Medical Design and Outsourcing

Mussallem Foundation launches congenital heart defect initiative

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A photo of Linda and Mike Mussallem.

Linda and Mike Mussallem [Photo courtesy of the Linda and Mike Mussallem Foundation]

UPDATE: The Mussallem CHD Alliance released more details in a January 2026 YouTube video.

The Linda and Mike Mussallem Foundation today announced they’ve founded the Mussallem CHD Alliance.

The latest nonprofit from retired Edwards Lifesciences CEO and Chair Mike Mussallem and his wife, Linda Mussallem, is “dedicated to saving and improving the lives of people born with congenital heart defects (CHD), wherever they live, so they can survive and thrive,” the foundation said on LinkedIn.

The Mussallem CHD Alliance will work to advance “transformational technologies, improving and extending high-quality patient care, and streamlining the path to success in CHD progress,” the foundation continued.

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A photo of Mussallem CHD Alliance President Orin Herskowitz.

Mussallem CHD Alliance President Orin Herskowitz [Photo courtesy of the Mussallem CHD Alliance]

The Mussallem CHD Alliance is led by President Orin Herskowitz, who was formerly SVP of applied innovation at Columbia University.

The alliance’s team also includes Chief of Staff Eva Yao (a McKinsey & Co. senior business analyst), Communications Assistant and Office Manager Amelia Spiegelman (formerly of the Simons Foundation) and Research Strategy and operations Manager Jonathan Birabaharan, who was a Blavatnik Fellow at Yale Ventures.

“People with congenital heart defects live in a daunting reality,” the Mussallem CHD Alliance says on its website. “Despite decades of progress, too many people with CHD still face outmoded, underfunded solutions and slow-moving innovation. The Mussallem CHD Alliance and our partners aim to create and accelerate solutions to critical unmet patient needs. … Working alongside our founders, MCA members include clinicians, researchers, funders, policymakers, and advocates dedicated to transforming CHD care.”

In a Medical Design & Outsourcing interview for our January 2025 Leadership in Medtech issue, Mussallem offered a preview of his philanthropic efforts focused on innovation in health care, whole-person health, improving quality of life and care for people with Down syndrome, and better treatment of pediatric heart defects.

Related: Mike Mussallem to receive AdvaMed’s lifetime achievement award

About The Author

Jim Hammerand

Jim Hammerand is the managing editor of Arrowfly's Medical Design & Outsourcing, where he leads coverage of medtech innovation, design, engineering and manufacturing. He also reports breaking news at Arrowfly's MassDevice and contributes to our DeviceTalks podcasts and live events. Hammerand has more than two decades of journalism experience spanning newspapers, magazines, websites, live events, radio and TV news. For nearly a decade, Hammerand reported and edited business news for American City Business Journals as a reporter and digital editor at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal and then as managing editor of the Puget Sound Business Journal in Seattle. He holds degrees in journalism and management from the University of Minnesota and has won journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, American Society of Business Publication Editors, and Trade, Association, Business Publications International. Connect with him on LinkedIn or by email at [email protected].

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