Meena Nathan, MD, MPH, FRCS is a pediatric cardiac surgeon at Boston Childrens Hospital, primarily involved in clinical research. Dr. Nathan has over 10 years of research experience encompassing the period of her residency training and current faculty position. Having successfully graduated with an MPH from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health in clinical effectiveness, Dr. Nathan’s area of excellence is clinical investigation. After early work in basic science examining the role of mitochondria in cardiac hypertrophy and failure, supported by the Thoracic Surgery Foundations Nina Braunwald research fellowship, she transitioned to clinical outcomes research, particularly validation of the Residual Lesion Score (RLS) as a quality assessment initiative in congenital cardiac surgery. This 17-center project was supported by the Braunwald Research Award, a K23 grant from the NHLBI and a UO1 grant through the Pediatric Heart Network. Her primary research focus remains clinical outcomes and quality improvement in congenital cardiac surgery, particularly in understanding residual lesions and their impact on outcomes after congenital cardiac surgery. Dr. Nathan has collaborated with researchers in her hospital and across centers in the US and internationally to understand modifiable factors that determine outcomes after pediatric heart surgery.