UAB’s Moellinger wins major research award at Cardiology 2014

Moellinger was presented Nursing Scientist Award before an international group of more than 1,000 medical experts.

Moellinger wins major research award at Cardiology 2014 University of Alabama at Birmingham nurse practitioner Ashley Moellinger was awarded the Nursing Scientist Award for her research on postoperative feeding protocol and how it improves outcomes after arterial switch operation at the annual Cardiology 2014 conference, Feb. 19-23.

Moellinger, a Montgomery native who works in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery and treats patients at Children’s of Alabama, was presented the award before an international group of more than 1,000 medical experts at Cardiology 2014 — the largest pediatric cardiology conference in the world. Pediatric cardiologists, heart surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and perfusionists discussed the latest innovations in detection and treatment of congenital heart disease in babies, children and young adults.

UAB pediatric cardiologist and Children’s of Alabama physician Hayden Zaccagni, M.D., was one of eight finalists for the Outstanding Investigator Award, and he presented his research involving the use of acetaminophen to reduce lipid peroxidation in children undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass and its impact on post-CPB injury.

Other UAB instructors to present included Franco Diaz, M.D., pediatric critical care medicine fellow, and Joey Timpa, ECMO coordinator and cardiovascular perfusionist in perioperative services. Their poster presentations were selected from more than 150 abstracts submitted.

Videos of the oral abstract presenters, including Moellinger and Zaccagni, are available online.

Original research was presented throughout the meeting from more than 30 cardiac programs in the US and abroad. All presented abstracts are published in the January 2014 edition of the World Journal for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery.