The Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) program at Texas Children’s Hospital allows patients with congenital heart disease to receive seamless continuity of care from birth throughout adulthood. As pediatric patients with congenital heart defects transition into adulthood, our multidisciplinary team of experienced congenital heart disease specialists advises them on health and lifestyle choices for their adult needs, including physical challenges, exercise options and family planning.
Established in 2004, our program offers comprehensive medical and surgical care backed by state-of-the-art technologies and research from our world-class institutions. We provide the full range of ACHD services and specialties including surgery, diagnostic and interventional cardiac catheterization, noninvasive imaging (including cardiac MRIs and coronary CT angiography), arrhythmia services and more.
Our team of board-certified physicians also provides care to meet the unique needs of pregnant patients with congenital heart disease. In partnership with Texas Children’s Fetal Center and Texas Children’ Pavilion for Women, our patients receive care from physicians who specialize in high-risk pregnancies and physicians who specialize in ACHD, all in the same visit. This collaboration offers a unique advantage in managing these complex pregnancies and minimizing any risks.
The ACHD program is accredited by the Adult Congenital Heart Association (ACHA) 
and is one of only three programs accredited in Texas. To achieve this distinction, Texas Children’s had to meet ACHA’s criteria for medical/surgical services and personnel requirements and go through a rigorous accreditation process developed over a number of years through a collaboration with doctors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses and adult congenital heart disease patients. We are also one of only 21 programs in the country with an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education ACHD training program and the only program in Texas that offers this training opportunity.
Texas Children’s welcomes new ACHD Program leaders
Texas Children’s Hospital welcomed two new leaders of the ACHD Program – esteemed cardiologist, Dr. Peter Ermis, as medical director and Dr. Edward Hickey, a recognized cardiovascular surgeon, as surgical director. Together, they will guide the largest ACHD program in the state.
Ermis, a native Houstonian and dedicated member of Texas Children’s ACHD Program team since 2014, also serves as assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s academic partner. Ermis received his undergraduate degree at Rice University. He earned his medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and went on to complete his residency and pediatric and adult cardiology fellowship at Baylor. He is board certified in pediatric cardiology, adult cardiology and adult congenital heart disease.
Hickey, a proven leader in cardiovascular surgery, most recently served as associate professor of cardiac surgery at the University of Toronto and cardiac surgeon and chief of the ACHD program at The Hospital for Sick Children. Hickey received a Bachelor of Medicine degree from the University of Southampton in the U.K., where he also completed his general surgery residency. He went on to complete higher surgical training in cardiothoracic surgery and simultaneously earned his Doctorate of Medicine research thesis from Oregon Health & Science University and the University of Southampton, respectively. Later, he received the John Kirklin Fellowship from the Congenital Heart Surgeons’ Society, University of Toronto and spent two years at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He then pursued residency training in Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Toronto, followed by a clinical fellowship in congenital heart surgery.