George Van Hare, M.D., has been appointed director of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Louis Larrick Ward Chair in Pediatric Cardiology at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
Van Hare comes to St. Louis from San Francisco, where he was a professor of pediatrics and medical director of the Pediatric Arrhythmia Center at Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Prior to that, he was director of the pediatric arrhythmia service at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland and an associate professor of pediatrics and of medicine at Case Western Reserve University.
“I’m excited to be at Washington University and St. Louis Children’s Hospital,” Van Hare said. “The heart failure and heart transplant programs are among the largest in the country, which means there is an established team taking excellent care of these patients. The environment here is just spectacular for further developing an already very strong pediatric cardiology division. There is the built-in stability of a solid Midwestern program, a strong medical school and a large reservoir of clinical research expertise that we can take advantage of. I am looking forward to collaborating with those in the adult cardiology program, which is also one of the world’s best.”
An electrophysiologist, Van Hare has a long-standing interest in irregular heart rhythms that can occur in infants and children following surgery for congenital heart diseases. He is particularly interested in applying new technology to characterize, map and successfully treat these arrhythmias in the electrophysiology laboratory. He also has extensive experience in organizing and leading multi-center studies of children with heart rhythm disorders. He served as principal investigator of a five-year, $2.1 million National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute study titled “Prospective Assessment after Pediatric Cardiac Ablation,” which involved more than 40 pediatric centers in North America.
“George is the real triple threat — an outstanding clinician, indeed a pioneer in pediatric electrophysiology, an acclaimed teacher and mentor, and a distinguished clinical investigator,” said Alan L. Schwartz, Ph.D., M.D., the Harriet B. Spoehrer Professor and chair of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine and physician-in-chief at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. “We are truly delighted that he will be leading our Division of Pediatric Cardiology on to the next level.”
Van Hare is a fellow of the Heart Rhythm Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Cardiology. He is a member of the Society for Pediatric Research and The American Pediatric Society. In addition, he is president of The Pediatric & Congenital Electrophysiology Society. His research has appeared in numerous specialty journals, including the American Heart Journal, Pediatric Cardiology and the Journal of Pediatrics.
Van Hare earned a medical degree from the University of Connecticut. He completed his pediatric residency at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, where he served as chief resident in pediatrics. He also completed fellowships at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital, UCSF and Baylor College of Medicine.
Van Hare’s wife, Michele M. Estabrook, M.D., has also joined the School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital as professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases. They have three sons.
Washington University School of Medicine’s 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked third in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.