Charles Mullins

Charles E. Mullins (born 1932) is a retired pediatric cardiologist who practiced at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital. He is known for advancing cardiac catheterization techniques to treat congenital heart defects, and has been referred to as the father of modern interventional pediatric cardiology. Early life Mullins was born in Washington, D.C. He graduated from Princeton University and George Washington University Medical School. He completed residency training at Walter Reed Army Medical Center; the residency was in adult cardiology, but most of the cardiac catheterization patients at Walter Reed were infants and children with heart defects. He became the U.S. Army's first pediatric cardiologist. For this service, Mullins received a U.S. Army Commendation Medal and an oak leaf cluster. He left the army as a lieutenant colonel. Career After leaving the military, Mullins came to Texas Children's Hospital (TCH) and Baylor College of Medicine. He was the first director of the pediatric intensive care unit at TCH. Mullins became known for his work with cardiac catheterization. Before Mullins' work, catheterization labs had been primarily used to image the heart. Mullins worked to advance interventional cardiology, using cardiac catheterization to repair heart defects. University of Chicago cardiologist Ziyad Hijazi said that Mullins is "the father of modern interventional pediatric cardiology". Mullins created a sheath and introducer system for carrying out cardiac catheterization and he pioneered the use of endovascular stents to treat children with heart defects. In late 2005, Mullins performed his last cardiac catheterization procedure. He retired in 2006.