Education
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine
EDUCATION
Christopher Kramer, MD, director of the Cardiovascular Imaging and Research Training Program.
Cardiovascular Medicine faculty members are active as teachers and mentors in both undergraduate and graduate medical education. The division offers a total of 19 graduate medical education fellowships. The Basic Fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease & General Cardiology Program is directed by Pam Mason, MD, with Ellen Keeley, MD, and Victor Soukoulis, MD, serving as associate directors. Advanced fellowships are offered by the division in:
- Cardiac valve.
- Clinical cardiac electrophysiology (CCEP).
- Cardiac imaging.
- Interventional cardiology.
- Heart failure and transplant.
- Vascular medicine.
Pam Mason, MD – director, Basic Cardiovascular Disease and General Cardiology Fellowship Program.
There are two paths for completing cardiovascular disease fellowships: a four-year research/clinical program for those interested in an academic career, and a three-year clinical program for those wanting careers in private practice. The division’s Cardiovascular Imaging and Research Training program, established in 2005 with a T32 grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and directed by Christopher Kramer, MD, provides trainees with dual mentorships — one with an imaging scientist and another with a physician-clinician investigator. Trainees who have completed the program hold academic positions at institutions including the Mayo Clinic, the University of Chicago, the University of Arizona and UVA.
The Advanced Heart Failure and Mechanical Support fellowship program, which received accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in 2013 and is directed by James Bergin, MD, now has two fellowship positions.
The Advanced Cardiac Valve Center offers advanced fellowship training to cardiologists and surgeons regarding diagnostic and therapeutic modalities for cardiac valve disease. Trainees have both research and clinical responsibilities that aid their education alongside internationally known faculty. During the advanced cardiac valve fellowship, trainees will gain direct experience and education therapies including:
- Transcatheter aortic valve replacement.
- Percutaneous mitral valve repair.
- Transcatheter mitral commissurotomy.
- Percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation.
- Transesophageal and intracardiac echocardiographic imaging to guide valve therapies.
The division has also initiated a clinical vascular medicine fellowship program, one of only 15 such fellowship programs in the United States. Brian Annex, MD, and Aditya Sharma, MBBS, serve as the program directors, and Mazen Abusamaan, MD, is the program’s first fellow, starting July 1, 2015.