing identifies pathogenic variants in familial congenital heart disease"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2014;December.

      33. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Cardiac MRI and CT: differentiation of normal ostium and intraseptal course from slitlike ostium and interarterial course in anomalous left coronary artery in children"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2015;January.

      34. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Clinical examination and pulse oximetry as screening for congenital heart disease in low-risk newborn"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2015;January.

      35. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Congenital heart disease and adverse perinatal outcome in fetuses with confirmed isolated single functioning umbilical artery"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2015;January.

      36. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Heterotaxy in Southern Nevada: Prenatal Detection and Epidemiology"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2015;January.

      37. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Longitudinal Systolic Left Ventricular Function in Preterm and Term Neonates: Reference Values of the Mitral Annular Plane Systolic Excursion (MAPSE) and Calculation of z-Scores"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2015;January.

      38. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Micro-RNA expression in hypoplastic left heart syndrome"][Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2015;January.

      39. Abarbanell G. [Commentary on "Mitral Valve Geometry in Paediatric Rheumatic Mitral Regurgitation"] [Internet] CHiP Journal Watch. 2015;January.