Fellowship
Training Tracks
The Division of Cardiovascular Medicine offers two types of fellowship programs. The Traditional Clinical Cardiology Training Track or the Clinical/Cardiovascular Research Training Track.
Traditional Clinical Cardiology Training Track
This is a three-year program with the first two years dedicated to rotations through all of the clinical cardiology rotations (see below). The final year will be a focused clinical year in one of several areas including noninvasive-nuclear, invasive, arrhythmia management, heart failure transplantation, and vascular diseases. Clinical research activities will be available throughout the three years.
Cardiology has become a highly complex subspecialty with a vigorous training program involving many technical and clinical units. The 36 months of clinical training at the Medical College of Wisconsin is a very busy series of rotations covering hemodynamics, electrophysiology, consultant cardiology, echocardiographic and Doppler imaging, cardiac catheterization, nuclear cardiology, cardiac rehabilitation and exercise testing, basic cardiac pharmacology and physiology, acute coronary and post-operative care, and beginning interventional cardiology.
The program is developed within the Cardiology Services of Froedtert Hospital, Veterans Administration Medical Center and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. The objectives of this Fellowship have been set at a high level with a rigorous agenda: to develop first-rate skills in all aspects of cardiac diagnosis, to became proficient in the management of the more complex cardiovascular patient, and for appropriate individuals to successfully complete a formal program of supervised cardiac research. Fellows will learn to deal effectively with a vast cardiology scientific literature and develop habits of keeping abreast with newer developments. They will develop a critical stance toward technology but at the same time learn to use the more proven powerful tools of contemporary cardiovascular medicine. It is anticipated that fellows will develop a special interest in some area of cardiology. This is natural and will be encouraged throughout the program. Potential specialty areas include intervention (requires additional year), electrophysiology and arrhythmia management (requires additional year), end stage heart disease, and non-invasive imaging. The track record of clinical training at the Medical College of Wisconsin has been excellent with greater than 90% Cardiology Boards pass rate of graduating fellows over the past 10 years. The division is committed to continuing this tradition of excellence.
Clinical/Cardiovascular Research Training Track
This is a four-year program with the first year being dedicated to general cardiology. The middle two years involve basic cardiovascular research and the final year is either a general or specialized cardiology training year.
The CVRC serves as the focal point for research training in the two middle years of the Clinical/Cardiovascular Research Training Track of the cardiology fellowship training program. A majority of the CVRC investigators have committed time and resources to this training effort. We would anticipate that fellows completing this training would be well positioned to begin a career in academic cardiovascular disease.
The purpose of the Cardiovascular Research Center is to serve as a multidisciplinary research unit integrating molecular and cellular biology with more conventional research techniques aimed at understanding the mechanisms which control the circulation and heart in normal and diseased states. One of the principal initiatives of the CVRC is to serve as a training and resource center for the study of molecular mechanisms related to endothelial, vascular muscle cell, pulmonary and cardiac muscle function. Toward this end, we have set up core laboratories in molecular biology, analytical chemistry and confocal microscopy. Basic and clinical scientists around campus use these core resources free of charge and are trained by members within the CVRC core laboratories. Principal functions of the CVRC include: 1) developing centralized themes for programmatic research funding, 2) forming a critical mass of ideas and investigators with the goal of expanding research potential, 3) creating a center with a high level of visibility at the community, national, and international levels with the purpose of providing a focus for contributions and endowments, and 4) serving as a recruiting tool for new faculty and enhancing the profile of existing faculty.
Supervision
Cardiology residents on the FMLH consultation service round on a daily basis with the attending cardiologist. All new consult patients are assigned to consult team members for their evaluation, including the cardiology resident trainee. The attending staff makes daily teaching rounds with the entire team, reviewing their presentations on all new and follow-up patients. The attending staff visits all new and appropriate follow-up patients with the consult team. The same approach is employed on the cardiology inpatient service when there is a cardiology medical resident rotating as a team member. The attending routinely sees daily all patients of the inpatient service. Cardiology residents rotating on the VA inpatient service are supervised in a similar fashion.
Cardiology residents rotate night call from 5PM to 7AM the next morning as well as throughout the weekend. They are expected to contact the on-call attending physician to review patient problems. The cardiology resident is required to see all cardiology admissions in the CICU. The attending physicians is expected to assist the cardiology resident in making appropriate management decisions. Attending physicians are on call to help with or perform any urgent procedure. The on call cardiology resident supervises resident students on the cardiology inpatient service and serves as a consultant for other services. The Department of Medicine utilizes a medical resident in the capacity of Admitting Medical Office (AMO), who in turn triages patients for admission to random services. The AMO may call the cardiology medical resident for consultation.
Cardiology residents participating in the cardiac catheterization, echo, or electrophysiology laboratory rotations are directly supervised by the attending physician. All procedures are staffed by faculty physicians with the cardiology residents in laboratory rotations reviewing study results with the attending physician. Cardiology residents are responsible for generating procedure reports for studies they conduct. All procedure reports are reviewed and signed by the attending physician
Rotations
The Cardiology training program at the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center's Froedtert Hospital provides the following rotations:
a. Echocardiography
b. Cardiac Catheterization
c. Cardiology Consultation
d. CICU / Inpatient Service
e. Electrophysiology
f. Nuclear Cardiology
g. Outpatient Clinics
h. Exercise Testing and Cardiac Rehabilitation
i. Specialty Outpatient/Pediatrics
The Cardiology training program at the VA Medical Center provides the following specific rotations:
a. CICU / Inpatient Service
b. Echocardiography
c. Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory
d. Continuity Fellow Clinics
Applications
The Division of Cardiovascular Medicine participates in the Medical Specialty Matching Program Match through the National Resident Match Program.
July 2009 start date:
December 1, 2007 – February 1, 2008 – Application Open Period
For more information, please email eustabel@mcw.edu or fax 414-456-6203, with your name and address.
Starting this year applications will be accepted via ERAS.
http://www.aamc.org/audienceeras.htm
February 1, 2008 – Closing date of Application Period
No applications will be accepted after this date.
March & April 2008 – Interview Process
A select few will be contacted for interviews with our faculty. Exact dates TBA.
TBA – Rank Order List Closing Date
TBA – Match Day.
Contacts
Michael Cinquegrani, MD
Fellowship Program Director
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine
9200 W Wisconsin Ave STE 5100
Milwaukee, WI 53226
414-456-6737
mcinq@mcw.edu
James Kleczka, MD
Associate Fellowship Program Director
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine
9200 W Wisconsin Ave STE 5100
Milwaukee, WI 53226
414-456-6762
jkleczka@mcw.edu
Erich Stabelfeldt
Fellowship Coordinator
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine
9200 W Wisconsin Ave STE 5100
Milwaukee, WI 53226
414-456-6993
eustabel@mcw.edu