Cardiovascular Disease
A message from the Program Director
Dear prospective cardiology fellow,
Thank you in advance for your interest in our training program. In this letter, I hope to give you an overview of our fellowship and provide answers to some common questions that we are asked during our interview season. While there is nothing that substitutes for an in person opportunity for you to meet us and for us to meet you, we are living and training in a different time and we all must adapt. We will be conducting in-person interviews at Danbury Hospital.
Danbury Hospital is one hospital in a network of hospitals under the umbrella of Nuvance Health. This hospital, the training site, has close to 400 medical/surgical beds. The city of Danbury is located in Fairfield county Connecticut, has a population of close to 100,000, but serves a greater community of approximately 225,000 people in the primary service area. Our location is a 70 miles from New York City and is easily accessible by car, bus or train. Our patients come from diverse backgrounds and represent all levels of socioeconomic classes. Locally, Fairfield country has access to great restaurants, beaches, schools, and lots of outdoor activities.
There are numerous strengths of our program. Here are some highlights.
- Administrative support: our program is able to evolve and adapt and truly be a cutting edge program thanks to the strong support of our leadership of the Heart and Vascular Institute.
- Commitment to learning: our faculty are dedicated to teaching our fellows. As a division with only 20 faculty members, we are able to provide a very individualized approach to training.
- Large volume of cases: we do over 400 cardiac MRIs a year and are starting to grow our coronary CTA program as well. Our echo laboratory performs over 11,000 transthoracic echoes, transesophageal echoes, and stress echoes annually; our nuclear cardiology lab performs between 1500 and 2000 SPECT and PET studies per year, the Cath Lab does over 1200 cases each year, including over 300 interventions and performed structural cases including TAVR, PFO closure and MitraClip. Our EP lab does close to 200 ablations and 300 device implants each year.
- Mentorship: another benefit of a small to moderate sized faculty is the opportunity for our fellows to get to know our faculty on a personal level. As a result, our attendings are easily approachable and provide mentorship on everything from research projects to career advice. We do not formally assign a fellow a specific mentor, but allow for similar interests guide which attending acts as a mentor for a specific fellow.
- No advanced fellows: we not have EP fellows, interventional fellows, heart failure fellows, preventive fellows, or advanced imaging fellows. As a result, our fellows are the ones who are first in line to perform and learn advanced cardiology skills. While one may argue that this does not allow someone to stay on for advanced fellowship, we have been able to place our fellowship of their choice. Approximately half of our fellows go into clinical practice while the other half pursue additional training. Prior fellows have gone into an advanced imaging fellowship, an interventional fellowship, a preventive fellowship, advanced heart failure fellowship, and an electrophysiology fellowship.
- Hearts Around the World: one of our full-time faculty, Dr. Robert Jarrett, runs a nonprofit organization that travels to China, Vietnam, and Cuba where he and a team of cardiologists, anesthesiologists, surgeons, and nurses from all over the country go and teach teams at these locations how to improve cardiovascular care in the local communities.
- Sim lab: Danbury Hospital has a state of the art simulation lab where our fellows can practice their echocardiography skills (transthoracic and transesophageal).
Our fellows are primarily stationed in Danbury during their fellowship. As a compliment to their training, our fellows do rotate in Hartford, CT to work with our pediatric cardiology colleagues to gain experience evaluating patients with congenital heart disease and they spend a month at Yale on the heart failure service where the participate in the care of pre- and post transplant patients.
Our core curriculum is two tiered. We hold a “boot camp” during the summer where the fellows have daily lectures on core topics. Over the remaining 9-10 months there is a mixture of advanced imaging conferences, joint pathology conferences, morning report (3 days a week), and ECG conference that occur each week.
While I can promise you that you will learn the fundamentals of cardiovascular care at almost every fellowship, what makes Danbury special is the patient diversity (breadth and depth of cases) of our patients, faculty devotion to the fellowship, and the fact that we create a personal approach to fellow’s learning. We pride ourselves on the “family” environment here at Danbury and want people who want to train with us.
We accept 2 fellows each year and hope that you consider our program if it seems like a fit for you.
Please feel free to reach out to me, or Oddett Foreman (our Program Manager), or to any of our fellows if you want/need more information.
Dr. Russell Stein, MD, FACC, RPVI
Program Director, Cardiovascular Disease
Danbury Hospital, Danbury CT
Russell.Stein@nuvancehealth.org
Dr. Joseph Burdowski
Associate Program Director, Cardiovascular Disease
Danbury Hospital, Danbury CT
Joseph.Burdowski@nuvancehealth.org
Oddett Foreman
Program Administrator, Cardiovascular Disease
Danbury Hospital, Danbury CT
Oddett.Foreman@nuvancehealth.org
Curriculum
Fellows will gain clinical experience in non-invasive cardiovascular procedures, including:
- Echocardiography
- Vascular studies
- Stress testing
- Radionuclide cardiac scans
- Electrocardiography
- Bedside hemodynamic monitoring in intensive care
- Cardiac MRI
- Cardiac computed Tomography
Fellows will develop great expertise in cath lab procedures due to our high volume and wide variety of cases. Our program builds proficiency in:
- Techniques in cardiac catheterization
- All aspects of arrhythmias
- Management of congestive heart failure
- Valvular heart disease
- Temporary pacemaker insertion
- Preventive cardiology
An equally important goal of our program is to provide the type of mentorship and research opportunities that will enable our fellows to pursue careers in academic cardiovascular medicine. We aim to provide them with the necessary experience to be qualified for the very best positions in our field. Mentored research is required in our Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Program.
