Duke Anesthesiology’s Kelly Machovec, MD, MPH, has been awarded the Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center (PCHC) Impact Award for the exceptional impact she has had on clinical practice around hemostasis, on both a local and national level.
“I am grateful for the recognition and so proud to be part of the amazing PCHC team,” says Machovec, associate professor of anesthesiology. “Being a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist is the best job in the world.”
The Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center Impact Award is an annual accolade that is decided by the voting of peers. Machovec’s colleague, Dr. Warwick Ames, presented her the award on January 26 at the PCHC yearly retreat. As he describes, “her impact is palpable everywhere in the Duke Children’s Heart Center.” Machovec is credited for discontinuing preoperative blood testing to avoid children having painful, unnecessary blood draws in the preoperative clinic, which revolutionized the way blood products are ordered for children with congenital heart disease at Duke. She also wrote the handbook of coagulation management for children coming off cardiopulmonary bypass. This led to her founding the Hemostasis Interest Group, a committee within the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society, described as “a forum where some of the sharpest brains in pediatric anesthesia meet to share knowledge and expertise.”
“Kelly has had a special impact on each of us and is fully deserving of this award. I am proud to call her a dear friend and colleague and congratulate her on receiving this award,” adds Ames.
Machovec completed a fellowship in pediatric anesthesiology at Duke University before joining Duke Anesthesiology faculty in 2013 where she is a member of the Pediatric Anesthesiology Division. Machovec’s impact is also recognized outside of Duke. As a mark of her influence, she is an advocate for basic science cancer research; to-date, Machovec has raised $48,000 for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as part of her participation in the 2022 Boston Marathon.