Letter From Dr. Anwar Tandar, Program Director
Dear Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Applicant,
Thank you for your interest in our Interventional Cardiology Fellowship program. The fellowship is a one year program and we accept three new fellows each year. We require that the fellow applicant will have completed at least three years in an
accredited cardiovascular disease fellowship before they begin the Interventional Cardiology Fellowship.
The Interventional Cardiology Fellowship consists of 12 months of interventional clinical and research training. Fellows rotate between two hospitals: the University of Utah Health and the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Fellows also participate in an outpatient interventional clinic one-half day per week. Our goal is to provide training for a career in academic interventional cardiology.
Clinical training in the interventional cardiology fellowship at the University of Utah is intense and thorough. There is an emphasis on hands-on involvement with appropriate faculty supervision and instruction. The Interventional Cardiology Fellowship is governed by the ACGME, and we follow the guidelines of the ACGME for the Interventional Program. In order for a fellow to successfully complete the program, the fellow will have to complete a minimum of 250 coronary interventions and demonstrate competence in the performance of the following:
• Diagnostic coronary, graft, and peripheral angiography
• Hemodynamic measurements
• Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and intracardiac echocardiography (ICE)
• Doppler flow and intracoronary pressure measurements
• Valvuloplasty: aortic, mitral, pulmonic
• Percutaneous closure of patent foramen ovale (PFO) and atrial septal defects (ASD)
• Ethanol septal ablation for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy
• Exposure to structural cardiac intervention including TAVR, MitraClip, Watchman device, and also clinical trial to PARACHUTE device.
Fellows will also receive formal instruction on various other aspects of Interventional Cardiology, to assure that they are well prepared to take the Interventional Cardiology boards.
Although not required by the ACGME, we have expanded the clinical training to cover peripheral vascular disease. Consistent with the ACC/ACP/SVS/SCAI/SVMB consensus document (JACC 2004; 44:941-957). Additional training components include one month of inpatient vascular surgery, one month of non-invasive vascular laboratory, and one-half day per week of longitudinal outpatient clinic for vascular patients. In addition, third-year general cardiology fellows, who have been accepted into our interventional fellowship, will have the opportunity to complete a two-month rotation with vascular surgery and a two-month rotation with interventional radiology. The Interventional Fellowship is geared towards structural heart disease and fellows will have the opportunity to participate in procedures with Pediatric Interventional cardiologist at Primary Children's Medical Center.
In addition to completing the electronic application available via the ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service), please also include a one page personal statement explaining your motivation for pursuing a career in interventional cardiology and your career goals. In this statement, note any specific research or clinical specialization interests which you may have at this time. Also, solicit at least three letters of recommendation and USMLE scores via ERAS. Please ask those writing the letters to comment on their impressions of your commitment to an academic career, and, their assessment of your potential as an investigator and teacher.
We welcome applications from non-U.S. Citizens as well as US Citizens. Non-US. Citizens must have a J-1 visa or be a permanent resident of the US. We will be accepting applications in December. Interviews will be held in late January/early February. Those applicants who are accepted into the program will be notified the first week of May.
If there are questions you would like to ask before making a decision to apply to our program, please feel free to contact our program coordinator, Missy Grow at (801) 585-1686.
Thank you,
Anwar Tandar, MD, FACC, FRCPC, FSCAI
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Program Director, Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Program
Director, Structural Cardiac Intervention
University of Utah School of Medicine