Sheila Rustgi, MD

I care for children and adolescents who are born with or acquire heart disease, as well as pregnant mothers carrying fetuses who are suspected to have heart disease. My focus is diagnosing heart conditions by interpreting images of the heart, either by ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), prenatally and through adolescence. I was drawn to pediatric cardiology early in my training, when I had the opportunity to care for children with heart disease. I quickly grew passionate about caring for these children and learning to manage the complex varieties of heart conditions. I feel a strong responsibility for keeping kids safe and as healthy as they can be. What I like most about my job is working closely with my patients and their families. It is especially rewarding, as a fetal cardiologist, to meet the parents of my patients before they are born, and to build a strong collaboration that continues after birth and through childhood.In addition, I love to teach students and pediatricians-in-training so that they can gain the knowledge and experience they need to care for their patients. I also take part in research that focuses on assessing outcomes in children with different types of heart disease so that we can improve the quality and safety of care that our team provides. I am fortunate to be part of such an exceptional group at Columbia where our team of heart specialists, in partnership with our colleagues in other pediatric specialties, works tirelessly and compassionately to deliver the best care to our patients.

Stephanie Purisch, MD is a maternal-fetal medicine specialist and assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She joined the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Columbia after completing residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine at Columbia University. Dr. Purisch is the co-director of the Mothers Center Heart Program, which provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary clinical care to women with cardiovascular disease who are pregnant or contemplating pregnancy. Dr. Purisch’s primary clinical and research interest is the care of women with medically complicated pregnancies. In addition to cardiac disease in pregnancy, she also has expertise caring for pregnant women with underlying maternal pulmonary, endocrine, rheumatologic, and hematologic diseases.

Dr. Baptiste is a Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) physician and Medical Geneticist within the Department of Ob/Gyn. She cares for families with genetic disease throughout their reproductive years. Her clinical and research interests include preconception counseling for genetic disorders, care for people with genetic disorders during pregnancy and pregnancies with a genetic diagnosis. Dr. Baptiste performs prenatal diagnostic procedures including chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis. Dr. Baptiste graduated from medical school at Emory University School of Medicine. She completed residency in Ob/Gyn and subspecialty fellowship training in Maternal Fetal Medicine and Medical Genetics and Genomics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Baptiste has presented at national conferences and published several peer-reviewed research manuscripts and book chapters related to reproductive genetics, clinical obstetrics, and fetal diagnosis. Dr. Baptiste is a fellow of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics and a member of the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine.