Pediatric Cardiology

The Division of Pediatric Cardiology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine is located at Children's Memorial Hospital. The division has a long tradition in fellowship education. The Division of Pediatric Cardiology is committed to training physicians for a career in academic pediatric cardiology. There are two fellows for each year of fellowship, with an additional opportunity for various fourth-year fellowships.

Please note that in the third year, there are three rotations (block 2,3,4) that are “flexible.”  Depending on discussions with the program director and faculty, these months are considered “elective.”  The subspecialty resident may vary these three months depending on career goals and past performance.  Should the resident desire a career in non-invasive imaging, these months may be organized to reflect the resident’s career goals including extra time within our institution or at another institution where an appropriate rotation is developed beforehand.  The percentage of clinical and research time during these three months will depend on the career goal of the trainee and will be discussed with the program director.  These three months may be used at the discretion of the program director and faculty so that the trainee obtains experience in a specific clinical skill where the trainee has not met the expectations of the faculty.  The trainee must also have met the minimum requirements for specific procedures by the end of the second year, otherwise the individual must take further training to obtain the minimum requirements.
 

 The pediatric cardiology program allows fellows to develop strong clinical skills. The fellowship encompasses inpatient and outpatient services, with emphasis on echocardiography, cardiac electrophysiology, cardiac catheterization, transplantation, teaching and working conferences, and research activities. Children’s Memorial features one of the busiest cardiothoracic surgery services in the state.

During the first fellowship year, a cardiology fellow rotates formally through several major areas: inpatient service, surgical/ICU care, electrophysiology, echocardiography, and cardiac catheterization. The second year is devoted to improving clinical skills as well as gaining exposure to research. The third year provides an opportunity to continue research work while assuming additional clinical responsibilities. Additional experience is available in cardiac surgery, cardiac pathology, exercise and pulmonary function, interventional catheterization, fetal echocardiography, advanced imaging, preventive cardiology, and electrophysiology.

To provide a more in-depth clinical experience in the post-operative care of cardiovascular surgery patients, fellows on the Cardiovascular Surgery/ICU rotation are freed of all cardiology division responsibilities. The trainee is responsible for the post-operative ICU care of cardiovascular surgery patients under the supervision of cardiovascular surgeons and PICU and cardiology attendings. Call during this rotation is in-house every fourth night covering only the post-op CV surgery patients under the supervision of a senior-year ICU fellow (in-house) and surgeons, ICU and cardiology attendings (at home). For fellows who wish to take more than the required two months of ICU rotation, they may opt for additional months as part of their electives during their third year.

An outpatient rotation allows fellows to experience a month practicing outreach cardiology with three separate groups of physicians (academic, outreach, and private practice) at non-hospital-based sites. The fellows spend time with office personnel and managers to discuss issues involved in running an outpatient office.

In the advanced imaging rotation, fellows focus on fetal echo, transesophageal echo, MRI, and cardiac CT. Trainees will have already rotated through five months of echo prior to this rotation.

In the third year, there are three flexible "elective" rotations. After discussions with the program director and faculty, the subspecialty resident may schedule these three months depending on individual career goals and past performance. For example, fellows interested in specializing in non-invasive imaging may organize their elective time to pursue additional training. They could elect to spend more time at Children’s Memorial, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, or another institution with an appropriate rotation in this area.

Inpatient Facilities

Children’s Memorial features a newly expanded acute care PICU with 42 beds. A separate cardiology inpatient unit with telemetry is on the same floor as cardiology diagnostic services. 

 Outpatient Experience

Fellows have office hours in the program’s “Continuity Clinic.” Fellows see continuity patients either on the first and third or the second and fourth Thursday afternoon of the rotation. Fellows work with the same “team” of fellows for the duration of their fellowship. There is one first-, second-, and third-year fellow on each team. Fellows acquire new patients through scheduling for routine murmurs and the like, by admitting new patients when they are on-call/on-service or doing consults on patients when they need follow-up. Fellows will continue to gain additional outpatient experience in outpatient offices during their sub-specialty rotations, for example, by attending EP clinic when on the EP rotation.

Research Time

The fellowship program allots a minimum of one year for fellows to gain excellent research experience, particularly in the third year of the program. Depending on career goals, third-year fellows may use three elective months for research.

Educational Program

All fellows have the opportunity to participate in the Master of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) program at the Feinberg School of Medicine during the second and third year of fellowship. This program is geared for the physician who will be entering a career in academic medicine. The master’s degree program covers topics such as statistics, epidemiology, research methods and design, grant writing and human subjects/ethics. A research project is required as part of this degree program. MSCI classes meet on weekday evenings, usually one day a week. Call is arranged so as not to conflict with classes. All fellows who do not hold a PhD, MPH, or other advanced research degree are expected to complete the MSCI program. The Department of Pediatrics covers the program tuition for its fellows.

Fellows are sponsored to attend one major cardiology meeting per year. They are responsible for teaching of residents and medical students and are expected to become eligible for certification in pediatric cardiology by the American Board of Pediatrics.

Conferences include a weekly cardiac catheterization and surgery conference. A weekly fellow conference is held with a rotating curriculum over a two-year period. Monthly journal clubs are fellow-directed with active faculty participation.

On-call Duty

Fellows cover night and weekend calls for the cardiology service with an attending cardiologist. Fellow on-call is from home except during two required rotations in the ICU/Surgery. During these rotations fellows have in-house call every fourth night taking care of post-op cardiovascular surgery patients.

Stipends

For fellowship salary information, visit McGaw Stipends.

Application Requirements

The pediatric cardiology program’s acceptance criteria conform with those of the Graduate Medical Education program of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education. Fellowship applicants must be board certified in pediatrics by the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) or must be eligible to sit for the ABP general pediatric examination during the first year of fellowship training.


Division Head

Barbara Deal, MD
Professor of Pediatrics

Fellowship Program Director

Wayne H. Franklin, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Clinical Practice Director

Fellowship Program Associate Director

Sabrina Tsao, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Faculty

Deborah Bryk-Serva, MD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics

Andrew de Freitas, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine

C. Elise Duffy, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Jeffrey G. Gossett, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Nina L. Gotteiner, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Peter R. Koenig, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Sulekha P. Kumar, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Alexander J. Muster, MD
Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics

Elfriede Pahl, MD
Professor of Pediatrics
Director, Heart Transplant Program

Amy D. Shah, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Dolores A. Vitullo, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Director, Outreach Program

Kendra M. Ward, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Director, Exercise Lab

David F. Wax, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Director, Catheterization Lab

Catherine L. Webb, MD
Professor of Pediatrics
Director, Telemedicine Program

Luciana T. Young, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Director, Echocardiography Lab

Clinical Faculty

Roger B. Cole, MD
Professor of Clinical Pediatrics

Guy R. Randolph, MD
Instructor in Clinical Pediatrics

Thomas J. Weigel, MD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics

Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgeons

Constantine Mavroudis, MD
Professor of Surgery
Surgeon-in-Chief and Head, Division of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery

Sunjay Kaushal, MD
Associate Professor of Surgery

For more information, contact Naomi Simwenyi, Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Children's Memorial Hospital, 2300 Children's Plaza, Box 21, Chicago, Illinois 60614-3394, 773/880-4211; fax 773/880-8111.

E-mail: nsimwenyi@childrensmemorial.org