Advanced Heart Failure/Transplant Cardiology Fellowship

Program Overview

Loyola Medicine offers an ACGME-accredited advanced heart failure/transplant cardiology fellowship program that has been accredited since 2013.

Loyola has the one of the longest active accredited cardiac transplant centers in the United States with nearly 950 total heart transplants performed to date and over 60 patients currently supported by HMII, HVAD and HM3 durable LVADs. The program is a 12-month ACGME-accredited fellowship offered following a three year general cardiology fellowship which is both clinically and research oriented.

Each month of the fellowship is split into a two week inpatient/two week outpatient rotation and the program's curriculum follows the ISHLT Heart Failure and Transplant Medicine Core Competency curriculum in accordance with the ACC's Clinical Competence Statement on advanced heart failure/transplant cardiology.

Inpatient Rotation

The two week inpatient rotation will see fellows:

Consult in CCU, CV-ICU and hospital wards
Supervise senior residents caring for patients on primary heart failure floor service
Work in heart transplant donor call
No overnight call required for fellows

Outpatient Rotation

The two week outpatient rotation will see fellows work out of:

Heart failure and heart transplant clinic
Ventricular assist device (VAD) clinic
Cardiac amyloid clinic
Pulmonary hypertension clinic
RHC/EMB lab
CPET interpretation

Conferences, Academics and Research

Monthly Conferences

Didactics
Journal club
Case conferences

Research

Institutional OHT and VAD outcomes databases
Institutional blood and tissue repository
Collaboration with CVRI/CTRE and statisticians

Multicenter Clinical Trials and Registries

INTERMACS (International registry)
GALACTIC-HF (RCT Omecamtiv)
INVESTED (flu vaccine in HF)
VICTORIA (RCT Vericiquat)
PRIME-HF (RCT ivabradine)
Cardio-TTRansform (RCT novel ASO)
PROACTIVE-HF (Cordella PAP sensor)
BMAD-HF (Zoll telemonitoring device)
TRANSFORM (Torsemide vs furosemide)
SHORE (Allomap/Allosure)
DT PAS (HVAD PMS study)
IND Benzinidazole (Tx Chagas)

Education

One Year Clinical Training Program

The Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Fellowship is a 12-month training program with an emphasis on treating patients with advanced heart failure and those who have undergone cardiac transplantation or VAD placement.

This advanced training program consists of four full-time heart failure/transplant cardiologist along with a large multidisciplinary team of cardiac surgeons, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, LVAD and transplant nurses, social workers, physical and occupational therapist, and nutritionists.

Residents and general cardiology fellows also integrate with the team during their heart failure rotations. This multidisciplinary approach to each individual patient has allowed our excellent clinical outcomes.

The advanced heart failure/transplant fellow’s role includes leading the advanced heart failure team rounds, managing post-operative transplant and VAD patients, participating in the heart failure, VAD, and cardiac transplant clinics at Loyola, participating in the cardiac amyloid, infiltrative, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and pulmonary hypertension specialty clinics at Loyola, performing right heart catheterizations, endomyocardial biopsies, participating at transplant committee meetings and quality improvement meetings and managing immunosuppression medications. Specific rotations (ie. ACHD, CIED and Genetics) can also be arranged based on any of the individual applicant’s specific interests.

Research Training

In addition to the clinical training, all fellows are expected to participate in research endeavors. There is a wide range of active heart failure, transplant and MCS research and quality improvement projects ongoing which fellow participation is highly encouraged. Fellows are encouraged to present and attend at least one conference during their 12 month fellowship, with additional stipend available to cover the cost of participation.

Educational Programs, Conferences & Seminars

The Loyola Advanced Heart Failure Fellowship program curriculum follows the ISHLT Heart Failure and Transplant Medicine Core Competency Curriculum and ACC Clinical Competence Statement on AHFTC.

The advanced heart failure fellow participates in monthly conferences including journal club, case conferences, and didactics on selected topics in AHFTC.

In addition, the fellow is to actively participate in weekly multidisciplinary transplant committee meetings and conferences, and is expected to assist in the education of residents and fellows rotating through the heart failure services and clinics.

Application Process

Application is via ERAS. After the application and all accompanying documents (current CV, three letters of recommendation including one from the current Program Director, USMLE scores, and Personal Statement) are received, the Program Director will review the application. If an applicant is to be considered for our program, the applicant will be notified and an interview will be scheduled.

Please contact our Program Coordinator, Kim Treckler, for more information.