Grace van Leeuwen

Dr. Grace van Leeuwen, MD, is a Brazilian-trained, internationally recognized pediatric cardiologist, interventional cardiologist, and pediatric cardiac critical care specialist based in Doha, Qatar. She is currently a Senior Attending Physician in the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Sidra Medicine and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine–Qatar. She has more than two decades of professional experience, with a major focus on pediatric cardiac critical care, congenital heart disease, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

Current Institution & Positions

Sidra Medicine, Doha, Qatar

• Senior Attending Physician – Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care
• Co-Director – ECMO Program
• Oversees Qatar's Neonatal and Pediatric ECMO Transport Program
• Member of the Ethics Committee
• ECMO educator involved in high-fidelity simulation and debriefing.

Weill Cornell Medicine–Qatar

• Assistant Professor of Pediatrics.

Medical Specialty

Her principal areas of expertise include:

• Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care
• Pediatric Cardiology
• Interventional Pediatric Cardiology
• Congenital Heart Disease
• Neonatal and Pediatric ECMO
• Extracorporeal Life Support
• Critical care of children with complex congenital heart disease
• ECMO transport
• Healthcare operations and service optimization.

Career in Brazil

Before joining Sidra Medicine, Dr. van Leeuwen worked at Sabará Children's Hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, where she held several leadership positions, including Head of the Heart Center.

One of her major accomplishments at Sabará was leading the development of the hospital's neonatal and pediatric cardiac programs and ECMO program. Under her leadership, the center became the first ECMO center in Brazil to receive an ELSO Award of Excellence.

She subsequently brought this experience to Qatar and contributed to the development of Sidra Medicine's ECMO services. Sidra's program also achieved an ELSO Award of Excellence, reflecting the institution's development of a high-quality ECMO service.

ECMO & Critical Care Leadership

Dr. van Leeuwen is particularly recognized for her expertise in ECMO, an advanced life-support technology used for patients with severe cardiac or respiratory failure.

She has contributed to international ECMO education and guideline development. She was a co-author of the ELSO 2020 Pediatric Respiratory ECMO Guideline, published in ASAIO Journal.

She also serves as an ECMO educator, using simulation and debriefing to train healthcare teams internationally.

In January 2025, she served as Course Director for the Fundamentals of ECMO at the Gulf Pediatric Critical Care Conference in Doha, teaching pediatric ECMO principles, including VA and VV ECMO.

Congenital Heart Disease Education

Dr. van Leeuwen is a Co-Chair of the Congenital Heart Academy, an educational platform dedicated to sharing scientific knowledge about congenital heart disease from the fetal period through adulthood.

She also served as Co-Chair of Marketing and Communications for the 8th World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, held in Washington, D.C., in 2023.

Editorial & Professional Activities

Her professional activities extend beyond clinical medicine. She has served on the editorial boards associated with the Congenital Heart Disease Journal and ELSO education, and she participated in the ELSO COVID-19 ECMO working group.

She remains active in international pediatric critical-care and ECMO organizations and educational programs.

Research & Publications

Dr. van Leeuwen has contributed to peer-reviewed research covering pediatric cardiac critical care, ECMO, congenital heart disease, and end-of-life care.

Among her publications is the 2020 ELSO Pediatric Respiratory ECMO Guideline, which provides recommendations for the use of ECMO in pediatric respiratory failure.

She was also a co-author of “The Horizon of Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care,” a 2022 review examining the evolution and future direction of pediatric cardiac critical care.

Her research has also included work on end-of-life care in Brazilian pediatric intensive care units, reflecting her broader interest in complex ethical and critical-care decision-making.

More recently, she contributed to a 2025 publication concerning central versus peripheral VA-ECMO for neonates and children with septic shock, demonstrating her continued involvement in pediatric ECMO research.

Current Academic Development

Dr. van Leeuwen is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Clinical Service Operations at Harvard Medical School, with the goal of strengthening her expertise in healthcare leadership, operational improvement, and service optimization