Cardiac Training Opportunities
Three-Month Visiting Fellowship
The three-month visiting fellowship satisfies ACC/AHA guidelines for Level II training in cardiac. It is divided into clinical and didactic components.
Clinical Component
The majority of the clinical component is spent participating in the busy cardiovascular imaging service in the Department of Radiology. Additionally, up to one week blocks may be devoted to the following optional activities, depending upon the previous experience, training, and interest of each visiting fellow:
- Cardiac nuclear medicine and stress testing. The Department of Radiology and Division of Cardiovascular Medicine run this service jointly.
- Echocardiography and interventional cardiology. Run by the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine.
- Vascular interventions. Run by the Interventional Radiology and Vascular Surgery Departments.
- Neurovascular imaging and interventions. Run by the Neuroradiology section.
- Pediatric cardiovascular imaging. Run by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
An individualized schedule is arranged for each participant prior to beginning the fellowship. Please note that not all of the options listed above may be available at all times.
Didactic Component
The didactic component, including the 50 hours required to satisfy the ACC/AHA level 2 guidelines, includes participation in the didactic portion of the Cardiac CT and Optional One-Day Cardiac MR Fellowship. This includes one day of Cardiac MR lectures.
Visiting fellows are strongly encouraged to schedule their three-month visit to overlap with one of these seminar dates, although we will attempt to accommodate those for whom such arrangements are not possible by allowing them to attend the three-day program either before or after their three-month fellowship. However, this cannot be guaranteed.
Additional didactic time will be accumulated through attendance at the following teaching programs, among others, at the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania over the three-month fellowship:
- Cardiovascular Imaging Resident Conference - biweekly
- Interventional Radiology Resident Conference - biweekly
- Vascular Surgery Conference - weekly, every other week devoted to imaging
- Department of Radiology Grand Rounds - weekly
- Department of Cardiology Grand Rounds - weekly
- Cardiac Nuclear Medicine Conference - weekly
- Cardiac Catheterization Conference - weekly
- Adult Congenital Heart Disease Conference - weekly
- Echocardiography Conference - weekly
Two- to Four-Week Visiting Fellowship
Complete your Level II training requirements with a (minimum) two-week visit to Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania’s Cardiovascular Imaging Section.
Level I training guidelines for Vascular CT and MR can also be met in a four-week visit. Physicians have the opportunity to participate in study acquisition and analysis as well as review and document teaching files at a workstation. Participants work at individual post-processing workstations and are provided both live and teaching file case material to complete case requirements with faculty supervision.
A letter of certification is provided for documented cases at conclusion of the visit. This two- to four-week visit is for physicians who have already met their didactic requirements either through a Penn cardiac course or with another institution.
Enrollment is limited and the cost is $2,500 per week.
Clinical Cardiovascular Imaging Service
Dedicated, fellowship-trained cardiovascular imaging sub-specialists staff the cardiovascular imaging (CVI) section. The CVI section is responsible for supervising and interpreting all cardiovascular CT and MR examinations performed at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Pennsylvania Hospital, and several Penn Medicine outpatient facilities, and consults on examinations performed at other institutions within Penn Medicine.
Examinations are performed and interpreted utilizing the following equipment:
- CT: Siemens Somatom Force, Flash, Edge, Definition AS+, GE Revolution
- MR: Siemens Skyra, Aera, TimTrio 3T, Verio 3T, AvantoDOT 1.5T, Espree 1.5T, and GE MR750 3T
- Post-Processing: GE Advantage Windows, Vital Images Vitrea2, TeraRecon AquariusNet and INtuition, Siemens MMWP (Leonardo) and syngo.via, and QMass
Four dedicated technologists who assist with workstation training for visiting fellows staff our 3D and Advanced Visualization Lab.
The current clinical and research case volume is approximately 1,250 cardiac MR exams, 3,500 cardiac CT exams, 5,000 CTA, and 2,000 MRA exams per year.
Pediatric exams at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia are performed and interpreted by dedicated pediatric radiologists and cardiologists.
Application Process
If you are interested in this course, please write to:
Harold I. Litt, MD, PhD
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Department of Radiology
3400 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Please provide background information. If we are able to accommodate you at your preferred time, Dr. Litt will respond with a letter of invitation. At that time, we will ask that you provide two letters:
- A letter from your current supervisor
- A letter from whomever will be sponsoring you
If you are coming from overseas, please allow at least three months to obtain a visa to visit the United States for the three-month period. Also, our office of Graduate Medical Education requires documentation of immunizations, PPD status, and health insurance for visitors who will spend time in clinical areas.