Cardiology Fellowship

Program Description

Program Mission
We utilize structured training and mentorship to educate the next generation of clinicians and leaders in the field of cardiovascular medicine by integrating compassionate patient care, the highest ethical standards, and the application of knowledge. The fellowship is a multidisciplinary, comprehensive program providing training in all areas of cardiovascular disease and aims to instill the foundational knowledge and skills needed for the successful practice of cardiovascular medicine.

Our objective is to graduate outstanding clinical cardiologists who focus on the greater good of community health and are champions of cardiology outreach to the rural communities of south and central Illinois and beyond. We want our fellows to become dynamic partners in our translational research and be inspired by the integration of clinical medicine and the engineering principles envisioned by the curriculum at Carle Illinois College of Medicine. We envision our fellows as future cardiologists with successful, purposeful careers in clinical practice, academia, health administration, and public health.

Program Goals
The Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship program aims to provide an immersive learning environment for fellows as they progress through the fellowship training, ensuring a mentored, guided and structured exposure to various facets of clinical cardiology, utilizing the vast number and wide variety of primary and tertiary cardiology clinical experiences available at Carle Foundation Hospital and its facilities. We aim to train fellows who will utilize these resources to deliver highest quality cardiac care by focusing on continuous practice improvement, and advocating for patient safety and quality improvement. To serve this aim, 100% of our graduates will participate in a QI project mentored by faculty, with the institutional goal of creating a culture of continuous quality improvement and advancement in practice of cardiology.

Given the network of cardiac clinical care provided by Carle Foundation Hospital facilities throughout central Illinois through outreach rural facilities, the fellowship aims to involve fellows in cardiac care of patients in these areas and improve their understanding of the challenges faced by these patient populations in accessing and utilizing needed cardiac care. The program aims to produce physicians who have an understanding of disparities in health care in rural and outreach areas and endeavor to identify and address these disparities so as to improve outcomes in patients in these communities. At least 50% of our graduates will graduate with either a scholarly or QI project that addresses disparities in health care in these communities, serving in clinic that cares for such patients, or participating in sessions that focus on rural health care disparities.

The fellowship program aims to train not only excellent clinical cardiologists, but also foster and encourage interest in research, especially translational research, using the resources already available at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine in partnership with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. We aim to train cardiologists who demonstrate scholastic excellence, life-long learning, inquiry and dissemination of new scientific knowledge. Our goal is for more than half of our graduates to have at least one research project in association with Carle Illinois College of Medicine and/or University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a scholarly publication in a peer reviewed journal (excludes case reports) prior to graduation.

The fellowship aims to provide guidance and opportunities to our fellows to pursue their passion in the field of cardiology. Given the opportunities available in primary and outreach cardiology, and the advanced tertiary care provided at Carle Foundation Hospital in the fields of advanced cardiac imaging, interventional cardiology, structural interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, advanced heart failure services and research in collaboration with Carle Illinois College of Medicine, our fellowship program is well positioned to provide these training opportunities to our fellows. 

Our aim is to create a workforce of regional cardiologists and cardiac subspecialists that will serve in central and southern Illinois and other underserved areas in the Midwest. We aim to recruit and retain at least a quarter of our graduating fellows to practice here and serve the institutional goal of creating a workforce that serves local underserved areas.

Curriculum

Our program is dedicated to achieving excellence in patient care, and distinction in scholarship and education. We place an emphasis on learning by doing. Fellows are constantly challenged to solve problems while being supported by Carle physicians and care teams.

Each year has 13 blocks; each block is a four week duration.

