The Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship Program curriculum ensures adequate exposure to all subspecialties and clinical settings of pediatric cardiology while providing ample dedicated research time throughout all three years.
Curriculum by Year
Fellowship begins with a one-week bootcamp that focuses on practical skills in cardiac anatomy and physiology, echocardiography, catheterization and electrophysiology to prepare trainees for their subsequent rotations.
First year rotations take place in the cardiac intensive care unit, acute care cardiology service, echocardiography laboratory, catheterization and electrophysiology laboratories, and outpatient clinic settings. In two- or four-week blocks, first-year fellows total approximately six weeks each on the acute care cardiology service, cardiac intensive care unit service, cardiac catheterization rotation, electrophysiology rotation and night-float service. The echo rotation is eight weeks total during the first year. A dedicated night-float rotation eliminates the need for fellows to be on call every few days, reducing disruption of their other rotations.
There are six weeks of dedicated research time during the first year, allowing learners to consider topics of interest and begin designing scholarly projects. Some of the rotations listed above include a clinic half-day and a research half-day per week.
Similar to year one, a second-year fellow will again have approximately six weeks total of acute care cardiology service and night-float service. Cardiac intensive care unit, catheterization, echocardiography and electrophysiology labs are approximately four weeks each, with additional two-week rotations in adult congenital heart disease, pulmonary hypertension, and outpatient heart failure and transplant.
The second year of the program features 16 weeks of research time.
The third year is the most personalized year in the program. There is a lighter clinical rotation load, with four weeks each of acute care cardiology, night-float, echocardiography, and cardiac intensive care unit, with 2-3 weeks each of catheterization and electrophysiology labs.
There is a larger component of research, 27 weeks total, allowing fellows ample time to continue developing their scholarly projects, analyzing data and then generating a manuscript. For fellows who are appropriately on track to complete their scholarly work, the ongoing research weeks afford opportunity for personalization and flexibility. Some fellows pursue additional scholarly work, clinical exposure, or electives such as additional catheterization or electrophysiology rotations during this time.
Weekly Didactics and Conferences
- Daily surgical rounds conference
- Multidisciplinary surgical conference
- Quality assurance
- Fraser Rounds teaching conference led by senior cardiac surgeon Charles D. Fraser Jr., M.D., FACS
- Fellow didactics
- Catheterization conference
- Echocardiography conference
Additional Sessions
- Simulation center sessions
- Journal club
- Board review
Mentorship
Fellows have clinical mentorship throughout the fellowship program. This begins with a mentor in a continuity clinic setting during the first year. If fellows identify a preferred subspecialty, they can shift their clinical mentor to a faculty member within that subdivision for their second and third years of the program.
Every fellow is mentored by a scholarly oversight committee of three to four members with at least one member being from outside the Division of Pediatric Critical Care. Fellows meet quarterly with their mentors and discuss progress on scholarly projects with the division.