Texas Children’s Heart Center Staff Honored by The Children’s Heart Foundation

HOUSTON (May 1, 2023) – Texas Children’s Hospital is proud to share that two members of its top-ranked Heart Center team were recently honored by The Children’s Heart Foundation. Melissa Domino and Melissa Lewellen Smith, both clinical nursing coordinators on the Electrophysiology and Pacing (EP) Services team, were acknowledged during the foundation’s recent Houston Has Heart Gala for their dedication to caring for pediatric patients with congenital heart defects.  

“We are incredibly proud of Melissa Domino and Melissa Smith for receiving this much-deserved recognition from The Children’s Heart Foundation,” said Dr. Daniel Penny, Chief of Cardiology and Co-Director of Texas Children’s Heart Center and Professor of Pediatrics-Cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine. “They represent everything that makes our Heart Center staff world-class. Their dedication and the outstanding care provided by our EP team are part of why we are the top destination for the most complex cardiac patients.”

Melissa Domino is a mother of three from Iowa and has been with Texas Children’s since 2000. She worked as a nurse in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) until 2006, when she joined the EP team as a Clinical Nurse Coordinator/Pacemaker Nurse. Before coming to Texas Children’s, Domino worked as an RN in the Pediatric ICU at Sunrise Children’s Hospital, which was her first experience caring for children who had undergone surgery for congenital heart disease. Domino says her current role is “without a doubt, the best job ever,” and she plans to retire in her position alongside her dear friend, Melissa Smith.

Smith is from Nashville, Tennessee, and began her nursing career there. Her time as a travel nurse brought her to Texas Children’s in 2001, where she served in the cardiac unit. She loved it so much that she returned twice more until being approached by the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at the time about a permanent role. Smith worked as a preoperative nurse on the cardiac surgery team before transitioning to the Heart Rhythm and Pacemaker team in 2004. She has been with Texas Children’s for a total of 25 years. Smith, a mom of two boys, expresses a deep love for her role and for the patients at Texas Children’s Hospital.

Texas Children’s Hospital Heart Center has been ranked the No. 1 center in the nation for pediatric cardiology and heart surgery for six consecutive years by US News and World Report.