Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship

Overview

The goal of our cardiovascular medicine training fellowship program is to train superb clinical cardiologists who will be innovators and leaders in cardiovascular medicine. Clinical training will involve experiences in critical care cardiology, consultative cardiology, inpatient ward cardiology, advanced heart failure, cardiac surgery, electrophysiology, cardiac catheterization, echocardiography, cardiac imaging (nuclear, cardiac CT and cardiac MRI), vascular medicine, adult congenital heart disease, women’s cardiovascular health, prevention and ambulatory cardiology in accordance with requirements set forth by the ACGME and in-line with the guidance set forth by the American College of Cardiology Core Cardiology Training Symposium (COCATS 4, most recently updated in 2015). Research training will occur under the mentorship of faculty experts in education, clinical care, as well as clinical, translational and basic science cardiovascular research, with a focused curriculum around professional development. Lastly, our program has a strong commitment to training cardiologists invested in service to underserved communities and advancing cardiovascular health equity.

Requirements

Completion of three years of an ACGME‑accredited Internal Medicine residency program. (exception: if short tracking science pathway, 2 years of Internal Medicine Training, and 4 year fellowship requirement).

Curriculum

Years 1 and 2:

The first 2 years of fellowship training are predominantly clinical. Fellows will participate in the delivery of care in the cardiac intensive care unit, inpatient cardiology service, advanced heart failure service, cardiology consultative service, cardiac electrophysiology laboratory, cardiac catheterization laboratory and ambulatory clinics. Fellows will participate in the performance and interpretation of transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, cardiac CT and cardiac MRI imaging studies. Fellows will also participate in a longitudinal ambulatory clinic experience with one ½ day of clinic per week. Fellows will carry their own patient panel and are expected to serve as the primary cardiologist for these patients. Supervision will be weekly by senior clinical staff and advanced fellows. The clinical rotations occur on 4 campuses: Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital and the West Roxbury VA hospital. Fellows will be expected to teach residents, medical students, and allied health professional students.

Year 3:

Fellows will continue to participate in their weekly continuity clinic. Additional clinical electives will be arranged based on the specific interests of the fellow (i.e. Fellows interested in pursuing careers in interventional cardiology will likely participate in further electives in the cardiac catheterization laboratory). Many fellows opt to use the clinical training time during this year to pursue additional training in cardiovascular imaging and achievement of COCATS level 2 training is possible.

As the first two years are predominantly clinical, during this 3rd year, fellows will participate in at least 6 months of scholarly activity (described in further detail below).

Year 4:

For fellows who choose to pursue an additional 4th year of research training (this is optional), additional clinical elective time is also available (typically up to 20% of their time). This clinical time will be tailored towards the specific interests and career goals of the individual fellow.

Clinical Tracks:

After completion of the first 2 clinical years, more specialized clinical tracks can be pursued (in addition to pursuing formalized advanced fellowship training). These clinical tracks include:

• Cardiac critical care
• Cardio-oncology
• Cardiovascular genetics
• Cardiovascular imaging (including both echocardiography and multimodality)
• Cardiovascular performance
• Women's cardiovascular health

Additionally, we participate in the accelerated 2+2 training for Electrophysiology and Adult Congenital Heart Disease, both ACGME accredited training pathways. Fellows who are selected to these pathways have the option to initiate training after the first two clinical years of cardiovascular medicine.

Didactics:

There is a core didactic curriculum for fellows that currently occurs on Friday mornings from 7-10 am. This is an in-person activity and is protected time away from clinical service. These didactics include faculty lectures on core topics, fellow-led case presentations, journal clubs, ECG conferences, as well as hands-on sessions in our simulation centers.

Commitment to Community:

Throughout training, fellows will have opportunities to engage in both local and global community service, as well as high school mentorship as part of our You Belong in Cardiology Program.

Research & Professional Development

Participating in scholarly work is a fundamental component to training in cardiovascular medicine. Fellows will be expected to participate in a minimum of 6 months of research (in accordance with current ACGME guidelines). Fellows will work under the mentorship of faculty to participate in scholarly activities. While most fellows will work with Heart Vascular Institute faculty at either the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital fellows may also work with faculty in other departments within the larger Mass General Brigham system if aligned with their research interests. Activities will include investigative activities in the following arenas (listing not inclusive):

• Clinical research.
• Translational research.
• Basic science research.
• Community health.
• Population health.
• Clinical informatics and AI in medicine.
• Global health.
• Medical education.

All fellows participate in a structured Career Mentorship Program to develop, individualize, and optimize their career goals and research project aims. Fellows are paired up with faculty advisors at the beginning of fellowship to help guide their scholarly interests. Fellows participate in the full spectrum of investigative activities associated with their research mentor and projects including the design, execution and publishing of research. Fellows present their work in the form of an oral presentation prior to graduation from fellowship as part of our divisional Grand Rounds and there is a strong tradition of fellows presenting at international meetings including the AHA and ACC Scientific Sessions. Fellows have many resources and support in the Heart and Vascular Institute, Mass General Brigham, and Harvard Medical School to support endeavors to apply for NIH Faculty grants and navigate the T to K to R transition.

Fellows interested in pursuing a 4th research year will be supported through our several NIH-sponsored T32 training grants. For fellows who are not eligible for the T32, other funding mechanisms exist to support this research training.

Support for coursework that will help guide fellows in their investigative efforts will be provided.

Included in our senior fellows’ curriculum are structured sessions around professional development, leadership and negotiation coaching, implicit bias training, community engagement and finding a job.

Please see the following websites for more detailed information regarding research faculty in the HVI.

• https://cvls.bwh.harvard.edu/
• https://cvrc.massgeneral.org/

How to Apply

Upload to ERAS the following documents (Program ID: 1412421007):

• CV.
• ERAS application.
• 3 Letters of Recommendation (one must be from current Program Director).
• Personal Statement.
• USLME Exam Status Report.
• ECFMG Certificate if FMG/IMG.

Application Deadline: July 31st

Faculty Team

Doreen DeFaria Yeh, MD
Program Co-Director

Yee-Ping Sun
Program Co-Director

Umberto Campia, MD
Associate Program Director

Colleen Harrington, MD
Associate Program Director

Rajeev Malhotra, MD
Associate Program Director