Dr. Christopher Mascio to serve as executive chair of the WVU Children’s Institute

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University (WVU) Health System and the WVU Health Sciences Center today (April 16) named Christopher E. Mascio, M.D., the executive chair of the newly formed WVU Children’s Institute. 

In this new position, Dr. Mascio will work in collaboration with WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital on programmatic development and expansion at the Hospital and at its off-campus network of affiliated clinics and hospital-based pediatric programs.  

As Mascio will be helping to shape the strategic direction of clinical care for newborns and children across the entire WVU Health System, as well as pediatric research and education, he will report to Albert L. Wright, Jr., president and CEO of the WVU Health System, and Clay B. Marsh, M.D., chancellor and executive dean of the WVU Health Sciences Center. 
 
“Dr. Mascio is a highly talented and respected physician executive, whose leadership and work are exemplary,” Wright said. “We welcome his strategic vision and thought leadership as we continue to expand our pediatric programs for the children and families of West Virginia, Southwest Pennsylvania, Southeast Ohio, and Western Maryland.”

The WVU Children’s Institute itself will serve primarily as a vehicle to help spearhead initiatives to improve children’s health in West Virginia and the broader region and cultivate strategic partnerships and affiliations that enable Children’s Hospital to expand its mission.

“As a national leader in pediatric heart and thoracic surgery, Dr. Mascio continues to build on WVU’s long-standing pediatric cardiothoracic surgery program, recognized nationally and internationally for its quality and patient-centered care,” Dr. Marsh said. “He joins a legacy of compassionate and gifted surgeons to bring the best in heart care to West Virginia’s children.”    

Mascio joined Children’s Hospital in May 2021 as its chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery and established the WVU Medicine Children’s Heart Center. As its executive director, he has built a leading pediatric heart program that provides West Virginia’s most advanced heart care services to infants, children, and teens. 

Mascio is also leading the current effort to bring pediatric heart transplant to Children’s Hospital. He will continue to serve as executive director of the Heart Center and the chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery.

“I look forward to collaborating with all pediatric providers both in Morgantown and throughout West Virginia and beyond to elevate the access and care of all children,” Mascio said. “It is a privilege to serve in this role.”
Mascio came to WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he served as an attending surgeon in the Cardiac Center and associate clinical chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery. He is board certified in cardiothoracic surgery and congenital heart surgery and performs the full spectrum of congenital heart surgery, including complex newborns and adult congenital operations.

To learn more about WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital, visit WVUKids.com.