Held every 4 years, the World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology & Cardiac Surgery (WCPCCS) is the most comprehensive and technologically advanced meeting in pediatric and congenital heart disease. Congress attendees learn new techniques, share best practices, and see the latest in technology and research. The 1st World Congress was held in London in 1980, and it was held for the first time ever in the continental U.S. in Washington, DC in 2023.
By The Numbers:
- 5,500 attendees from 104 countries
- Estimated direct economic impact on DC: $8.5 Million
- Endorsed by 50 Societal Partners and Associations
- 2,300 Talks in 269 Sessions
- With 2,600 Individual Abstracts & Poster Presentations
Local Ambassadors
Dr. Jeff Jacobs, a Cardiovascular Surgeon in Florida, and Dr. Gil Wernovsky, a Pediatric Cardiologist and Cardiac Intensivist in Washington, DC at Children’s National Hospital, first had the vision to bring this historic meeting to the United States in 2009. In 2015, after six years of extensive research and planning, the Steering Committee chose Washington, DC as the U.S. location. Washington, DC and the U.S. then competed against seven other countries, and the International Steering Committee awarded 8th WCPCCS to the U.S. in the nation's capital in 2021. The conference was then rescheduled for 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Click here to hear from Dr. Wernovsky and Dr. Jacobs and learn more about the decision,
Dr. Gil Wernovsky was recently honored as Ambassador of the Year at Destination DC’s inaugural Ambassador Circle Awards Luncheon celebrating our community of champions for the city and greater Washington, DC region. [MS1]
Connected Capital
WCPCCS featured cutting edge tech, including the Multi-Dimensional Anatomy Lab and the Digital Futures Technology. Both, as the first of their kinds, are high tech tools allowing for hands-on teaching to facilitate learning.
Additionally, over 60 children's hospitals across North America, Canada, and the United Kingdom joined the Congress as Institutional Partners. And, a collection of over 100 non-governmental organizations and Patient/Parent Advocacy Groups had booths to share their visions and missions from around the world.
Advocacy & Diversity
WCPCCS organized a call to action while in Washington, DC on Addressing the Global Burden of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Diseases. They designed this tool to raise awareness about the global disparities in access to pediatric and congenital cardiac care with governments, donors and multilateral agencies.
Additionally, in order to facilitate global participation, and allow for more diversity among attendees, WCPCCS aligned registration fees with the World Bank’s classification of countries into four income groups. They also established a fund to support attendance from lower-middle and low-income countries by subsidizing registration fees.
Destination Support
Destination DC (DDC) worked with the local ambassadors in order to secure Washington, DC as the host city. In working with the DDC team, Dr. Wernovsky, one of the conference co-chairs, said that the experience had been absolutely fantastic, mentioning that:
“They [DDC] made the 2-day site visit completely seamless. They planned everything perfectly and they were able to negotiate very good rate not only for the site visit, but also for the room blocks, for working with the convention center, food, and beverage, etc. They clearly know what they are doing.”
