Mark Steven Sklansky, MD, has dedicated his career to improving the prenatal detection of congenital heart disease (CHD). As a pediatric cardiologist with over 30 years of experience practicing both fetal and pediatric cardiology, Dr. Sklansky knows first-hand the life-changing and often life-saving importance of prenatal detection of major forms of CHD. For decades, while taking care of countless children for whom delays in diagnosis led to catastrophic outcomes, Dr. Sklansky has also seen an increasing number of patients who have benefited from early detection of CHD. This broad perspective of an experienced pediatric cardiologist, coupled with first-hand expertise in fetal cardiac imaging from decades of personally scanning every single one of his fetal patients, has enabled Dr. Sklansky to develop not only world-class expertise imaging the fetal heart, but also a unique ability to teach others how to evaluate the fetal heart, and how to distinguish what’s simply possible to measure, from what is actually important to see.

Second Annual Cedars-Sinai Fetal Echocardiography Symposium: April 17, 2027---Details Out Soon!

SCHEDULING A FETAL ECHOCARDIOGRAM AND CONSULTATION WITH DR. SKLANSKY

If you or someone you know wishes to schedule a fetal echocardiogram and consultation with Dr. Sklansky at Cedars-Sinai, please reach out to our fetal cardiology patient service representative at 310-423-1600 or email Dr. Sklansky at Mark.Sklansky@cshs.org. 

FOR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS - REGIONALLY, NATIONALLY, OR INTERNATIONALLY 

To schedule a lecture/symposium or in-person hands-on training in your office, practice, or hospital, please email Dr. Sklansky at Mark.Sklansky@cshs.org.

APPROACHES TO FETAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY

With over three decades of experience performing fetal echocardiography and fetal cardiology consultations, Dr. Sklansky is delighted to focus solely on fetal cardiology in his new role at Cedars-Sinai. Dr. Sklansky takes extra time for every patient, understanding why they have come to see him in consultation, performing a detailed and thorough fetal echocardiographic evaluation, and sitting down afterward to review the findings, implications, prognosis, and recommendations and plans. He works closely with the Fetal Cardiology Program at Cedars-Sinai, with four additional fetal cardiologists, dedicated patient schedulers/liaisons, and nurse case managers. The entire team, for every single patient and family, provides world-class care delivered with heartfelt compassion.

When indicated and requested, Dr. Sklansky’s team at Cedars-Sinai provides assistance with consultations with Cedars-Sinai maternal-fetal medicine specialists, congenital heart surgeons, and neonatologists, as well as social workers and others who assist families who choose to deliver their babies at Cedars-Sinai. Cedars-Sinai provides specialized, lifelong care for patients with congenital heart disease, from prenatal diagnosis through adulthood, and all under the same roof—enabling sick newborns to stay close to their mothers/families following delivery, and providing complex neonatal congenital heart surgery and specialized neonatal/pediatric cardiac intensive care.

APPROACHES TO IMPROVING PRENATAL DETECTION OF CHD

Dr. Sklansky’s decades-long strategy to improving prenatal detection of CHD incorporates the following 5 distinct approaches:

1. Dr. Sklansky provides frequent lectures and hands-on training workshops at academic meetings and workshops across the country and around the globe.
2. Dr. Sklansky envisioned and directs his own highly successful annual fetal echocardiography symposium. For the first 14 years (2010-2024), Dr. Sklansky ran this symposium at UCLA, with the most recent, 14^th annual symposium held in a hybrid format (live, in-person, plus live-streamed, with over 300 attendees). Now at Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Sklansky is currently planning his 15^th annual symposium (First Annual Fetal Echocardiography Symposium at Cedars-Sinai) for Saturday, April 25, 2026.
3. Dr. Sklansky shares insights and innovative new approaches to fetal cardiac screening and fetal echocardiography through YouTube videos and in scholarly publications; he has published over 100 articles (and multiple chapters) in his fields of interest, including fetal cardiology, general pediatric cardiology, biomedical ethics, and veterinary cardiology.
4. Dr. Sklansky trains countless physicians and sonographers, from across the country and around the world, who come as observers to spend time with him and his colleagues in fetal/pediatric cardiology, maternal-fetal medicine, and radiology. These observers then bring home expertise that they incorporate into their practices and teach to others in their communities.
5. Dr. Sklansky provides in-person training in fetal cardiac imaging in clinic- and hospital-based practices around the world (in maternal-fetal medicine, radiology, and pediatric cardiology settings), teaching clinicians how to use and optimize their own equipment and staffing to provide the best possible fetal cardiac screening and counseling.  

IN-PERSON HANDS-ON TRAINING IN YOUR OFFICE

As the Medical Director for Pediatric and Fetal Cardiology Outreach at Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Sklansky has redoubled his efforts to provide hands-on training for individual practices in Southern California, across the country, and around the globe. These visits may represent one of the most valuable approaches for practices to enhance their ability to detect cases of CHD during routine fetal ultrasound screening. Each visit is tailored specifically to the needs of the individual practice, including didactic lectures if desired, but always featuring expert scanning of actual patients by Dr. Sklansky, optimization of machine settings, and hands-on training by clinicians within the practice using their own machines and archiving systems. Local visits typically last 1-2 days, and may include follow-up visits at appropriate time intervals. In some cases, full- or half-day symposia are provided, instead of or in addition to practice-based hands-on training, and sometimes hands-on training is arranged in conjunction with a symposium, depending on the preferences of the local clinicians.

If you or someone in your practice, clinic, or hospital is interested in planning such a visit, please contact Dr. Sklansky at Mark.Sklansky@cshs.org and tell us about who you are and what type of visit you envision: single or two-day visit, didactic component, full-day symposium, etc. Together, we look forward to partnering with you to improve your practice’s and community’s ability to detect major forms of CHD prenatally, and thereby improve the lives of children born with CHD.