Tufts Medical Center - Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship

Training Program

Primary Concentrations

Faculty

Goals

Rotations

Research Opportunities

Tufts Medical Center’s Cardiovascular Fellowship Program is an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited program which provides training in all aspects of cardiovascular medicine. Tufts fellows are exposed to the widest variety of clinical pathology and graduate as superb cardiologists capable of treating any cardiovascular patient. Numerous research opportunities and mentorships are also available to fellows throughout their training. There is a robust conferences series, as well as other learning activities, throughout the year aimed at fellow education.

The Chief of Cardiology and the Program Director are responsible for the Cardiovascular Fellowship Program.

James E. Udelson, MD

Chief, Division of Cardiology

Jeffrey T. Kuvin, MD
Director, Cardiovascular Education and Fellowship Training

Primary Concentrations

Coronary heart disease
Heart failure
Cardiomyopathy
Electrophysiology
Cardiovascular imaging
Interventional cardiology
Valvular heart disease
Preventive cardiology and risk factor management
Pulmonary heart disease
Peripheral vascular disease
Infections and inflammatory heart disease
Women and heart disease
Diseases of the great vessels
Adult congenital heart disease
Research

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Faculty

Our outstanding faculty members are among the nation’s leaders in bringing the latest advances in cardiovascular diagnosis and care into clinical practice. Tufts Medical Center cardiology faculty are full-time academic staff dedicated to teaching fellows. Faculties are intimately involved in teaching fellows and all patient encounters and procedures performed by fellows are supervised by attending cardiologists.

David DeNofrio, MD

N. A. Mark Estes, MD

Caroline Foote, MD

Ann Garlitski, MD

Munther K. Homoud, MD

Navin K. Kapur, MD

Richard H. Karas, MD, PhD

Carey D. Kimmelstiel, MD

Marvin A. Konstam, MD

Rajan Krishnamani, MD, MRCP (UK)

Jeffrey T. Kuvin, MD

Mark S. Link, MD

Martin S. Maron, MD

Natesa G. Pandian, MD

Ayan R. Patel, MD

Gordon Saperia, MD

James E. Udelson, MD

Jonathan Weinstock, MD

Andrew R. Weintraub, MD

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Goals

Upon completion of the program, the fellow will have acquired the expertise to be a consultant in cardiology.
The curriculum will ensure the opportunity for fellows to achieve the cognitive knowledge, psychomotor skills, interpersonal skills, professional attitudes, and practical experience required to be a cardiologist.
The program will emphasize scholarship and self-instruction while assisting fellows to develop expertise required for critical analysis of clinical problems and for appropriate decision-making in cardiology.
Fellows will be given increasing responsibility for patient care and procedures while adequately supervised.
The structure of the fellowship curriculum and evaluation will be based on the ACGME core competencies.
The program will provide supervised procedural experience to the fellow, so he/she gains sufficiency in the procedures required of a cardiologist.
There will be meaningful, supervised research for the fellows. The goal is for each fellow to write at least one publishable paper during training and to become accomplished at interpretation of the literature and familiar with study design.
The fellow will become proficient in skills required of a cardiologist, such as bedside evaluation, EKG and Holter monitor analysis, stress testing, non-invasive imaging, cardiac catheterization, and electrophysiology.
The fellow will fulfill the criteria set by the ACGME, Residency Review Committee, American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association, as well as other cardiovascular societies.
Fellows will be exposed to ethical, medical, and legal, cost-containment issues during daily teaching sessions, patient care rounds, and lecture series.
Fellows will be taught communication skills during the fellowship. Fellows will be critiqued on patient history presentations in both inpatient and outpatient environments.
Fellows will present original research as well as topics for discussion at local and national conferences during their fellowships.
Fellows will be taught research design and statistics. In addition, fellows will meet with research mentors to design research topics and protocols. Fellows may chose to attend courses offered in the graduate school at Tufts University School of Medicine.
Fellows will be encouraged to become members of local and national organizations related to the field.
Fellows will participate in the education of medical students and house staff.

