Overview

The Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship Program provides advanced education and clinical experience in providing care for patients undergoing invasive and minimally invasive surgical procedures of the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems.

The 12-month program supports two fellows each year. The strength of the program is in the large number, diversity and complexity of surgical procedures.

Founded in 2004, the program has graduated nearly 30 fellows, all of whom have gained certification in perioperative echocardiography and practice in an array of settings, from private practice to academic institutions.

The fellowship also includes instruction from cardiology, cardiac surgery, critical care medicine and perfusion. Current fellows have published in the Society of Cardiac Anesthesiology Newsletter and have a submission pending publication in a peer reviewed journal. Fellows have also presented posters at resident/fellow research days and at national meetings.

One of the main goals of the program is for our fellows to successfully complete the requirements for certification in Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography (TEE), including passage of the PTEeXAM.

Curriculum

The basic curriculum centers on adult patients with cardiac, pulmonary and vascular disease.

Didactics include echocardiography conferences, journal clubs, grand rounds, quality improvement conferences and cardiothoracic case conferences. Research is strongly encouraged.

Fellows will spend:

• Six months providing anesthesia for cardiac surgery at VCU Medical Center
• Two months in clinical echocardiography
• One month in thoracic surgery
• One month in critical care

The program also requires two months of electives, including:

• Pediatric cardiothoracic anesthesiology
• Cardiac catheterization and interventional cardiology
• Electrophysiology
• Extracorporeal perfusion
• Interventional pulmonology
• Medical or surgical critical care
• Research

Fellows will be involved with more than 1,000 surgical procedures per year, including:

• Cardiac transplantation
• Total artificial heart
• Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI)
• Major vascular interventional
• Ventricular assist device placement
• Thoracoscopic and interventional pulmonary procedures
• “Off-pump” revascularization
• Minimally invasive procedures

Learn more about our curriculum

Faculty

The division includes six full-time faculty with subspecialty experience including fellowship training or its equivalence in adult cardiothoracic anesthesiology. All are board certified in perioperative echocardiology by the National Board of Echocardiography.

Admission

All applications for the cardiothoracic fellowship are taken through SF Match. Candidates will have successfully completed anesthesiology training at an ACGME accredited residency program.

Contact Us

Nirvik Pal, MBBS, MD, FASE
Cardiothoracic Fellowship Director

Email: Nirvik.Pal@vcuhealth.org
Phone: (804) 628-0282 
Fax: (804) 628-4557