Overview
Application Requirements
Applicants to the Emory Structural Heart and Valve Fellowship must have successfully completed a cardiac surgery residency program, been involved in research during their residency, and have catheter experience via vascular surgery or cardiology rotations. Applicants who did not complete their residency in the United States must also have passed the USMLE I, II, and III exams and have an H-1B VISA.
Objectives
By completion of the program, fellows should be able to conduct the preoperative evaluation of transcatheter aortic and mitral valve patients, which includes compiling slides for every preoperative patient and presenting national clinical trial patients on adjudication calls. Fellows will learn to use and manipulate 3mensio imaging software for CT scan reconstruction and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) planning, demonstrate efficiency with percutaneous techniques such as mitra-clip, and become familiar with newly emerging tricuspid and mitral valve devices.
Fellows will be expected to perform TAVR procedures as the primary operator and display facility with such alternative access approaches as direct aortic, transapical, subclavian, transcaval, and transcarotid sites. They will also participate in thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) procedures performed by staff cardiac and vascular surgeons.
Fellows will develop and demonstrate team leadership skills while collaborating with research staff and allied TAVR program personnel. Fellows will become comfortable with the the structural heart team's organization, interaction of disciplines, and function.
Fellows contribute to academic presentations at morbidity and mortality conferences and research conferences for the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery.
Clinical Responsibilities
Fellows participate in the care of inpatients, both on the ward and in the intensive care unit, and will be involved in outpatient clinic preoperative and follow-up care. Fellows assist on open cardiac surgery cases at least one-to-two days per week.
Take-home resident call is one day a week, one weekend per month, and one holiday per year.
Case Volume
Fellows typically perform three TAVR cases as first operator on Tuesdays at Emory University Hospital Midtown, and three cases as second operator on Wednesdays at Emory University Hospital. Typically, there are at least one-to-three add-on cases per week at each campus. Fellows should expect six-to-ten total transcatheter cases per week, including TAVR, mitra-clip, mitral valve prosthesis, and tricuspid valve prosthesis.
Research
Fellows learn how to properly select and enroll patients in national clinical trials as well as inclusion and exclusion criteria for randomized and registry valve trials. They will actively participate in research that leads to oral and poster presentations at national and international meetings, and the publication of manuscripts, case reports, book chapters, and/or editorial comments.
Contact and Inquiries
Applications for all advanced fellowships (except for Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship) are currently closed. Please check back for updates.
Susan Blackstock: Assistant Director, Programs, Cardiothroacic Surgery Training Programs
Brent Keeling, MD: Cardiothoracic Surgery Director, TAVR Fellowship
Vasilis C. Babaliaros, MD: Cardiology Director, TAVR Fellowship