Education

The Division is actively involved in all levels of pre-doctoral and post-doctoral education within the Stanford School of Medicine.

Medical Education

Faculty within the Division participate in the pre-clinical education of Stanford medical students via didactic lectures in cardiovascular physiology, pathophysiology, and physical diagnosis. In addition, the Cardiovascular Division administers several clinical clerkships in which third and fourth year medical students are exposed to more advanced topics in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

Resident Education

The Division has an active role in the training of Internal Medicine Residents at Stanford University Medical Center. Medicine housestaff rotate through the cardiology consult service at the VA Hospital and through the cardiology consult service, the cardiology inpatient service, and the coronary care unit at Stanford University. In addition, faculty members within the Division routinely participate in resident morning report, noon-time resident educational conferences, and Medical Grand Rounds.

General Cardiology Fellowship

A 3-year ACGME accredited training program in Cardiovascular Diseases is administered via the Division under the leadership of Dr. John Giacomini, Fellowship Program Director and Chief of Cardiology at the Palo Alto VA Medical Center. The goal of the Stanford Cardiovascular training program is to foster development of careers in academic cardiovascular medicine. Training is focused on providing a solid base of clinical cardiologic training, including the development of expertise in both non-invasive and invasive cardiologic diagnosis and vascular medicine.

The program also provides training in investigative skills that are necessary for an academic career. Substantial laboratory or clinical research is a required component of the program.

For further information on the General Cardiology Fellowship and to request an application, please click on the appropriate links in the navigation bar.

Advanced Fellowship in Cardiac Electrophysiology

The Arrhythmia Service offers both Research and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowships.

The Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship program is accredited by the ACGME and meets the requirements for American Board of Internal Medicine Subspecialty Certification in Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology. The program provides outstanding clinical training in the management of arrhythmias and syncope, electrophyiologic testing, radiofrequency ablation, and implantation of arrhythmia and resynchronization devices. Furthermore, the fellowship provides excellent opportunities for non-accredited research and is designed to prepare fellows for careers in academic cardiac electrophysiology.

Separate Research Fellowships in Cardiac Electrophysiology also are available and focus on new techniques for arrhythmia diagnosis and management, with opportunities for collaboration with Bioengineering and other disciplines within cardiovascular medicine.

Individuals interested in these fellowships should call (650) 723-7111. Questions may be directed to pwang@cvmed.stanford.edu, Director of the Arrhythmia Service and Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship.

Advanced Fellowship in Interventional Cardiology

The Stanford Interventional Cardiology Section offers two-year advanced fellowships, one year, ACGME accredited, of intensive clinical training in invasive therapeutics and possible additional one year of non-accredited research.

Fellows are strongly encouraged to develop an independent research program with financial support. This focus may range from basic science to purely clinical research. Faculty from not only interventional cardiology but also from within the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine may act as mentors.

The clinical training involves not only angioplasty and stenting but also advanced techniques in atherectomy, intravascular ultrasound, and other devices. The training is demanding, and a high level of performance is expected. We do not currently offer training in peripheral interventions.

We accept US and overseas-trained fellows, but for foreign-trained fellows the proper visa and other documentation is required (see section on non-US applicants). They must be USMLE-certified and speak fluent English. Prospective overseas applicants should visit the ECFMG website for further information.

To apply, please send a letter of intent including the planned years of training and intended research plan. In addition, a CV and three letters of recommendation should be sent. You may download an application in Adobe Acrobat format or in a Word format here. The application should be returned to:

David Lee, MD
RE: Interventional Cardiology Fellowship
Stanford University Medical Center
Interventional Cardiology H-2103
300 Pasteur Drive
Stanford, CA 94305-5218

If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at (650) 723-1508

Advanced Fellowship in Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation

A one year multidisciplinary advanced fellowship in heart failure and transplantation is administered through the Division under the direction of Sharon Hunt, M.D., Director of Cardiac Transplant Services at Stanford University. The program provides advanced training in the field of advanced congestive heart failure and cardiac transplantation. The fellowship is currently funded for two fellows per year and involves rotations at Stanford University Medical Center and at the Kaiser Northern California heart failure and transplant referral center in San Jose.

For further information, please contact shunt@cvmed.stanford.edu. The heart failure and transplantation fellowship utilizes the same application as the general cardiology fellowship. This application can be found under "Application Procedures" and should be returned to:

Sharon Hunt, MD
RE: Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation Fellowship
Falk Cardiovascular Research Center
300 Pasteur Drive
Palo Alto, CA 94305-5406

Advanced Fellowship in Cardiovascular MRI

Overview
The Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University seeks fellows for research and clinical training in cardiovascular MRI. Ideally, applicants will have training in or knowledge of cardiovascular disease, as well as initial experience with cardiovascular imaging. They should also be willing to dedicate 1-2 years toward this advanced fellowship. The cardiovascular MRI program is directed by Dr. Michael McConnell, with a particular interest in atherosclerosis/vascular imaging. Dr. Philip Yang oversees the MRI research in myocardial and ischemic heart disease imaging. Both are attending physicians on the Clinical Cardiothoracic MRI Service (joint with Radiology) and in the Stanford echo lab.

Research/Clinical Fellowship
Fellows are expected to develop and perform research projects under the supervision of Drs. McConnell and Yang. All fellows will be able to participate in regular MRI research meetings, as well as frequent seminars and several courses on MRI, medical imaging, and molecular imaging. For fellows eligible for obtaining a California medical license (see www.medbd.ca.gov), formal clinical training in cardiovascular MRI is available through the joint clinical service. Major areas of research interest are 1) animal and human imaging of atherosclerosis, including cellular imaging of vascular inflammation, high-field contrast-enhanced plaque characterization, and high-resolution coronary imaging; 2) animal and human myocardial imaging, including stem-cell imaging and tracking, rapid stress imaging, and assessment of peri-infarct ischemia; and 3) real-time MRI, including valvular imaging, stress/perfusion imaging, and MRI-guided interventions. The majority of these projects are in close collaboration with imaging scientists in Electrical Engineering (www-mrsrl.stanford.edu), in addition to scientists in vascular biology (cvmed.stanford.edu), cardiac surgery, molecular imaging (mips.stanford.edu), and radiology (rsl.stanford.edu).

Resources
Stanford has broad resources in MRI and imaging technology. In the hospital, there are two 1.5T clinical systems as well as a 0.5T interventional system. There is a 100%-research 1.5T system in Electrical Engineering and a 3T system with interventional capability installed in the cardiovascular research building. The Lucas Center has 1.5T, 3T, 7T whole-body systems and a 4.7T small-bore animal system. Finally, there is a University small-animal imaging facility with bioluminescence, fluorescence, ultrasound, microPET, microCT, microSPECT/CT, and planned 7T MRI systems.

Application
Interested applicants should submit a CV and a statement with the following sections: 1) clinical/research background and experience, 2) research interests, 3) career plans, 4) plan for fellowship (duration, desired starting period, training goals, research/clinical time), and 5) funding sources (if any).

Research fellowship applications can be submitted at any time, with funding availability a major factor. The formal clinical training period, for interested/eligible applicants, is typically July thru June. Decisions about clinical fellows are typically made by the preceding January. Exceptional candidates may be offered fellowship earlier.

Please send the above information to Kathleen Gallagher (kgallagher@cvmed.stanford.edu) at (650) 723-8138.