UCLA Cardiology Fellowship Program: Training Future Leaders in Cardiovascular Medicine

The UCLA Cardiology Fellowship Program stands as a distinguished institution dedicated to cultivating future leaders in the dynamic field of cardiovascular medicine. With a rich history of clinical, research, and educational excellence, the program is tailored to nurture the unique talents and interests of each trainee, preparing them for successful careers in academic and clinical cardiology. The program prides itself on a team of compassionate and dedicated individuals who are passionate about their work, fostering a supportive and enjoyable training environment.

Comprehensive Training Tracks

The program offers two distinct fellowship training tracks, both providing comprehensive clinical training in cardiovascular medicine and research opportunities:

Clinical Training Track: This track provides two years of comprehensive clinical training in cardiovascular medicine, complemented by 12 additional months dedicated to research, electives, or specialized training.
Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) Track: Designed for physicians committed to academic careers, the STAR track offers the same comprehensive clinical training over two years, coupled with intensive research training. This track leads to either a Master of Clinical Research degree or a Ph.D.

Additional sub-specialty training is available in Interventional Cardiology, Electrophysiology, Heart Failure and Transplantation, and Adult Congenital Heart Disease. These can be combined with both clinical and STAR fellowship tracks.

Diverse Training Sites

Fellows rotate through three main training sites, each offering unique patient populations and world-class faculty:

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
Olive View-UCLA Medical Center
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System

A fourth clinical site, the UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center, further broadens the spectrum of cardiovascular services available to trainees. This diverse range of sites allows trainees to encounter the complete spectrum of cardiovascular pathology in patients from various socioeconomic backgrounds and healthcare delivery systems, ensuring a well-rounded and rigorous education in cardiovascular medicine.

Curriculum Structure

Harbor-UCLA’s cardiology fellowship program offers both a non-interventional and interventional track for the curriculum. The goals of the PGY-4 year are to immerse the 1st year fellow in both invasive and noninvasive Cardiology.

During the fellow’s second year, they spend approximately half the year at the affiliated institutions of Good Samaritan and Ronald Reagan UCLA Hospital to get exposure to a mix of community and academic medicine and to participate in advanced interventions in interventional cardiology, heart failure, and electrophysiology.

During the PGY-6 final year, the fellow will continue to cycle through multiple clinical rotations, both invasive and noninvasive, to improve their clinical skills. The fellow will have more research/elective time to solidify their interests for the next step in their career.

The three-year fellowship program offers a rotation schedule that allows the fellow to advance from beginner to advanced skills with the appropriate amount of supervision throughout. During the first two years, the trainee primarily develops clinical skills by maintaining close contact with the patients on the ward, intensive care units, in the operating room, and the clinic. The trainee acts as a consultant to the pediatric housestaff for all phases of the management of the patient, including emergency treatment, pre-operative and post-operative care. Research exposure and participation begins in the first year, but takes an important role during the second year. In the third year of training, the fellow has a major commitment to basic or clinical research. Finally, the educational program is rounded out with a structured didactic curriculum including a core curriculum in Clinical and Basic Science. Fellows participate in daily educational opportunities both receiving and giving didactic conferences.

Program Goals and Objectives

The primary goal of UCLA's Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship Training Program is to prepare individuals for careers in academic pediatric cardiology. The program seeks individuals who will pursue creative, scholarly endeavors to advance the science and practice of pediatric cardiology. A key priority is to prepare graduates for any career path they choose within pediatric cardiology.

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Training during this program includes a continuity clinic (3 years, one half day a week) and rotations on the consult service, cardiac care unit, catheterization laboratory, nuclear and echocardiography training, and advanced imaging (involving both cardiac CT and MR). In addition, a busy cardiac Cardiothoracic surgery service allows fellows exposure to pre-operative and post-operative care issues, and the cardiac catheterization laboratories allow training in all types of peripheral and cardiac interventions. The General Cardiology Fellowship at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is a 3-year fellowship program accredited by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The goals of the fellowship are to provide a well-rounded curriculum to the budding cardiologist with exposure to both noninvasive/invasive diagnostic and treatment modalities along with the opportunity to diagnose and manage a wide spectrum of cardiac pathology in an underserved population. In addition, there are rotations at Harbor-UCLA’s affiliated institute Good Samaritan Hospital, which allow for the fellow to experience cardiology in a community setting and participate and interact in an advanced, tertiary referral center for invasive procedures. Applicants who are interested in applying to Harbor-UCLA can apply through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). The General Cardiology Fellowship currently accepts 5 fellows a year. Harbor-UCLA and Good Samaritan also offer 1 year subspecialty fellowships in Interventional Cardiology and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology.

Educational Opportunities

Didactics are heavily emphasized in the fellowship, with daily conferences held by both the Division of Cardiology and Department of Medicine. 1st year fellows do not assume call responsibilities until approximately November, when they have finished rotating through their core curriculum through both noninvasive and invasive rotations. During the Good Samaritan Cath Lab rotation, the General Fellow on average takes q3 STEMI call in the rotation with the Interventional Fellows, and covers 1-2 weekends during their month at Good Samaritan.

The educational program is rounded out with a structured didactic curriculum including a core curriculum in Clinical and Basic Science. Fellows participate in daily educational opportunities both receiving and giving didactic conferences.

Research Opportunities

UCLA's Pediatric Cardiology fellowship program enables each fellow to design an individualized program and curriculum to meet his or her specific career needs. "The purpose of training during the three year fellowship is to provide a foundation for understanding normal and abnormal cardiovascular conditions, with a focus on the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease, and to prepare them to provide optimal care and consultation for pediatric patients with cardiovascular disease."

For trainees interested in a career in basic science investigation, opportunities include:

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Developmental cardiovascular biology
Biology of vascular endothelium and smooth muscle
Myocardial energetics
Cardiovascular genetics
Biomedical Device Research

Duty Hours

The Division of Cardiology strictly adheres to ACGME Resident Duty Hours. Duty hours are limited to 80 hours per week, averaged over a 4-week period, inclusive of all in-house call activities and all moonlighting.

Areas of Focus

The fellowship provides training in a comprehensive range of areas, including:

Advanced echocardiography (including fetal and transesophageal studies)
Interventional Catheterization
Electrophysiology (including ablation and standard and biventricular pacemakers)
Cardiac Critical Care (including ventricular assist devices, ECMO)
Exercise Physiology
Cardiomyopathy and Cardiac Transplantation Medicine (including ECMO)
Preventative cardiology (including hyperlipidemia, obesity)
Adult Congenital Cardiology
Public Policy and Outcomes Research

Research and Innovation

The UCLA Cardiology Fellowship Program is at the forefront of cardiovascular research, with faculty and fellows actively involved in groundbreaking studies. Recent research highlights include:

Endothelial Resilience: A study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI) describes a signaling mechanism in endothelial cells that protects against inflammation. Researchers discovered that laminar flow-induced endothelial cell body elongation establishes polarized mechanosensitive signaling domains, which facilitate focal calcium entry via TRPV4 channels to produce nitric oxide.
Heart Arrhythmias: A study published in Science demonstrated that heart arrhythmias are promoted by fibroblasts, scar-forming cells found in scar tissues of the injured heart. Newly identified mechanisms of fibroblast-myocyte communication have clinical implications for treating the nervous system.
Liver-Heart Communication: Research published in Science revealed the role of a liver-derived protein, coagulation factor XI (FXI), in heart injury, highlighting the importance of liver-heart communication.
Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System: Research used a multiscale approach to create a comprehensive atlas of how the cardiac autonomic nervous system controls the heartbeat.

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