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Latest from the PICS Society

In Memoriam: Eugene Braunwald, MD
(1929–2026)

The PICS Society joins the entire medical community in mourning the passing of Eugene Braunwald, MD, widely regarded as the father of modern cardiology. He died on April 22, 2026, at the age of 96.

Although Dr. Braunwald did not work primarily in congenital or pediatric heart disease, his influence on our specialty is nonetheless profound. 

PICS Society President and Founder Dr. Ziyad M. Hijazi observed that “Dr. Braunwald’s insistence that cardiology be grounded in rigorous physiology, disciplined clinical trials, and evidence-based medicine set the intellectual standard that all cardiovascular subspecialties — including pediatric and congenital interventional cardiology — have strived to meet.  His early work pioneering cardiac catheterization techniques and hemodynamic assessment helped establish the catheter as a tool not merely for diagnosis but for therapeutic intervention — a principle that defines everything we do.”

His landmark textbook, Braunwald’s Heart Disease, now in its 13th edition, has educated generations of cardiologists across every subspecialty, including many who found their way to congenital and structural heart disease through its pages.

He was, in the truest sense, a physician’s physician — curious, rigorous, and unrelenting in his belief that careful science saves lives. That belief is the common ground we share with his legacy.

The PICS Society extends its condolences to Dr. Braunwald’s family, colleagues, and the countless physicians whose careers he shaped.

Dr. King Honored with the 2025 Prince Mahidol Award in Medicine

Congratulations Dr. Terry D. King, recently named the 2025 Laureate of the Prince Mahidol Award in Medicine for his life-saving innovations in minimally invasive treatment of congenital heart disease. Dr. King's pioneering leadership has benefited many millions of people in lives saved and dramatically improved quality of life. (Congratulations also to Dr. Walter C. Willett, the 2025 Prince Mahidol Award Laureate in Public Health.)

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