Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship Program

About the Program
Curriculum
Faculty
Application Information
Contact Us

About the program

The Allegheny Health Network Medical Education Consortium Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship is a one-year clinical training program designed to prepare graduates for leadership positions in the subspecialty practice of cardiothoracic anesthesiology. The program is dedicated to providing training and experience in a multidisciplinary academic environment to achieve competence in patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and systems-based practice in the field of cardiothoracic anesthesiology.

The curriculum is structured to provide fellows with the opportunity to develop skills in clinical care, judgment, teaching, and research. At the conclusion of the fellowship, the fellow functions as an independent consultant in the anesthesia care of cardiothoracic patients, including the certification in perioperative TEE. Additionally, it is our practice to assign the fellows to the more complex, challenging teaching cases, including ventricular assist device insertion, transplantation, or thoracoabdominal aneurysm repair. This maximizes the fellows’ learning experience in clinical care and judgment.

Completion of the fellowship program curriculum fulfills the minimum program requirements specified by the ACGME and the eligibility requirements for achieving certification in Advanced Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography from the National Board of Echocardiography.

The fellowship education in adult cardiothoracic anesthesiology training includes:

• A minimum of 12 months duration, beginning after satisfactory completion of a residency program in anesthesiology as required for entry into the examination system of the American Board of Anesthesiology.
• Experience in providing anesthesia for cardiac, non-cardiac thoracic, and intrathoracic vascular surgical procedures, in addition to anesthesia for non-operative diagnostic and interventional cardiac and thoracic procedures outside of the operating room.
• Practice in preanesthsia preparation and postanesthesia care, pain management, and advanced cardiac life support.
• Familiarity with the conduct of preoperative patient evaluation and interpretation of cardiovascular and pulmonary diagnostic test data, hemodynamic and respiratory monitoring, advanced-level perioperative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), management of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), pharmacological and mechanical hemodynamic support, perioperative critical care, including ventilator support, and perioperative main management.
  

In addition to the requirements listed above, all fellows must be educated in advanced cardiac life support and be ACLS providers.

In conjunction with a faculty supervisor, all fellows must complete a minimum of one academic assignment related to cardiothoracic anesthesiology. Academic projects may include:

• Grand Rounds presentation.
• Preparation and publication of review articles, book chapters, and manuals for teaching or clinical practice.
• Clinical, translational, or basic research investigation or similar scholarly activities.
  

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Curriculum

The fellow in adult cardiovascular anesthesiology will gain significant clinical and supervisory experience. In addition, the fellow will teach and supervise core residents and other anesthesia providers in preparation for future supervisory roles. The clinical program follows the course of study outlined by the ACGME Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesia Fellowship criteria, as follows:

• Six months of clinical cardiothoracic anesthesia, including experience providing anesthesia for cardiac, non-cardiothoracic, and intrathoracic vascular surgical procedures, as well as anesthesia for non-operative diagnostic and interventional cardiac and thoracic procedures outside of the operating room. In addition, training involves experience in preanesthesia preparation and postanesthesia care, pain management, and advanced cardiac life support, as well as:
  • 70 Surgical Procedures (Cardio Pulmonary Bypass).
  • 40 Value Repair or Replacement.
  • 50 Revascularization.
• Additional clinical experience within the full one-year fellowship involves successful completion of advanced perioperative echocardiography education according to the training objectives from the American Society of Echocardiography and the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists “Guidelines for Training in Perioperative Echocardiography.” This includes the study of 300 complete perioperative echocardiographic examinations, of which at least 150 are comprehensive intraoperative TEE examinations performed, interpreted, and reported by the fellow.
• Additional required clinical experience within the full one-year fellowship entails at least one month of anesthetic management of patients undergoing non-cardiac thoracic surgery.
• The fellow is required to have a one-month experience managing adult cardiothoracic surgical patients in a critical care (ICU setting).
• Two months of elective rotations (none fewer than 2 weeks in duration) from the following categories:
  • Inpatient or outpatient cardiology and invasive cardiology.
  • Surgical critical care.
  • Extracorporeal perfusion technology.
  • One or two months devoted to a research project in cardiothoracic anesthesiology may be substituted for the clinical elective rotations.

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Faculty

Program Director

Daniel Cormican, MD

Director, Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship Program Division of
Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Allegheny General Hospital Anesthesiology Department

320 East North Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
daniel.cormican@ahn.org

Faculty

JP Lawrence, MD (Anesthesiology Institute Chairman)
Soma Bandi, MD
Daniel Cormican, MD
Michael Dishart, MD
Edward Gologorsky, MD
Rachel Gryta, DO
Jeffrey Helkowski, MD
Donna Kucharski, MD
Laura MacNeil, MD
Barry Marks, DO
Matthew McConnell, MD
Colin Nabb, MD
Bryan Noorda, MD
Qin Zhang, MD

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Application information

All applications are accepted through the SF Match. This program does not participate in ERAS or the NRMP.

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Contact us

Christina Wolbert
Coordinator, Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship Program Department of Anesthesiology
Allegheny General Hospital 4th Floor, South Tower
320 E North Avenue
Pittsburgh PA 15212
(412) 359-6726
christina.wolbert@ahn.org

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