Left to Right: David Overman, Anu Codaty and Jackie Boucher. Photo: Chris Emeott
An innovative program is changing the world and health care for children in need.
David Overman, M.D., has always known that medicine would be his path to serve others. “I was raised by parents who instilled in us the value of giving back,” says the longtime pediatric cardiac surgeon. “To me, it’s more about awareness and partnership with those who are not as fortunate as we are.”
Dr. Overman decided to pursue medicine after taking a human physiology class in the spring of his junior year at Edina High School. “I had thoughts of practicing primary care and doing medical missions work. On my clinical rotations in medical school, I discovered that I loved the surgical disciplines and decided to pursue a career in surgery instead, eventually being drawn to pediatric and congenital heart surgery.”
After training at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Kids, Overman joined Children’s Minnesota Hospital in Minneapolis in 1996. Still, the call to give back remained strong. In the early 2000s, he discovered Edina-based nonprofit Children’s HeartLink. For Overman, it was a full-circle moment.
“The Children’s HeartLink mission and vision combined medical missionary work with surgical excellence. It married two things that are core to my identity,” he says.
The nonprofit partners with hospitals in low- and middle-income countries to develop Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence (CHCoEs) in pediatric cardiac care. These centers provide life-saving surgeries, train local medical teams and build sustainable health care systems and infrastructures. Jackie Boucher, president of Children’s HeartLink, says CHCoEs and partner hospitals hosted more than 170 training opportunities, teaching more than 5,800 medical professionals.
David Overman, chief of the division of cardiovascular surgery at Children’s Minnesota, embraces a patient at the celebration of CardioPedBrasil® becoming a Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence. Photos: Children’s HeartLink
“The ability to share this knowledge base and skill set where those services aren’t nearly as available is a great privilege,” Overman says. He started by volunteering in Brazil to work with hospitals there to grow them into CHCoEs. He now works with two locations in India. “And it’s not a one-way street. We learn from them too,” Overman says.
CHCoEs are far more than surgical hubs. They are long-term investments in systemic change. From building strong nursing programs to developing care protocols and ICU infrastructure, every detail matters. Most of the work, Overman says, isn’t about the surgery itself but the system surrounding it.
“Successful outcomes depend on the quality of nursing care and infrastructure. If you don’t have skilled ICU recovery, you can’t be a Center of Excellence,” he says. “It’s a team sport. And a huge part of that is creating a culture of empowerment where nurses and therapists feel safe to speak up.”
In many parts of the world, this open communication between doctors and nurses doesn’t exist. “The idea that a nurse could speak out to a doctor, there’s nothing like that,” Overman says. “Even in the West, it’s a struggle. But we work toward creating transparency and trust across disciplines.”
Nurses from Mayo Clinic provide training to their counterparts at G. Kuppuswamy Naidu Memorial Hospital in Coimbatore, India. The hospital is on track to become a Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence. Photo: Scott Streble
Establishing a new Center of Excellence is no small feat. The evaluation process typically takes one to two years. Children’s HeartLink staff, including medical directors, nurses and surgeons, assess everything from case volumes to ICU readiness and have a track record for training other clinicians in the region. Political and economic stability, support from hospital leadership and a baseline of capability are all essential. The entire process for a hospital to grow into a CHCoE takes seven to 10 years.
“You can’t just go start doing congenital heart surgery in New Guinea,” Overman says. “There needs to be a structure in place that we can build on.”
Once established, CHCoEs serve as regional training centers—true educational hubs. Local doctors become the teachers, shifting the model from foreign-led to community-led. “It’s the ‘teach a man to fish’ philosophy,” Overman says. “They become self-sufficient in delivering excellent care, conducting research and training the next generation.”
For Anu Codaty, a longtime Edina resident and Children’s HeartLink board member, this shift is exactly why she’s dedicated more than a decade of her life to the organization. “It’s an organization I’m deeply passionate about,” Codaty says. “It’s both global and local. That’s what makes it so meaningful to me.”
Codaty first got involved when a Medtronic executive, also a board member, reached out about her expertise in global strategy. Children’s HeartLink began in 1969 when a medic in the Vietnam War found children suffering with symptoms and diagnosed them with congenital heart disease. For 23 years, Children’s HeartLink would bring children to Minnesota for treatment, helping more than 600 patients. But the need is greater. What was missing was follow- up care in the child’s home country or Centers of Excellence.
“You really need to build resources locally,” Boucher says. “Annually, there are 1.3 million babies born with a heart defect. Every five minutes, 10 children are born with a heart defect. Nine out of 10 don’t have access to a treatment … We knew we had to change the model.”
With Codaty’s expertise, what began as leading Children’s HeartLink’s strategic planning quickly became a calling. “What really struck me was the question, ‘What happens after the mission trip?’ Surgery alone isn’t enough. Health care needs long-term follow-up and a full continuum of care,” she says.
Codaty, with the help of others, helped shape what would become Children’s HeartLink’s long-term strategic vision: building in-country capacity. That meant training local professionals to the highest standards and equipping them to train others.
“We are really developing long-term partnerships with hospitals in the countries where we work. We match our hospitals we identify with a medical volunteer team from United States, Canada and the [United Kingdom],” Boucher says. They work on knowledge, skills, team collaboration, evaluating and improving outcomes, training others, research and creating thoughtful leaders who can train others in their region.
“The model became sustainable,” Codaty says. “Now, you’ve trained people in the country who are serving their own communities. Their fellows go on to serve other regions. It’s multiplying.”
Children’s HeartLink has CHCoEs in countries like Brazil, China, India, Malaysia and Vietnam. And the return on investment, Codaty says, is incredible. “These models are high impact. The value of the dollar goes so much further,” she says. “It’s one of my greatest joys to see the strategy come to life with so much impact.”
As a board member, Codaty continues to expand the organization’s global reach, connecting it with key leaders and partners. “This is truly a world-class organization, right here in Edina,” Overman says. “It’s leading conversations with the U.N., the World Health Organization and other global NGOs. And it’s doing it all with incredibly limited resources. This is an organization the community should feel proud to host. It leads the way among NGOs in congenital cardiac care, and it’s changing lives every day.”
Children’s HeartLink
6800 France Ave. S. Suite 440; 952.928.4860
Instagram: @childrensheartlink
