ECLS VIRTUAL ADVISORS
Supporting The ECLS Community to Provide the Best in Patient Care and Sustainable Program Operations
10989 E Scopa Trail
Scottsdale, AZ 85262
Over the past 25 years, the incorporation of ECLS into patient care has grown exponentially as technology has advanced and successful use has grown. The recent COVID pandemic, however, highlighted how the lack of available ECMO beds, personnel and expertise limited this potentially life-saving technology to fewer patients than could have been eligible.
Because of the rapidly evolving use of this life saving technology, there is an urgent need for an expert resource to clinicians, hospitals and industry to have immediate access to professional, experienced consultant services for the bedside provision of ECLS care, to promote clinical effectiveness, evaluate operational management, enhance technology to make ECMO safer and more efficient and to maintain profitability.
Our mission at EVA is to “Support the ECLS community to provide the best patient care, consistent clinical practice, innovative development and prudent use of healthcare resources”
More than just “phone a friend”, we provide ongoing, immediate, virtual assistance for bedside care, program development and education.
Our Experience
- Over 100 combined years in providing bedside patient care and leadership in all aspects of ECMO and related services.
- Experience in building programs from the ground up.
- Experience in expanding ECMO services to enhance center visibility, revenue production, and enhance interactions with other programs such as heart transplant, lung transplant, trauma, OB, pediatrics, and others
- Providing advancement to the field via leadership in ECMO to professional societies (SCCM, ELSO, ATS, PALISI and other) .
- Peer-reviewed research to improve ECMO outcomes; help in clinical guideline development; establishing training initiatives and educational forums, both domestic and internationally.
- Experienced tele-medicine program development, oversight, regulatory issues, and ongoing services.
What We Do
Bedside Assistance:
- We provide immediate access to experienced personnel to help with clinical concerns
- We can assist in decision making of the appropriate use of ECMO for individual patients and to develop algorithms for selection and support.
- Ongoing bedside training and review of case progression to provide the highest quality care
- To provide objective insight into ethical decision making, especially with complex and difficult cases.
Strategic And Planning And Programmatic Development:
- Evaluate current ECMO service lines to improve patient quality and safety while maintaining optimal healthcare resource use and financial viability
- Provide advice and project development for institutions wishing to start or expand ECMO services, from children through adults, mobile ECMO, transport services and other.
Optimal Resource Utilization And Reimbursement Strategies
- work with third party payers to optimize use of healthcare resources, develop preferred center status
- maximize the provision of ECMO by providing good cost/value principles
Optimize Research Provision And Research Development
Our Experts
Heidi J. Dalton, MD, MCCM, FELSO
Founder and CEO
Dr. Heidi Dalton is a pediatric intensivist with over 25 years of experience with extracorporeal life support in children and adults.
She has developed training and educational programs related to ECLS for groups such as the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the American Thoracic Society, and others.
She provides expert guidance and program reviews and is a frequently invited speaker for clinicians and groups worldwide.
She is a Master of Critical Care Medicine, a Fellow of ELSO, and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles on ECLS, anticoagulation, and critical care.
Her goal is to improve the care and outcome of patients receiving ECLS and to continue to research ways to limit or eliminate the need for anticoagulation to reduce bleeding and thrombotic events during ECLS.
Daniel L. Herr, MD, MS, FCCM
CO-Founder
Dr Herr is an intensivist with 35 years’ experience in the practice of adult critical care. He has experience in trauma, neuro, medical, surgical, and cardiovascular critical care.
For the last 20 years his emphasis has been in cardio-thoracic critical care. He served as Chief of Critical Care at the University of Maryland and as the Director of the cardiac surgery, heart-lung transplant ICU and director of University of Maryland ECMO service.
He has over 30 years of experience working with ECLS devices. As a recognized expert in the field of critical care, Dr. Herr is frequently invited to speak at medical conferences on topics concerning novel/new treatments and therapies for critically ill patients.
He has served on several Data Safety Monitoring Boards, as chair of MedStar IRB and provides consultative services to pharmaceutical companies and ECMO programs.
He has been an active member of several medical organizations, has published over 80 peer review articles on numerous topics in critical care many concerning the provision of ECLS.
His on going goal is continuing to assist others to find better, safer ways to provide ECLS to patients.
