Two-part initiative will map unmet needs in exercise and Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) care nationwide and develop a Positive Fitness Hub website with scalable resources and clinician education
Boston, MA — May 7, 2026 — The Mussallem CHD Alliance today announced its support for a new initiative at Boston Children’s Hospital to advance the role of structured exercise and positive psychology in the care of children living with congenital heart defects (CHD). Led by Dr. Naomi Gauthier and Dr. Tracy Curran, the initiative aims to shift congenital heart defect care from a model of limitation to one of empowerment by equipping providers with the language, knowledge, and resources to drive patient thriving and improve health outcomes.
Advances in surgical, interventional and diagnostic care have enabled more children with CHD to survive into adulthood than ever before. It requires similarly deliberate steps for CHD patients to truly thrive and achieve better health outcomes and quality of life. Many CHD patients today struggle with reduced exercise tolerance, fear of physical activity, and psychological stress. Although evidence supports the benefits of structured exercise for CHD patients, referral and adoption rates for these programs remain low nationwide, leaving a significant gap between survival and long-term well-being.
The new initiative includes two complementary workstreams. The first is a national discovery effort in collaboration with the team from Boston Children’s Hospital Innovation and Digital Health Accelerator that aims to uncover the most impactful opportunities for digital innovation to address unmet needs in the exercise cardiology and congenital heart defect space and empower clinicians to support thriving in CHD patients. As part of the effort, the team will collect feedback from key stakeholders (e.g., pediatric cardiologists, exercise physiologists) through structured interviews and/or surveys to identify innovation opportunity areas, prioritize meaningful solutions, and inform areas where provider education can drive early impact.
The second workstream lays the groundwork for translating opportunities into action. The Positive Fitness Hub will be a dedicated web resource serving as the central home for providers to gain access to resources, education, and training in physical activity and CHD patients. The platform will be built around three core offerings: educational modules on integrating physical activity, mindset, and sense of belonging to change trajectories for people with CHD; clinician tools and resources on topics including exercise, mental skills, and social connection; and an interactive community space for providers to collaborate and innovate on positive fitness as a critical, modifiable driver of long-term outcomes.
“We know that structured exercise and positive mindset interventions can meaningfully improve outcomes for children with congenital heart defects,” said Orin Herskowitz, President of the Mussallem CHD Alliance. “This initiative at Boston Children’s Hospital addresses a critical gap by working to make fitness and psychological resilience a standard part of CHD care.”
“We are deeply grateful to the Mussallem CHD Alliance for their generous support in launching the Positive Fitness Hub,” said Dr. Naomi Gauthier, Medical Director, Exercise Cardiology and Cardiac Fitness and Senior Associate Cardiologist, Department of Cardiology at Boston Children’s Hospital. “This platform will unite evidence-based exercise tools, educational modules, and a collaborative provider community to help children with congenital heart defects move with strength, joy, and belief in the possible. This gift is about more than exercise – it is about the deliberate cultivation of confidence and resilience to drive measurably better lifelong outcomes.”
The discovery phase will produce a comprehensive needs and opportunity report identifying key leverage points for the needs in this space, from which the teams will develop innovative solution ideas with potential for meaningful impact. Alongside the discovery phase, the first in an anticipated series of educational courses will be developed, piloted, and refined with clinicians – with a long-term goal of alignment with continuing medical education standards and national dissemination.
About the Mussallem CHD Alliance
The Mussallem CHD Alliance is the flagship initiative of the Linda and Mike Mussallem Foundation dedicated to helping people born with congenital heart defects (CHD) survive and thrive, from their first heartbeat onward.