Heart Failure Fellowship Program

Program Director: Azam Hadi, MD
Associated Program Director: Craig Alpert, MD
Accreditation: ACGME
Program Length: 1 year (PGY-7)
Fellows per year: 2

Quick guide to Heart Failure Fellowship

Application Information
Curriculum
Leadership and Faculty
Fellows
Graduates
Research
Other Highlights

About the program

Welcome to the Allegheny Health Network Advanced Heart Failure and
Cardiac Transplantation Fellowship program. Our one-year ACGME accredited
program's commitment, and the singular goal is to train our fellows to be
excellent clinicians, confident in his/her abilities and skills on day one
after graduation. This format is enabled to provide exposure to an integrated
multi-disciplinary system with a team-based approach at the very core of its
philosophy and mission.

I want to draw your attention to some of the highlights of our Advanced Heart Failure program:      

• Nationally acclaimed LVAD and Heart Transplant Programs with survival rates better than the national average at 30 days, one year, and three years after transplant (Scientific Registry for Transplant Recipients report of January 2020)      
• Internationally acclaimed Pulmonary Hypertension Program managed exclusively by Advanced Heart Failure team and (also) incorporating medical and surgical management of Acute and Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension
• Cardiogenic Shock Program for the entire Allegheny Health System with Allegheny General Hospital serving as the central system hub for the 'hub and spoke' cardiogenic shock model for Western PA, including a high volume ECMO (both VV and VA) center.         
• Specialty clinics in Amyloidosis, HCM, and Cardiac Palliative Care.       
• Centralized management for heart failure monitoring, including
  placement /monitoring of CardioMEMS device and multiple noninvasive platforms.      
• Encompassing and leading multi-disciplinary
  programs, e.g., structural heart disease (TAVRs, Mitral clips, etc.).    
• Two weeks of inpatient service followed by two weeks of ambulatory; latter comprising of 2 days of catheterization lab and two days of clinic per week with Friday set aside for flexible, individualized, tailored curriculum and pursuit of interests including research,
  imaging, etc.
• Committed faculty dedicated to education, training, and mentorship with a very high faculty (8 faculty including the chairman of Cardiology) to fellow ratio and a 100% board passing and preferred job placement rate.     
• Option for the graduating fellow to consider Cardiac Critical Care PGY 8 ACGME accredited fellowship with Critical Care ABIM certification.     
• Option for weekend daytime moonlighting opportunities
  within the Advanced Heart Failure rounding service.

We welcome you to explore our website and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Mission statement

The mission of our Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology Program is to set the standards of excellence by offering an outstanding experience that thoroughly prepares the trainees for leadership careers in any facet of
Cardiology-clinical or academic.  To accomplish this, our program draws on the expertise and strong teaching commitment of large, full-time and voluntary teaching facilities, a large stream of patients from western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, superb resources for tertiary-care cardiology, and extensive resources.

Program aims

To develop superior teaching skills amongst faculty and fellows

To promote continuous programmatic and faculty improvement through continuous self-assessment and evaluation

To advance the quality of fellow education and training

To promote advanced, innovative training in advanced heart failure and transplant, mechanical circulatory support, and pulmonary hypertension

To improve the fellows exposure to short term mechanical circulatory support devices

To enhance the outpatient experience of care for patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices

To increase the fellows’ exposure to heart failure remote monitoring devices and pulmonary hypertension

To provide opportunities in scholarship (discovery, integration, application, and
dissemination) that will promote the development of life-long learning habits
and opportunities for professional growth.

View the  Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Program

The Cardiovascular Institute at the Allegheny Health Network Medical Education Consortium offers two positions for a one-year ACGME Accredited Fellowship Training Program in Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology (AHFTC) at its flagship hospital, Allegheny General Hospital (AGH).

With 571 licensed beds, including separate 24-bed cardiac and CT surgical ICUs as well as a 24-bed step-down unit for advanced heart failure and pulmonary hypertension patients, AGH is a clinically active program averaging 25 transplants, 30 durable LVADs, and 80 ECMO procedures each year.  In addition, our program offers unique training in pulmonary hypertension alongside internationally-recognized experts and serves as a national CTEPH referral center. In addition, fellows will participate in our multidisciplinary cardiogenic shock team, our multidisciplinary amyloidosis program, and our cardiac palliative care team.

Trainees will have hands-on procedural training in hemodynamics, cardiac
biopsy, CardioMEMs implantation, exercise hemodynamics, and percutaneous
support devices. In addition, they will collaborate on scholarly clinical and  translational research with internationally renowned faculty. Through
AGH’s partnerships with Highmark Insurance and Carnegie Mellon University,
there are special opportunities to participate in quality improvement,
including a celebrated heart failure readmission reduction program, and
computational sciences.

The program includes comprehensive training in advanced heart failure, transplantation, mechanical circulatory support and pulmonary hypertension, as well as opportunities for clinical and translational research.

In accordance with UNOS certification, our trainees develop expertise across the broad spectrum of heart failure from diagnosis to treatment, be it medical or surgical including both device-based therapies and cardiac transplantation.

In addition, the trainee will develop an understanding of both the indications and
contraindications for cardiac transplantation, selection criteria for transplantation, and the management of UNOS Status I candidates awaiting transplantation. Also, the trainee will obtain experience in care after cardiac transplantation, including knowledge of various immunosuppressive regimens as well as diagnosis and management of post-transplant complications.

The trainee will similarly develop knowledge of the selection criteria for left ventricular and right ventricular assist device insertions, selection of the appropriate device, and management of patients on device support, both acutely and with long-term complications.

Finally, the trainee will develop an understanding of the pathogenesis of pulmonary hypertension, including diagnosis and treatment options in this syndrome.

About Graduate Medical Education

The Heart Failure Fellowship program is part of the Graduate Medical Education (GME) opportunities offered by the AHN Medical Education Consortium. Learn more about Graduate Medical Education.

Contact us

For more information, email us at HFfellowship-AGH@ahn.org.

Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology Fellowship Training Program
Allegheny General Hospital
320 East North Avenue, 16 Floor, South Tower
Pittsburgh, PA 15212