News Media Home | Hopkins Medicine Home
December 12, 1994
Media Contact: Debbie Bangledorf
Phone: (410) 223-1731
E-mail:
dbangledorf@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu
Jean S. Kan, M.D., has been named director of the division of pediatric
cardiology at The Johns Hopkins Children's Center. She is nationally recognized
for developing a non- surgical procedure to correct serious heart defects in
children. The technique, called balloon angioplasty, uses tiny balloons to open
obstructed arteries, including the aorta.
Kan joined Hopkins in 1976 as a cardiology fellow. She was appointed assistant
professor of pediatrics a year later and promoted to professor in 1992. She
holds a joint appointment in the Department of Radiology.
The Ohio native received her medical degree at Case Western Reserve University
and was an intern and resident at Yale New Haven Hospital. Kan served a
pediatric residency and fellowship at University Hospitals in Cleveland and was
a research associate in electrophysiology at Indiana University School of
Medicine.
Michael E. Johns, M.D., dean of the medical faculty and vice president for
medicine at The Johns Hopkins University, said, "The naming of Jean Kan as
director of the division of pediatric cardiology reflects our belief in her
nationally respected talents as a clinician. Her leadership will enhance and
expand the division's capabilities."
As director, Kan is the Helen B. Taussig Professor of Pediatric Cardiology, a
title which honors the Hopkins pediatric cardiologist who planned the 1944
"blue baby" operation that led to the evolution of cardiac surgery. Kan is a
member of the American Heart Association and received its Helen B. Taussig
Award in 1990. She also serves on numerous Hopkins University committees and is
active in its Women's Leadership Council.
The Johns Hopkins Children's Center is the children's hospital of The Johns
Hopkins Medical Institutions. Maryland's only comprehensive acute-care hospital
for children, the Center, with its 193-bed hospital and more than 40 divisions
and services, treats some 7,000 inpatients annually, with more than 90,000
outpatient visits.