December 19, 2019

Mayo Clinic doctor becomes Santa to premature babies

By Karl Oestreich

KARE 11
by Boyd Huppert

The faux-bearded Santa strokes the forehead of a prematurely born baby in the neonatal intensive care unit at Mayo Clinic Hospital. He sweetly whispers, “Hi little Opal, hi baby.” The beard may be fake, but beneath it beats the heart of real cardiologist. “The best day of the year,” Dr. Jonathan Johnson says.

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Additional coverage:
NBC New York, WBNS 10 TV, Advisory Board, WSAV-TV, WTHR 13

Context: Jonathan Johnson, M.D. is a Mayo Clinic pediatric cardiologist. Dr. Johnson's primary focus is researching clinical outcomes in pediatric patients with congenital heart disease, as well as those with cardiomyopathy or heart failure, or those who have required heart transplantation or ventricular assist device (VAD) placement. Dr. Johnson is also interested in cardiac imaging, including fetal, transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography, and studies how these imaging modalities can be used to improve patient outcomes.

Contact: Kelley Luckstein

Tags: Dr. Jonathan Johnson, KARE11, neonatal intensive care unit, pediatric cardiology, Santa, Uncategorized

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