Clinical Rotations (Sample Schedule)
Rotation | Months in 1st Year | Months in 2nd Year | Months in 3rd Year |
Catheterization Lab | 2–3 | 1 | 0–3 |
Nuclear Stress | 2 | 1 | 2–3 |
Echocardiography | 2 | 1–2 | 2–3 |
CCU | 2 | 0–1 | 0 |
Electrophysiology | 1 | 1 | 1–2 |
Cardiology Consults | 2–3 | 1–2 | 1–2 |
Research | 0 | 6 | 0 |
Cardiothoracic Surgery | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Peripheral Vascular | 0 | 0 | 1-2 |
Imaging | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Ambulatory | Year-Round | Year-Round | Year-Round |
Preventative Cardiology | 1 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
Transplant / Congestive Heart Failure | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Vacation | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Conference and Lectures (Sample Schedule)
Each week, fellows participate in a series of conferences and lectures with attendings to provide a more focused approach to specialized subjects. Morning Report occurs every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday to allow fellows to present recent cardiac cases and to receive feedback from attendings.
We have weekly EKG and Cardiac Cath conferences as well as a rotating schedule of lectures. We also hold monthly Nuclear Cardiology and Echocardiography conferences as well as a Fellows Journal Club.
Monday | Morning Report |
Tuesday | Morning Report, Echo Conference |
Wednesday | EKG Conference, Cardiac Catheterization |
Thursday | Morning Report, Journal Club |
Friday | Nuclear Cardiology Conference, Lecture Series |
Research
Research is an important part of the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Program. Fellows are given up to six months of dedicated research time during their second year. This time can be used for either clinical or basic science research.
Overview
Training and experience in the diagnosis and management of patients with acute and chronic cardiovascular conditions, including:
- Myocardial infarction and other acute ischemic syndromes
- Chronic coronary heart disease
- Congestive heart failure
- Arrhythmias
- Valvular heart disease
- Hypertension
- Lipid disorders
- Cardiomyopathy
- Peripheral vascular disease
- Infectious and inflammatory heart disease
- Adult congenital heart disease
Program Goals
An intellectual environment for acquiring the knowledge, skills, clinical judgment, attitudes, and values that are essential for the practice of cardiology
- Training in an atmosphere that emphasizes excellent clinical care delivered with respect and compassion for patients and their families
- A significant experience in investigative medicine (basic or clinical research)
- Ensuring the development of future cardiologists who will be the teachers, researchers, and care providers of the future
How to Apply
Eligibility
To be considered, applicants must have completed three years of Internal Medicine training in an ACGME accredited residency by the time the fellowship begins.
The Cardiology Division of the Department of Medicine participates in the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Match administered through the National Residency Match Program.
- All applications for the Training Program in Cardiovascular Medicine will be electronically processed through the ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service) web site
- The program accepts two trainees per year for a minimum of three years
- Fellowship positions are offered approximately 8 months before the fellowship is to begin through the matching program. Applicants are notified regarding interviews after the ERAS application and all required ERAS documentation has been received
All applicants interested in training at Danbury Hospital will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
How to Apply
We participate in the National Residency Match program. Applications must be submitted through Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS).
The following is a list of required materials from all applicants:
- Common application form
- Curriculum Vitae
- Medical school transcripts
- USMLE scores
- Dean’s letter (Medical School Program Evaluation)
- ECFMG scores (if applicable)
- Three Letters of recommendation
- Personal Statement
- Photograph
How many candidates do you accept each year?
We accept two candidates per year.
How many internal candidates vs. external candidates do you accept?
We have no policy regarding internal vs. external candidates. We make every effort to select the best candidates available regardless of their current position.
Will you consider my application if materials are missing by the deadline?
Due to the volume of applications, incomplete applications will not be considered.
Will you let me know when you receive my application?
Unfortunately, given the volume of applicants, individual communications are difficult. If you have submitted your completed application to ERAS, we will review the application and contact you only if you have been selected for an interview.
I was selected for an interview but cannot make the interview date. May I reschedule the interview?
Interviews are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis. If you cannot make your interview date, please contact the fellowship administrator to see if other days are available. If all interview slots are full, we will not be able to make individual accommodations.
Will interview be in person or virtual?
The interview process for 2021 will take place virtually to ensure equal opportunity for all applicants.