About BBSC

Medicine, music, and the spaces between.

An international ensemble of physicians, surgeons, nurses, and healthcare professionals brought together through music.

Group of seven people smiling, standing together in a room with red curtains and musical equipment in the background.

2008

100 Plus

18

Founded

Performers

Countries

In their professional lives, members care for children with heart disease. Outside the hospital, they come together through music — and through a shared commitment to the families they serve.

Members are drawn primarily from children’s cardiac centers around the world, together with a small circle of friends and family. Many are also accomplished researchers, educators, and lecturers. Led by Drs. Gil Wernovsky, Tom Karl, and Dick Donner, the BBSC brings together members from major institutions across the United States and 18 countries worldwide.

Reflecting the diversity of its members, the repertoire spans jazz, pop, rhythm and blues (R&B), rock, musical theater, and classical music.

Because the ensemble is international, rehearsal time is often brief and intense. BBSC typically convenes around major pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery meetings, rehearses over a concentrated period, and then performs for colleagues, local communities, patients, and families. Despite the logistical challenges, the joy of reunion and collaboration remains central to the spirit of the group.

Music in
service of care.

Beyond the music itself, the Collective was founded on a broader mission: supporting children with congenital heart disease and their families in a more human and holistic way. BBSC performances and recordings have helped fund programs and services not typically covered by medical care, including child life services, music therapy, travel assistance, care packages, social work support, and other family-centered resources during prolonged hospitalizations.

Inspired in part by the pioneering work of Mona Barmash and the Congenital Heart Information Network (TCHIN), the group recorded its first album, Songs for Spencer, in 2010. Musicians traveled from around the world to Philadelphia, donating their time and talent to support Spencer’s Fund and related family-support initiatives.

In 2017, BBSC released Home. Tonight. Forever., a two-volume collection of original compositions predominantly from Dr. Gil Wernovsky and Dr. Tom Karl - inspired by the patients and families they have cared for throughout their careers. The album is available via streaming, digital download, CD, and vinyl formats. A third release is currently planned for late 2027.

Today, BBSC brings together medicine, community, and the performing arts through an international collaboration of healthcare professionals, anchored by a longstanding core of members, who use music both to connect with one another and to support the children and families that they serve. The group has also supported humanitarian surgical missions in underserved parts of the world.

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History.
How it begins.

EARLY 2000s
Professor Robert H. Anderson, MD — an internationally renowned cardiac morphologist and accomplished classical pianist — begins incorporating musical recitals into the annual Cardiology in the Young meeting in London.
2006
Two parallel threads converge. In California, Drs. Tom Karl and Lisa Hornberger assemble a jazz quintet, Blue Baby, for performances in Mill Valley. That same year in London, Dr. Gil Wernovsky is introduced to Dr. Karen Harrington. Together they perform a tribute to Professor Marc de Leval — the first non-classical performance at Cardiology in the Young, and the informal beginning of the Collective.
2007
Drs. Karl and Wernovsky formally introduce a jazz component into Cardiology in the Young.
2008
Dr. Wernovsky is invited to give the William J. Rashkind Memorial Lecture at the Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. This lectureship is traditionally non-medical and is meant to represent the more holistic side of our field. Gil and Tom gathered a group of 10 for a performance (Professor Bob Anderson, Dr. Ingram Schulze-Neick, Dr. Lisa Hornberger, Dr. Karen Harrington, Dr. Jeff Boris, Dr. Mike Quartermain, Dr. Leo Lopez and Craig Kahn spanning Cardiology in the Young’s Classical Repertoire, added Jazz, Pop and Musical Theater, and the Baby Blue Sound Collective was born.
2010
Inspired by the Congenital Heart Information Network, BBSC records its first album, Songs for Spencer, in Philadelphia — donated time and talent supporting Spencer's Fund and family initiatives.
2017
Release of Home. Tonight. Forever. — a two-volume collection of original compositions inspired by patients and families. The title reflects the wish of every hospitalized child: to be home, tonight, forever.
2026 / 2027
A third release is planned — continuing the mission of blending music, medicine, and advocacy for children with congenital heart disease.