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Rotations

Fellows spend the majority of their time at Tufts Medical Center, located on the south side of Boston, proximal to downtown and Logan airport. During their first 24 months, fellows participate in month-long clinical rotations involving a variety of aspects of inpatient and outpatient cardiac care, including cardiac catheterization, echocardiography, electrophysiology, nuclear cardiology, cardiac CT and MR imaging, congestive heart failure, and the cardiac intensive care unit. Fellows spend a few rotations at the Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Medford, Massachusetts for a community cardiovascular experience. Fellows participate in consultative cardiology, critical care cardiology, non-invasive imaging and cardiac rehabilitation during this rotation. Advanced fellowship years allow for concentrated training in cardiovascular imaging, interventional training, heart failure, electrophysiology and research. Throughout fellowship, cardiology fellows play an important role in the teaching of medical students and house staff.

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Research Opportunities

Participation in cardiovascular research is an important part of the fellowship program at Tufts Medical Center. Fellows are encouraged to become involved in research early in the fellowship years. Fellows have numerous opportunities in cardiovascular research, including basic science, clinical projects as well as population / epidemiology research. Cardiology attendings meet with the fellows to discuss research interests including ongoing or future projects. Fellows meet with research mentors regularly to formulate and execute research plans. Fellows are expected to complete at least one academic project during their fellowship and present their findings at divisional conferences, as well as local, national and international forums.

Fellows interested in careers in basic science have myriad opportunities in the Molecular Cardiology Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center.The MCRI has as its scientific emphasis the study of molecular mechanisms of human disease, incorporating translation of bench findings to new bedside strategies for diagnosis and therapy. The research / core laboratories of the MCRI include the adenoviral vector core facility, cardiomyocyte biology laboratory, hemostasis and thrombosis laboratory, ion channel physiology laboratory, laboratory of biophysics and cellular physiology, laboratory of cardiovascular genetics, laboratory of ion channel structure and function, laboratory of stress signal transduction and gene regulation, molecular cardiology research center, molecular pharmacology research center, molecular signaling laboratory, and the transgenic core facility. The MCRI has been awarded a fellowship training grant by the National Institutes of Health to provide trainees hands-on dedicated research experience to pursue careers in the biological sciences with a focus on cardiovascular research.

Fellows interested clinical care and outcomes research may choose to become involved in research in the Division of Clinical Care Research at Tufts Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine / Sackler Graduate Program. The Division of Clinical Care Research is interested in factors that affect clinical care and develops treatment strategies, decision aids and computer-based systems in order to improve clinical care and health. The Division teaches courses and seminars on- and off-campus on clinical research methods, biostatistics, data management, and related areas. Post-doctoral training may be provided by the Division's federally-sponsored training grant in health services and clinical care research and by its joint clinical research training of fellows from different specialties at Tufts Medical Center. The Division targets a wide range of clinical and health policy areas, including a particular focus on emergency and cardiac care. A significant portion of the Division's activities focus on fundamental issues of clinical study design and on data and evidence analysis.

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Resources

A full range of inpatient, outpatient, clinical and research laboratory facilities are available to the cardiology fellows at the medical center. Fellows work with the highest quality, latest technology equipment. In addition, a complete medical library is available at Tufts University School of Medicine. Fellows also have a centrally-located, dedicated, quiet workspace (Shapur Naimi Fellowship Room) equipped with desks, computers and a lounge area. In addition, fellows have access to cardiology conference space, including the Modestino Criscitiello Library and the Herbert J. Levine Conference Room. These fellow spaces are named for three superb cardiologists who helped establish cardiology at Tufts.

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Requirements

Prospective fellows are encouraged to apply provided they have completed the necessary training to become ABIM board-eligible in internal medicine.

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How to Apply

Applications for fellowship in cardiovascular medicine are accepted via the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). The Cardiovascular Fellowship program participates in the National Residency Match Program. A thorough review is undertaken of each fellowship application. A select number of applicants are invited for an interview to meet with staff and tour the facilities. At the completion of the interview process, applications are again thoroughly reviewed and the applicants are ranked based on their qualifications and interview scores. The final rank list is submitted to the National Residency Match Program for selection of the fellowship class.

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Contact

Jeffrey T. Kuvin, MD

Director, Clinical Cardiovascular Services
Director, Cardiovascular Education and Fellowship Training
Division of Cardiology
Tufts Medical Center
800 Washington Street, Box 315
Boston, MA 02111
Tel: 617-636-5846; Fax: 617-636-4769
Email: jkuvin@tuftsmedicalcenter.org

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