Published: October 28, 2026
Norton Children’s Heart Institute, affiliate with UofL School of Medicine, welcomes Sarah Khan, M.D., a pediatric cardiologist specializing in pediatric advanced heart failure, cardiomyopathy, mechanical circulatory support and heart transplantation.
Dr. Khan joins the institute’s multidisciplinary heart failure, cardiomyopathy and heart transplant program, expanding the team’s specialized expertise in caring for children with complex cardiovascular conditions. Her clinical interests include mechanical circulatory support, transplantation in patients with complex congenital heart disease, heart failure associated with muscular dystrophy and management of cardiac disease in patients with Noonan syndrome.
Pediatric heart failure presents unique challenges, particularly in children with congenital heart disease, genetic conditions or progressive cardiomyopathy. Treatment requires individualized assessment, careful management of cardiac function and consideration of advanced therapies when conventional approaches are insufficient.
Dr. Khan’s approach to care centers around individualized decision-making with children and their families, with a priority on preserving native heart function for as long as possible through medical management, close monitoring and coordinated specialty care — until transplantation may become necessary.
“When the heart is sick, it doesn’t want to do a lot, but the body thinks that it doesn’t have enough blood on board,” Dr. Khan said.
According to Dr. Khan, the resulting physiologic response can further increase cardiac workload.“Our job is to reduce the work that the heart has to do,” she said.
Dr. Khan’s interest in pediatric heart failure developed during cardiology fellowship, when she returned to her home country of Pakistan and visited its largest pediatric cardiology center. The approximately 75-bed unit was caring for roughly 100 patients, about half of whom were experiencing heart failure related to infection, genetic causes or unrepaired congenital heart disease.
“They were having a hard time breathing, playing, eating — and they had failure to thrive,” Dr. Khan said. “I just really wanted to help them.”
After returning to the United States, she became increasingly interested in the physiology and management of heart failure.
Dr. Khan joins Norton Children’s Heart Institute’s established heart failure, cardiomyopathy and heart transplant program that includes three heart failure cardiologists, three cardiac surgeons, clinical nurse specialists, nurse practitioners, social workers, psychologists, dietitians and genetic counselors.
The team also collaborates closely with infectious diseases and nephrology specialists, reflecting the complex noncardiac considerations involved in heart failure and transplant management.
“We bring a wealth of knowledge and experiences and work together to come up with the best therapeutic options for our patients,” Dr. Khan said.
For referring providers, the program offers specialized expertise across the continuum of pediatric heart failure care, from medical management and advanced therapy evaluation to transplantation and ongoing follow-up.
Dr. Khan brings a strong interest in emerging therapies and collaborative research, particularly advances in transplant immunosuppression and mechanical circulatory support.
Recent developments that have captured her interest include the evaluation of everolimus with low-dose tacrolimus following pediatric heart transplantation, as well as SCOUT-HCM trial, which studied mavacamten in pediatric hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Optimizing immunosuppression remains an important clinical challenge following transplantation.
“If you do too much (immunosuppression), then it can cause infections and cancer. If you do too little, you can have rejection,” Dr. Khan said. “So there’s a very fine line that we have to tread as transplant physicians.”
She also anticipates continued advancements in ventricular assist device (VAD) technology. Dr. Khan hopes future VADs may become smaller and reduce some of the current challenges associated with hospitalization, external drivelines, infection and anticoagulation.
“I envision devices as the future of transplant,” she said.
Recognizing the importance of shared clinical experience in a field with relatively small patient populations, Dr. Khan hopes to contribute to multicenter data collaborations and research networks, including Advanced Cardiac Therapies Improving Outcomes Network and the Pediatric Heart Transplant Society, as well as clinical trials evaluating emerging therapies.
For Dr. Khan, successful pediatric heart failure care extends beyond treating cardiac dysfunction. It means helping children maintain function and quality of life while supporting families through complex, often lifelong treatment decisions.
“To share space with families in that difficult time, but then also to share space with them when we are able to tell them that we have a new heart available for them is a privilege and an honor that none of us take for granted,” she said.
Dr. Khan earned her medical degree from Ziauddin Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan. She completed her residency at Jefferson Einstein Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, followed by a cardiology fellowship at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital/Michigan State University in Grand Rapids, and an advanced fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Khan is an associate professor at the University of Louisville School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics.