Carissa M. Baker-Smith, MD, MPH

Cardiologist

Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware 1600 Rockland Road Wilmington, DE 19803

Biography

Dr. Baker-Smith (MD MPH FAHA FACC FAAP) is a board certified (Pediatrics and Pediatric Cardiology) physician and physician scientist. She is a nationally recognized Preventive Pediatric Cardiologist who specializes in the management of youth with risk factors for premature cardiovascular disease (CVD), including obesity, dyslipidemia and hypertension (HTN). She is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Director of Pediatric Preventive Cardiology at Nemours Children's Health Delaware (NCHD), and co-director of the Nemours Cardiac Center Cardiovascular Research and Innovation Program. Her research focuses on the intersection between social/environmental stress/deprivation and traditional risk factors for CVD development throughout childhood and adolescence. She uses mathematical models to critically evaluate antecedents of CVD risk factors in youth. She is interim director of the Pediatric Heart Failure/Cardiomyopathy/Heart Transplant Program at Nemours'. She is immediate past chair of the American Heart Association Atherosclerosis, Hypertension, and Obesity in the Young Committee. Dr. Baker-Smith is a leader, mentor and a sponsor.

Fellowship

  • Pediatric Cardiology - Duke University Medical Center, 2007
  • Pediatric Cardiology - Duke University Medical Center, 2010

Internship Residency

  • General Pediatrics - Duke University Medical Center, 2006

Medical/Dental School

  • MD - University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 2003

Board Certifications

  • American Board of Pediatrics/General Pediatrics
  • American Board of Pediatrics/Pediatric Cardiology

  • Hypertriglyceridemia
  • Pediatric Heart Failure
  • Pediatric Heart Transplantation
  • Pediatric Obesity
  • Preventive Pediatric Cardiology
  • Social Determinants
  • Systemic Hypertension

  • Health Equity and Policy Considerations for Pediatric and Adult Congenital Heart Disease Care among Minoritized Populations in the United States; Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease; (2024).

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  • Mind the Gap! Working Toward Gender Equity in Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease: Present and Future; Journal of the American Heart Association; (2024).

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  • JAHA at Scientific Sessions 2023: Moving Toward Social Justice in Cardiovascular Health in the United States; Journal of the American Heart Association; (2024).

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  • Tracking of blood pressure levels from childhood; Pediatric Nephrology; (2024).

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  • Social Determinants of Health in Cardio-Oncology; JACC: CardioOncology; (2024).

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  • Evinacumab for Pediatric Patients With Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia; Circulation; (2024).

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  • Factors Associated with Antihypertensive Therapy Prescription in Youth Delaware Medicaid Recipients with Primary Hypertension Diagnosis; American Journal of Hypertension; (2024).

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  • Advocacy at the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery; Cardiology in the Young; (2023).

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  • Where a child lives matters: neighborhood deprivation and pediatric obesity; Current Opinion in Pediatrics; (2023).

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  • A Synopsis of the Evidence for the Science and Clinical Management of Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic (CKM) Syndrome: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association; Circulation; (2023).

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  • Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Health: A Presidential Advisory From the American Heart Association; Circulation; (2023).

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  • 2023 European Pediatric Hypertension Guidelines: has anything changed?; Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation; (2023).

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  • Toward a Roadmap for Best Practices in Pediatric Preventive Cardiology: A Science Advisory From the American Heart Association; Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes; (2023).

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  • Pediatric Primary Hypertension: An Underrecognized Condition: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association; Hypertension; (2023).

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  • Association of Area Deprivation With Primary Hypertension Diagnosis Among Youth Medicaid Recipients in Delaware.; JAMA network open; (2023).

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  • Family Meals and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Young Children; Current Atherosclerosis Reports; (2023).

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  • Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics-2023 Update: A Report From the American Heart Association.; Circulation; (2023).

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  • Impact of race and health coverage on listing and waitlist mortality in pediatric cardiac transplantation; Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation; (2023).

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  • Addressing Social Determinants of Health and Mitigating Health Disparities Across the Lifespan in Congenital Heart Disease: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association; Journal of the American Heart Association; (2022).

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  • Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring in Children and Adolescents: 2022 Update: A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association; Hypertension; (2022).

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  • Nutrition interventions for youth with dyslipidemia: a National Lipid Association clinical perspective; Journal of Clinical Lipidology; (2022).

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  • Telehealth and Application of Appropriate Use Criteria for Pediatric Transthoracic Echocardiography; Pediatric Cardiology; (2022).

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  • Impact of Social Determinants and Digital Literacy on Telehealth Acceptance for Pediatric Cardiology Care Delivery during the Early Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic.; The Journal of pediatrics; (2021).

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  • Health Care Policy and Congenital Heart Disease: 2020 Focus on Our 2030 Future.; Journal of the American Heart Association; (2021).

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  • Pediatric Ambulatory Blood Pressure Classification: The Case for a Change.; Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. : 1979); (2021).

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  • Sleep-Disordered Breathing and Cardiovascular Disease in Children and Adolescents: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.; Journal of the American Heart Association; (2021).

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  • Microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II is associated with global vascular disease.; Orphanet journal of rare diseases; (2021).

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  • Evinacumab for Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia.; The New England journal of medicine; (2020).

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  • Arch intervention following stage 1 palliation in hypoplastic left heart syndrome is associated with slower feed advancement: A report from the National Pediatric Quality Cardiology Improvement Collaborative; Cardiology in the Young; (2020).

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  • Echocardiographic assessment of mechanical circulatory support and heart transplant; Progress in Pediatric Cardiology; (2020).

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  • Preventing Premature Atherosclerotic Disease; Current Hypertension Reports; (2020).

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  • Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Youth: An Important Marker of Health: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association; Circulation; (2020).

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  • Recommendations for exercise and screening for safe athletic participation in hypertensive youth; Pediatric Nephrology; (2020).

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  • Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, COVID-19, and the Renin-Angiotensin System: Pressing Needs and Best Research Practices; Hypertension; (2020).

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  • The landscape of cardiovascular care in pediatric cancer patients and survivors: A survey by the ACC Pediatric Cardio-Oncology Work Group; Cardio-Oncology; (2019).

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  • Aligning Adult and Pediatric Blood Pressure Guidelines; Hypertension; (2019).

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  • Research gaps in primary pediatric hypertension; Pediatrics; (2019).

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  • Systematic reviews: A small fraction of the evidence used to generate the 2017 clinical pediatric hypertension clinical practice guideline; Journal of Hypertension; (2019).

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  • Diagnosis, management, and treatment of systemic hypertension in youth, updates from the 2017 American Academy of Pediatrics Clinical Practice Guideline; Lifestyle Medicine: Third Edition; (2019).

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  • The use of nonnutritive sweeteners in children; Pediatrics; (2019).

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  • Development of quality metrics for ambulatory pediatric cardiology: Transposition of the great arteries after arterial switch operation; Congenital Heart Disease; (2018).

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  • Diagnosis, evaluation, and management of high blood pressure in children and adolescents; Pediatrics; (2018).

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  • Erratum: Subcommittee on screening and management of high blood pressure in children. Clinical practice guideline for screening and management of high blood pressure in children and adolescents (Pediatrics (2017) 140:3 (e20171904) DOI: 10.1542/peds.2017-1904); Pediatrics; (2018).

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  • Exercise testing in hypertension and hypertension in athletes; Pediatric Hypertension; (2018).

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  • Cardiovascular disease in the young council's science and clinical education lifelong learning committee: Year in review; Journal of the American Heart Association; (2018).

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  • The simplified table in the 2017 American Academy of Pediatrics childhood hypertension guideline performs exactly as intended; Journal of hypertension; (2018).

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  • Description of Antihypertensive Medication Use in a Pediatric Practice: Single and Multiple Antihypertensive Medication Therapy; Journal of Clinical Hypertension; (2017).

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  • Clinical practice guideline for screening and management of high blood pressure in children and adolescents; Pediatrics; (2017).

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  • Development of Quality Metrics in Ambulatory Pediatric Cardiology; Journal of the American College of Cardiology; (2017).

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  • Databases for congenital heart defect public health studies across the lifespan; Journal of the American Heart Association; (2016).

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  • Safe and Effective Use of Pharmacologic and Device Therapy for Peripartum Cardiomyopathy; Pharmacotherapy; (2016).

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  • Predictors of Prolonged Hospital Length of Stay Following Stage II Palliation of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (and Variants): Analysis of the National Pediatric Cardiology Quality Improvement Collaborative (NPC-QIC) Database; Pediatric Cardiology; (2015).

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  • Predictors of prolonged length of intensive care unit stay after stage i palliation: A report from the National Pediatric Cardiology Quality Improvement Collaborative; Pediatric Cardiology; (2014).

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  • Lifestyle interventions for blood pressure control in children and adolescents; Nutrition, Lifestyle Factors, and Blood Pressure; (2012).

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  • Variation in Postoperative Care following Stage I Palliation for Single-ventricle Patients: A Report from the Joint Council on Congenital Heart Disease National Quality Improvement Collaborative; Congenital Heart Disease; (2011).

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  • Cough in pediatric patients receiving angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor therapy or angiotensin receptor blocker therapy in randomized controlled trials; Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics; (2010).

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  • Double aortic arch with aortic atresia and left-sided type B interruption; Congenital Heart Disease; (2010).

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  • Erratum: Racial differences in blood pressure response to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in children: A meta-analysis (Clinical Pharmacology Therapeutics (2008) 84, (315-319)); Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics; (2008).

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  • Pediatric antihypertensive trial failures: Analysis of end points and dose range; Hypertension; (2008).

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  • Racial differences in blood pressure response to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in children: A meta-analysis; Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics; (2008).

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  • The economic returns of pediatric clinical trials of antihypertensive drugs; American Heart Journal; (2008).

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  • Chemokines and chemokine receptors in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis; Multiple Sclerosis; (2000).

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