Education

EDUCATION: Cardiovascular Medicine

Highlight: Dominican Republic Mission

The division offers a total of 15 graduate medical education fellowships in general cardiology, electrophysiology and cardiac catheterization and imaging; additionally, in 2013 the division received ACGME accreditation for a fellowship in heart failure. Fellows are trained in evidence-based prevention, diagnosis, and management of patients with a wide variety of acute and chronic cardiovascular conditions. Training reflects the standards of the American Board of Internal Medicine, the American College of Cardiology, and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) program requirements for residency education in cardiovascular disease.

The division offers two paths for completing a cardiovascular disease fellowship: a four-year research/clinical fellowship designed for those seeking an academic career as physician-scientists, and a three-year clinical training program for those interested in careers as cardiologists in private practice. All fellows participate in one of the hospital’s outpatient clinics during three of their four years and, based on their interests, are matched with a team of attending physicians, nurses, and administrative support personnel with whom they stay throughout their training.

John M. Dent, MD, who directs the division’s cardiovascular disease fellowship program, received the Department of Medicine’s “Outstanding Educator” award in 2012. As one of the nominators wrote, “John has quietly but consistently ensured that the division’s programs meet educational goals for our fellows, housestaff, faculty and staff. He runs the largest fellowship program in the Department of Medicine, and year to year does an absolutely outstanding job.”

Cardiovascular fellows may continue their education by applying for one of the division’s advanced ACGME-accredited fellowships in interventional cardiology, advanced heart failure and transplant, or clinical cardiac electrophysiology. Additionally, the division has ongoing NIH funding for a cardiovascular imaging and research training program. Established in 2005 with a grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, and directed by Cardiovascular faculty member Christopher Kramer, MD, the program provides trainees with dual mentorships – with a PhD imaging scientist and an MD clinician-investigator. Of the 12 trainees who have completed the program, seven currently hold academic positions, at institutions that include the Mayo Clinic, the University of Chicago, University of Arizona, and UVA. In 2012, two new post-doctoral physician fellows were accepted into the cardiac imaging program: Yasmin Hamirani and Sujith Kuruvilla.