| The focal point of the clinical program is the Clinical Service, which admits cardiac patients to Strong Memorial Hospital for diagnosis and treatment. Under the direction of Drs. Eichelberger and Richeson, a clinical team rounds daily, with Drs. Taubman, Velarde, Schwartz and Mieszczanska as attendings.
Programs in noninvasive cardiology include the Echocardiography Laboratory, under the supervision of Dr. Karl Schwarz, with Drs. Chaudhary, Eichelberger, Mieszczanska, Storozynsky and Velarde as attendings; and the Nuclear Cardiology Laboratory, under the direction of Dr. Ronald Schwartz, with Dr. Michael Fong and Hanna Mieszczanska as attendings. The Echo Lab performs conventional 2D and Doppler studies, as well as transesophageal, dobutamine, and exercise echos. The Nuclear Cardiology Lab utilizes gated blood pool scanning, and rest and stress thallium scanning with SPECT imaging. The Heart Station, under the direction of Dr. Hall, performs both standard and ambulatory electrocardiograms, and treadmill stress tests.
The program in invasive cardiology includes activities in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, under the direction of Dr. Ling, with Drs. Pomerantz, Cove, Narins, Gassler, Doling and Garringer as attendings. This laboratory carries out a full range of procedures including coronary angioplasty, stent placement, and atherectomy, as well as valvuloplasty, thrombolytic procedures, and cardiac biopsy. Both first year and third year fellows are assigned to this laboratory. The program is augmented by three interventional fellows at the fourth year level. Also a part of the invasive cardiology program is the Cardiac Electrophysiology Laboratory, under the direction of Dr. Daubert, with Huang, Rosero and Hall as attendings. This laboratory performs routine electrophysiologic testing as well as ablation procedures. Tthe Cardiac Arrhythmia and Pacemaker Service performs pacemaker implantations and follow-up services. One EP fellow at the fourth year level is assigned to the Electrophysiology Laboratory.
The Cardiovascular Center, under the direction of Dr. Delehanty, occupies an entire floor of Strong Memorial Hospital, and is dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease. It includes the Coronary Care Unit, the Intermediate Coronary Care Unit, and beds for patients having cath and EP procedures, as well as a wide range of other cardiovascular conditions. Drs. Delehanty, Bisognano, Richeson, Richter and Chaudhary attend in the Cardiovascular Center. The Cardiac Function Service evaluates patients with congestive heart failure under the direction of Dr. Liang, who carries out both clinical and basic research activities.
The Program in Heart Failure Cardiac Transplant Service, under the direction of Drs. Leway Chen, Medical Director, and H. Todd Massey, Surgical Director, has completed 67 transplantations to date (11 for 2005) since the program began in 2002. Jeffrey Alexis, Michael Fong and Eugene Storoznysky serve as attendings for the transplant service.
Dr. John Bisognano is Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Preventive Cardiology at the Rehab facility located off-site a few miles from the Medical Center in the medical complex at Clinton Crossings. This center provides intensive cardiac rehabilitation to patients with coronary disease and takes a multi-disciplinary approach including nutrition and lifestyle counseling, exercise training, and patient education in the prevention of future events. The Hypertension and Hyperlipidemia clinicsl function in parallel with the rehab center providing focused therapy, both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic to patients with severe hypertension and lipid abnormalities and thorough evaluation of secondary causes of these conditions. There are many opportunities for fellows to participate in Clinical Research. Clinical investigators are active in multicenter clinical trials as well as single center projects in the sections of interventional cardiology, nuclear cardiology, echocardiography, and clinical cardiology. In addition, there are ongoing efforts to develop several translational projects with the rapidly growing basic science unit in the new Cardiovascular Research Center. To facilitate all of these efforts a Clinical Research Council under the direction of Dr. Wojciech Zareba, has proven to be a valuable asset for investigators in the processing of information for Institutional Review Board applications and project start-up activities. As the clinical research activities grow, the council will also help to coordinate various funding sources and data analysis resources. A team of clinical research nurse coordinators works with the investigators for the day-to-day project management. All Cardiology Unit fellows see outpatients during their fellowship training, and conduct a regular Fellows Clinic, which is held each week. There are also several subspecialty clinics, including a Pacemaker Clinic, an Arrhythmia Clinic, a Cardiac Function Clinic for patients with congestive heart failure, a Preventive Cardiology Clinic for patients being evaluated for risk factor modification, and a large Cardiac Rehabilitation Program. The Cardiology Unit at Strong Memorial Hospital conducts a full range of conferences and other teaching sessions. The schedule includes: Regular teaching sessions, devoted to introductory lectures by faculty during the summer, and to lectures by visiting professors during the remainder of the year Cardiology Grand Rounds, with presentations by the cardiology fellows, held frequently during the winter and spring Journal club (held 2x month) Cardiac cath/EP lab conference (held weekly) Research conference, dealing with results of investigations in the experimental laboratory (held every week) Monthly research conference Regular schedule of teaching conferences in echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, cardiac electrophysiology and ECG Monthly Adult Congenital Heart Disease Conference Monthly combined Vascular/Cardiovascular Conference Monthly combined Cardiothoracic Surgery/Cardiology Conference A weekly board review conference to assist fellow trainees in their preparation for the CV Board certification exam. Weekly ECG Conference |