Advanced Heart Disease Fellowship (Heart Failure/Heart Transplant)
The Brigham and Women’s Advanced Heart Disease Program at the new state-of-the art Shapiro Cardiovascular Center offers advanced training in the evaluation and multiple management strategies for patients with advanced heart failure. This senior fellow will participate in the inpatient and outpatient management of a wide spectrum of patients with advanced heart failure from initial diagnosis to consideration of high-risk cardiac surgery, cardiac transplantation, mechanical circulatory support, and end-of-life care. The one-year fellowship will include 8-10 months of inpatient service centered in the Advanced Cardiac Therapies Unit, also including co-management of early post-operative patients with cardiac transplants and mechanical support devices. Particular focus will be on hemodynamic assessment (using physical examination, echocardiography, intravascular monitoring, and cardiopulmonary exercise testing), genetic bases of cardiomyopathy, vasoactive therapy, and pharmacologic and mechanical strategies to restore volume balance. Additional time is devoted to continuity clinic experiences, including regular participation in Cardiomyopathy Clinic, outpatient Cardiac Transplant Clinic, and ambulatory VAD (ventricular assist device) Clinic. Particular emphasis is devoted to 1) interpretation of physiologic information from echocardiography, hemodynamic monitoring, and cardiopulmonary exercise testing, 2) decision-making and communication around risks and options for individual patients, and 3) effective team management for patients at home. All fellows will participate actively in the multiple ongoing research projects and will undertake at least one independent research project for presentation and publication. Fellows seeking full cardiac transplant certification will also participate in organ procurement, endomyocardial biopsy training, interpretation of endomyocardial biopsy pathology, and New England transplant consortium meetings. Combined training in heart failure and the implantation and follow-up of pacing/defibrillator devices is also available, requiring a total of two-three years of training and combined application to the Heart Failure and Electrophysiology fellowship training programs.
This training program is designed to meet the anticipated clinical requirements for Advanced Heart Failure certification as currently under consideration by the American Board of Internal Medicine. With the inclusion of the additional focused cardiac transplantation experience as described above, this fellowship will meet requirements for UNOS certification as a Transplant Cardiologist.
It is anticipated that applicants will have completed at least 2 years of cardiology training and be fully eligible for a medical training license in the state of Massachusetts. Preference will be given to those applicants demonstrating commitment to academic careers in the area of advanced heart failure and its applications. Interested fellows should submit a cover letter and CV to Lynne Warner Stevenson, lstevenson@partners.org or Michael M. Givertz, mgivertz@partners.org. Those applicants meeting initial requirements will be asked to submit two letters of recommendation, after which personal interviews will be scheduled with the section faculty in Boston or at national scientific meetings.
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