Lillian Su, MD, joins Children’s National Hospital as chief of Cardiac Critical Care

Lillian Su, MD, has joined Children’s National Hospital as chief of Cardiac Critical Care. Dr. Su is a nationally recognized expert in cardiac critical care medicine and team dynamics.

“There is a lot of opportunity for innovation in cardiac critical care with the monumental leaps that technology and AI have taken in the past few years.” Dr. Su said. “Children’s National has the right type of experts who are both creative as well as clinically excellent to be at the forefront of that type of innovative care, especially in a city such as Washington, D.C.”

She is the current president of the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society (PCICS) and returns to Children’s National where she was an attending cardiac critical care medicine physician from 2008 to 2016 and medical director of the Board of Visitors Simulation program. Most recently, she was medical director of the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) at Phoenix Children’s Hospital and before that served as director of the simulation program at the Heart Center of Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital.

In addition to her clinical leadership, Dr. Su’s established research and academic work focuses on human behavior and team dynamics during cardiac arrest events. She has published research and presented on the complicated intersection of human skills and technology, including discussions of how to optimize partnerships between the necessary roles of humans in patient care and the integration of technology to enhance that care. Her work has been presented at the Academy of Management, the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the American College of Cardiology, the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO), Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), PCICS and most recently at the World Congress of Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery. She has been the co-editor of two simulation books, Comprehensive Healthcare Simulation: ECMO simulation and Neonatal and Pediatric ECMO Simulation Scenarios. She serves on the American Heart Association Get With the Guidelines for Resuscitation Pediatric Task Force.

“I’m honored and delighted to welcome Dr. Su back to Children’s National,” says Wayne J. Franklin, MD, MBA, senior vice president of the Children’s National Heart and Lung Center. “She is a dedicated clinician and an international leader who is committed to excellence in patient care, research and education. The Heart and Lung Center team, along with the patients and families we serve, will greatly benefit from her exceptional expertise and leadership.”

Dr. Su is board certified in pediatrics and pediatric critical care. She completed fellowships in pediatric critical care medicine at Children’s Hospital Pittsburgh and cardiac critical care medicine at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Su attended medical school at Temple University in Philadelphia and completed residency and internship at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.