Gregory J. Schears, MD
CO-Founder
Dr. Gregory J. Schears, M.D. is a Professor of Anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.
He is a pediatric intensivist and anesthesiologist by training and cares for both adult and pediatric patients in his ICU and OR practice.
He has a long-standing interest in reducing patient complicationsand improving patient safety.
Dr. Schears completed his pediatric residency at St. Louis Children‘s Hospital, his anesthesia residency, pediatric anesthesia fellowship and pediatric critical care fellowship at John’s Hopkins hospital and worked at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for 5 years until he was recruited to the Mayo Clinic in 2001 to initiate and lead the ECMO Service.
He serves as a Consultant of Department of Anesthesiology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, and former Medical Director of the ECMO Service for 16 years and Co-Director of the Congenital Heart Unit.
He is very active with medical device development to help reduce complications and has given hundreds of presentations locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Akram M. Zaaqoq, MD, MPH
CO-Founder
Dr. Akram M. Zaaqoq, is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Critical Care Medicine Department at Georgetown University.
In addition to the broad clinical experience caring for critically ill patients on mechanical circulatory support devices and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), including telemedicine management of such patient populations. He has established and contributed to ECMO programs in different parts of the world. He has the necessary executive leadership and management skills to build the team and achieve the institutional visions. Dr. Zaaqoq is an active member of multiple professional societies, such as the Extracorporeal Life support organization (ELSO), the society of critical care medicine (SCCM) and the society of thoracic surgeons (STS).
Similarly, he has many teaching activities related to cannulation and managing critically ill patients on ECMO. His clinical research is related to ECMO and Left ventricular assist devices (LVAD).
He has an extensive contribution to the medical literature and clinical practice that extends beyond the United States to the global level.
Roberto Lorusso, MD, Ph.D.
CO-Founder
Prof. Roberto Lorusso studied medicine at the University of Milan, Italy and graduated in 1987 magna cum Laude. In 1998, he obtained his PhD degree at Maastricht University.
Currently, Dr. Lorusso is a professor of Cardiac Surgery at the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Maastricht University, where he also acts as the director of ECLS services since 2015.
He was a founding member of Euro-ELSO and served as the Euro-ELSO president from 2015-2017. He remains on the executive committee and has most recently served as chair of the task force on ECLS guidelines in the cardiac setting and the chair of a multi-society task force on post-cardiotomy ECLS. He is the current chair elect of the Cardiovascular Surgery Working Group Nucleus of the European Society of Cardiology.
In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Lorusso contributes broadly to academia, serving as Editor-in-Chief of the Multi-Media Manual of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery and Associate Editor of Artificial Organs and the Journal of Cardiac Surgery. His clinical and pre-clinical research has resulted in over 900 publications.
Dr. Lorusso has been awarded the Gasperis-Donatelli Prize in 1989, a Young Investigator Award in 1995 and the Lillehei Award in 1998 by the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. He was Scientific Secretary of the Italian Society for Cardiac Surgery in 2007 and 2008, and is a member of the Dutch Cardio-Thoracic Surgery Society, Italian Cardiac Surgery Society, Society of Thoracic Surgery, European Society of Cardiology, Heart Failure Association, and American Association of Thoracic Surgery.
Wendy Hasson, MD, FAAP
Media Director
Dr. Wendy Hasson is double boarded in both pediatrics and pediatric critical care medicine and currently practices as the PICU medical director for Randall Children’s Hospital in Portland, OR.
Dr. Hasson completed both her undergraduate and medical school education at the University of Maryland. She went on to complete her pediatrics residency at Johns Hopkins University and her pediatric critical care fellowship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles where she performed research surrounding the use of direct thrombin inhibitors and heparin resistance. In her current role, she continues to provide ECMO education with a particular passion for ECLS hematology and anticoagulation.
Beyond her clinical practice, Dr. Hasson is a passionate advocate for children and serves as a national media spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. She is an active member of the Oregon Pediatric Society’s Advocacy Committee and has been featured in numerous Op-Eds and national media stories.
Dr. Hasson recognizes the power of social media for medical education, advocacy, and information sharing. She actively engages with the medical community and public through her presence on #MedTwitter where she has garnered nearly 4k followers. Additionally, she serves as the cofounder of the Pediatric Critical Care Physician Network and an active member of the Society of Critical Care Medicine.
