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Ahmed Asfari, MD $$

Pediatric Cardiologist

Associate Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center

Languages Spoken:
English

Locations

UT Southwestern Pediatric Group

Biography

Ahmed Asfari, M.D., is a Pediatric Cardiologist and the Associate Medical Director of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Health℠. He is also an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern. 

Taking care of patients with complex and critical heart disease — and seeing them get to go home healthy — is the best part of my job.
Dr. Asfari

Dr. Asfari is passionate about providing the best possible cardiology care for children and has a special interest in quality improvement, clinical outcomes research and health care administration. 

“Taking care of patients with complex and critical heart disease — and seeing them get to go home healthy — is the best part of my job,” he said. 

Dr. Asfari completed his medical degree at the University of Aleppo and a residency in Pediatrics at the University of Kansas. He also completed a fellowship in Critical Care at the University of Arkansas, a fellowship in Advanced Cardiac Critical Care at the University of Florida and a fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology at the University of Alabama. 

Dedicated to improving cardiac intensive care, Dr. Asfari is actively involved in research. His work examines ways to improve survival rates and outcomes for critically ill newborns, babies and children, especially those undergoing complex heart surgeries or facing severe infections.  

“I am your child’s advocate,” Dr. Asfari said. “I will do everything I can to provide the best care for your child.”

Dr. Asfari has earned many awards for excellence in research and patient care including the Pediatric Resident Scholarly Activity Award from the University of Kansas; the Best Abstract Award from the “New Frontiers in Pediatric Critical Care” Joint Conference American Academy of Pediatric Section on Critical Care & Pediatric Critical Care Colloquium AAP; and the Department of Pediatrics Service Award from the University of Alabama.

  • Research Interests

    • Translational research of serum biomarkers for adverse lung injury and low cardiac output state following cardiac surgery in pediatric patients
    • Studying the clinical outcomes for cardiac patients using multicenter registries
    • Exploring the artificial intelligence and analytic algorithms for pediatric patients in the CVICU

  • Publications

    • Asfari A, Ahlers-Schmidt CR, Bloom BT. Total and Fractionated Bilirubin during the First Week in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Kansas Journal of Medicine. Vol 7, Issue 4, June 2014, Pages: 129-131.
    • Asfari A, Ahmed M, Edwards LR, Irby K, Agarwal A, Pasala S, Prodhan P, Frazier B, Sanders Jr. RC. Survival from Septic Shock Secondary to Disseminated Group a Streptococcal Infection after Central Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation. Journal of Child Science. Vol 7, Issue 1, September 2017. Pages e130-e135. 
    • Asfari A, Dent J, Corken D, Herington D, Kaliki K, Sra N, Hefley G, Pasala S, Prodhan P, Ware J. Platelet glycoprotein VI haplotype and the presentation of paediatric sepsis. Journal of Thrombosis and Haematosis. Vol 119, Issue 3, November 2018. Pages: 431-438.
    • Asfari A, Hock KM, Byrnes JW, Borasino S, Halloran BA, Mobley JA, Ambalavanan N. Biomarkers for Adverse Lung Injury Following Pediatric Cardiopulmonary Bypass. Critical Care Exploration. Vol 3, Issue 9, September 2021, Pages: 0528.
    • Asfari A, Clark MG, Hock KM, Huskey JL, Rahman AKMF, Dabal RJ, Borasino S. Early Versus Late Sternal Closure in Infants-Perioperative Associations and Outcomes. World journal for pediatric and congenital heart surgery. Vol 12, Issue 5, October 2021, Pages: 589-596.
    • Sorabella, RA, Padilla L., Byrnes, JW, Timpa  J, O'Meara C., Buckman JR, Maxwell K, Borasino S., Zaccagni H., Asfari A., Law MA, Cleveland DC, Dabal RJ. Outcomes in Pediatric Post-Cardiotomy ECMO Support with Modification of Systematic Support Strategy. World journal for pediatric and congenital heart surgery. Vol 13, Issue 1, January 2022, Pages 46-52. 
    • Asfari A, Jacobs JP, Byrnes JW, Borasino S, Prodhan P, Zaccagni H, Dabal RJ, Sorabella RA, Hammel JM, Smith-Parrish M, Zhang W, Banerjee M, Schumacher KR, Tabbutt S.Norwood Operation: Immediate vs Delayed Sternal Closure.  Annals of Thoracic Surgery. Vol 115, Issue 3, March 2023, Pages 649-654.
    • Asfari A., Borasino S, Mendoza E, Hock KM, Huskey JL, Rahman, AKMF, Zaccagni H, Byrnes JW. Risk factors for long post-operative hospital stays after cardiopulmonary bypass surgery in full-term neonates. Cardiology in the Young. Published online. March 2023. 
    • Asfari A, Doyle A, Jay G, Aristizabal N, Manchikalapati A, Rahman F, Hock K, Borasino S, Ambalavanan N, Schmidt T, Rhodes L. Translational Pediatrics. Plasma Proteoglycan 4: A Novel Biomarker for Acute Lung Injury after Pediatric Cardiac Surgery. Translational Pediatrics. Vol 12, No 9, September 2023, Page 1668-1675
    • Asfari A, WolovitsJ, Gazit AZ, Abbas Q, Macfadyen AJ, Cooper DS, Futterman C, Penk JS, Kelly RB, Salvin JW, Borasino S, Zaccagni, HJ (2023). A Near Real-Time Risk Analytics Algorithm Predicts Elevated Lactate Levels in Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Patients. Critical care explorations, 5(12), e1013. 
    • Hames D, Abbas Q, Asfari A, Borasino S , Diddle W, Gazit A, Lipsitz S, Marshall A, Reise K, Rodriguez-Guerineau L, Wolovitz J, SalvinJ . Clinical and Risk Analytics Associations with Extubation Failure following Congenital Cardiac Surgery: A Multicenter Cohort Study 2017-2020. Pediatr Crit Care Med. February 2025. Page 10.1097
    • Clark M, Borasino S, Zaccagni H, PayneS, Raper J , Loberger J,Hock K. Asfari A. Automated spontaneous breathing trial performance tool is associated with improved outcomes following pediatric cardiac surgery: A single-center retrospective study from Alabama, USA. Journal of Pediatric Critical Care 12(1):p 1-7, Jan–Feb 2025. Volume 12, Issue 1. 
    • Coghill MT, Law MA, Webb LV, Asfari A, Borasino S. Race and the Inaccuracy of Pulse Oximetry With Hypoxemia in a Pediatric Cardiac ICU. Crit Care Explor. 2025;7(4):e1237. Published 2025 Mar 24. doi:10.1097/CCE.0000000000001237

  • Professional Activities

    • American Academy of Pediatric (2016 - present)
    • Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society (2018 - present)
    • Society of Pediatric Research (2022 - present)

  • Awards and Honors

    • Pediatric Resident Scholarly Activity Award - University of Kansas School of Medicine (2014)
    • Best Abstract Award “New Frontiers in Pediatric Critical Care” Joint Conference American Academy of Pediatric Section on Critical Care and Pediatric Critical Care Colloquium AAP (2017)
    • UAB Department of Pediatrics Service Award (2023)

Where I Provide Care: