Pediatric Cardiology

The pediatric cardiology fellowship within the Herma Heart Institute (HHI) provides superior training in one of the nation's largest pediatric cardiology, cardiac surgery and cardiovascular research centers.

Our objective is to prepare fellows for careers within academic or non-academic pediatric cardiology. Pediatric cardiology training will focus on excellence in clinical skills, understanding of hemodynamics and pathophysiology and an appreciation for natural history. It is a goal of the fellowship to give trainees exposure to all aspects of cardiology while providing an appropriate balance of autonomy and advanced learning with our clinicians. Three years of training is required for the sub-board of pediatric cardiology and a fourth year of advanced clinical/research training is available at our center.

Clinical Rotations

Echo/Advance Imaging rotations:  

•  Attend pediatric cardiology conferences and teaching sessions.
•  Attend daily echo review session of the previous day's studies with echo attending.  
• Participate in TEE intraoperative and interventional studies as a senior fellow.  
• Observe and perform routine transthoracic echo studies on inpatients and outpatients with echo technical staff.  
• Write preliminary reports on all studies performed by the fellow.  
• Review all echo studies to be shown at conference and present them. 
• Participate in the planning, acquisition of, and reporting of advanced imaging studies including fetal echocardiography, three-dimensional echocardiography, and both cardiac MRI and cardiac CT.

Cardiac Catheterization rotation:

• Attend pediatric cardiology conferences and teaching sessions. 
• Perform H&P on all cardiac cath patients prior to the procedure. 
• Participate in all cardiac cath procedures. 
• Complete post-cath orders on patients following cath. 
• Admit and write follow-up notes on all post cath interventional patients. 
• Complete diagrams and hemodynamics on all cath patients and dictate the procedure. 
• Review all cath studies to be shown at conferences and present them.  

 Inpatient Services/ICU/Consultation rotation: 

• Attend pediatric cardiology conferences and teaching sessions.  
• Attend daily ICU and intermediate care rounds on cardiology and cardiovascular surgery patients.
• Serve as primary provider for CICU patients while rotating in the CICU   
• Perform H&P on patients admitted to cardiology and cardiovascular surgery service.  
• Write daily notes on all ICU cardiology and cardiovascular surgery patients.  
• Perform all inpatient consults in the hospital.  
• Participate in all patient interventions performed in the ICU.  
• Review all inpatient histories to be discussed at conferences and present them.  

EP/Adult Congenital Heart Disease/Transplant/Heart Failure/Pulmonary Hypertension: 

• Attend pediatric cardiology conferences and teaching sessions.  
• Perform H&P on all EP patients prior to the procedure.  
• Participate in all EP procedures.    
• Admit and write F/U notes on all post EP interventional patients.  
• Review electrophysiology tracings on all EP patients and dictate the procedure.  
• Read all non-clinic inpatient and outpatient ECG's and Holters.  
• Attend all pacemaker clinics.  
• Attend all adult congenital heart disease clinics.  
• Attend all transplant and heart failure clinics.
• Attend all PH clinics
• Perform inpatient consultations for EP/ACHD/PH/HF/Transplant patients.

During fellowship you will be expected to design, implement, and complete original research investigations.  Opportunities in basic science, translational, and clinical research are all available and we have a scholarly oversight program which will help ensure project completion.  Our fellows also have the opportunity to work in quality improvement studies within the HHI and Children’s Wisconsin.

Length of Training
The fellowship is designed for three years of training with an optional fourth year. 

Qualifications and recruitment of trainees 
Fellow applicants will be required to have a medical degree and have completed a pediatric residency in a US-accredited training program. The program participates in the NRMP pediatric cardiology match program.

Content of Training 
Throughout subspecialty training, the fellow will receive extensive, focused training in all aspects of clinical pediatric cardiology. The fellow will have 2 rotations during the first year that will provide an introduction to investigative research where they will have an opportunity to interact with research mentors and begin to develop a program of investigative study with that mentor. 10 additional months of research will be provided over the remainder of fellowship to further establish a program of investigative research

Rotation Schedule 
Each rotation is one month with 24 total clinical months and 12 total research months. 

Year 1 

• Echo/Noninvasive Imaging (3 rotations)
• Cardiac Catheterization (1 rotation)
• Inpatient Service (CICU/Consult) (4 rotations)
• Electrophysiology (1 rotation)
• Research (2 rotations)
• Heart Failure/Transplant (1 rotation)

Year 2

• Advanced Imaging (1 rotation)
• Cardiac Catheterization (1 rotation split into 2 week blocks)
• Inpatient Service (CICU/Consult) (2 rotations)
• Adult Congenital Heart Disease (1 rotation)
• Pulmonary Hypertension (0.5 rotation)
• Elective (1.5 rotation)
• Research (4 rotations)
• CIN-Cardiothoracic Surgery, Interstage Team, Neurodevelopmental Clinic (1 rotation)

Year 3

• Cardiac Catheterization (1 rotation split into 2 week blocks)
• Inpatient Service (CICU/Consult) (2 rotations)
• EP (1 rotation)
• Elective (2 rotations)
• Research (6 rotations)

Call
In-house call is required seven days a week.  Monday through Friday, senior fellows provide back-up call. 

Pediatric Fourth Year Non-Invasive Imaging Fellowship

In conjunction with the Medical College of Wisconsin, a fourth year of non-invasive imaging training within the Herma Heart Institute at the Children’s Wisconsin is available.

Fourth year imaging fellows will gain experience working alongside our experts in transthoracic echocardiography, transesophageal echocardiography, three-dimensional echocardiography, fetal echocardiography, cardiac CT, and cardiac MRI. Our busy imaging group performs and interprets nearly 12,000 echocardiograms, 500 cardiac MRI’s, and 50 cardiac CT scans per year. These studies are performed at the main campus as well as at our satellite campuses around the Milwaukee area.

We have one funded position yearly for a qualified applicant. Our imaging training focuses on performing and interpreting the core non-invasive imaging modalities in assessing congenital and acquired heart disease in all age ranges, from the fetus to the adult with congenital heart disease. We also offer the opportunity to tailor your training towards your career interests. Importantly there is the expectation and opportunity for our fellows to participate in imaging research as well as teaching of the core pediatric cardiology fellows, residents, and medical students.

How to Apply

Interested applicants should contact Ben Goot, MD (bgoot@chw.org) and submit a copy of your curriculum vitae as well as three letters of reference. Applicants will be considered once all materials have been received. Materials can be submitted starting in May of the year prior to expected start date and we plan to interview on a rolling basis once completed applications are received.

Adult Congenital Subspecialty Fellowship

In conjunction with the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), a two year ACGME accredited subspecialty fellowship in adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) is offered through the Herma Heart Institute at Children’s Wisconsin.

The goals of this subspecialty fellowship training program in ACHD are to provide the fellow with extensive, focused training in the entire spectrum of ACHD patients so that the fellow can establish an advanced clinical or academic career in ACHD. The fellow will specifically gain experience in the following realms of ACHD care: medical and surgical management, postoperative care; invasive and noninvasive diagnostic testing; management of acquired cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary disease; psychosocial aspects of transitioning from adolescence into adulthood in adolescents with CHD; health promotion in adults; anatomy, morphology and pathophysiology of CHD; and research.

This training program takes place at both Children's Wisconsin and the MCW affiliated adult hospital, Froedtert Hospital (FH), which is on the same campus as Children's. Fellows will have the opportunity to participate in inpatient rounds and diagnostic testing at both hospitals. Outpatient clinic is primarily based at Children's. Elective rotations can be done at either hospital, however, those fellows with an adult training background will have the majority of elective time at Children's, and those with a pediatric cardiology training background will the majority of elective time at FH. The fellow will be expected to participate in ACHD research, as well as, take an active role in teaching adult and pediatric cardiology fellows, residents and medical students.

How to Apply

Interested applicants should have completed a three year ACGME accredited adult cardiology or pediatric cardiology fellowship program prior to appointment. Our program will now be using the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) for this upcoming application cycle (the July 2019 application cycle for a July 2020 fellowship start). Application requirements will include: ERAS application, 3 letters of recommendation (1 from the current program director), and a Curriculum Vitae. Please contact the program director, Scott Cohen, MD (scohen@chw.org) or the program’s administer, Orlando Diaz (odiaz@mcw.edu) for more information.

• Most fellows usually arrive at 7 am.
• Morning teaching conference
• Echocardiogram teaching review session with senior imaging faculty
• Teaching rounds with multidisciplinary provider teams on patients in various clinical settings, including the cardiac ICU, pediatric ICU, neonatal ICU, and acute care floors
• Provide cardiology consultation throughout a busy free-standing children’s hospital
• Read pediatric ECGs and review telemetry
• Participate in teaching activities with medical student and residents
• Services start to sign out at 4pm and the on-call fellow takes responsibility for all cardiology patients by 5pm
• There is always one fellow on call in house, covering all the cardiology patients in the hospital 
• Weekend call is split evenly among the fellows and usually results in each fellow working one weekend per month

Our talented and experienced faculty are excited to work with you throughout your fellowship!

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