PGY - 4

• 3 blocks: Consult/Rounding
• 2 blocks: CCU/Heart Failure, Cath Lab, Echo/Imaging, Nuclear Medicine/Imaging (Cardiac CT, MR)
• 1 block: Research, EP

PGY - 5

• 2 blocks: Consult/Rounding, CCU/Heart Failure, Cath Lab, Echo/Imaging, Nuclear Medicine/Imaging (Cardiac CT, MR)
• 1 block: Research, EP, Elective

PGY - 6

• 4 blocks: Electives
• 2 blocks: CCU/Heart Failure, Cath Lab, Echo/Imaging
• 1 block: Consult/Rounding, Vascular, Research

Electives:

• Nuclear Cardiology
• Cardiac Catheterization Lab
• Cardiac Consultation
• Electrophysiology
• Echocardiography
• Imaging (Cardiac CT, MR) 
• Vascular Medicine
• Dedicated Research
• Advanced Heart Failure
• Outreach/Preventive Cardiology

Conferences and Educational Events

• Fellows boot camp lecture series (month of July)
• Monthly journal club
• Weekly core conference
• Monthly stress test-cardiac cath correlation conference
• Twice a month case conference
• Weekly advanced structural heart conference
• Monthly quality review and improvement conference
• Monthly echo/imaging conference
• Monthly cardiology mortality and morbidity conference
• Twice a month EKG conference
• Monthly research conference
• Monthly Cardiology Grand Rounds
• Monthly state of the art conference
• Monthly cardiology board review
• Career guidance retreat
• Internal Medicine Grand Rounds (CME)

Other Conferences / Educational Events

• Bioethics Seminar
• Palliative Medicine Journal Club
• Annual Cardiology Update for Primary Care
• Carle Foundation Day
• Carle Illinois College of Medicine Health Innovation Research Day

Meet Our Team

How to Apply

Thank you for your interest in the Carle Foundation Hospital Cardiology Fellowship Program. Our program participates in the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) and only accepts applications through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS

NOTE: Due to a high volume of inquiries, we are unable to review or comment on individual applicant inquires.

Application Submission

• Begins when ERAS opens.
• Applicants must apply through ERAS. Email, paper or faxed documentation are not accepted and will not be reviewed.
• Our ACGME Program ID is 1411614001.
• Our NRMP number is 1226141F0.
• Applications are welcome from U.S. and international medical school graduates (J1 visas only for international applicants).

Application Criteria
A complete application includes:

• A curriculum vitae (CV).
• At least three letters of recommendation (waived letters), with one from residency program director.
  
• A personal statement.
• United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) or Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX) scores. We do not publish minimum score requirements.

Interviews:

• Interviews are by invitation only. They are held in October.
• Invitations to interview are sent via ERAS during the last two weeks of August and the first two weeks of September. Interviews are self-scheduled through ERAS.
• The interview 8 a.m. and typically includes:
• A welcome and presentation by the program director.
• Interviews with three to four faculty members.
• A virtual meeting with current cardiology fellows.
  

Please note that this information may be subject to change.

If you have any questions regarding our program or the application process, please contact us at CFP@carle.com or call (217) 383-4637.

About Our Faculty

Dr. Naveed Adoni is an Interventional cardiologist at the Heart and Vascular Institute, Carle Foundation Hospital. He is the Program Director for the Carle Foundation Hospital Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship program. He is also closely involved with the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, part of the inaugural faculty and currently a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the college. His chief passion is teaching students and residents and he is currently the Course Director for the cardiovascular block for first year medical students. Apart from coronary interventions, his focus is on structural heart interventions including TAVRs, left atrial appendage closures and PFO/ASD closures. Dr. Adoni is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular disease, Interventional Cardiology, the National Board of Echocardiography, the Certification Board of Nuclear Cardiology, and the Certification Board of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography.

Dr. Anuj Garg joined Carle as a cardiac electrophysiologist in 2013. He implants devices and does complex ablations and lead extractions in addition to treating patients with arrhythmias. In the last seven years, he has established the lead extraction program at Carle and was one of the principal investigators in the 2018-2019 international RELEASE trial. Dr. Garg has also established relationships with medical professionals and organizations in the area and around the country. He is a returning presenter at the Lead Extraction Symposium held every year in Las Vegas, sharing his experience and expertise with other physicians from all over the world in the delicate art of extracting leads. Dr. Garg completed his EP fellowship at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and his cardiology fellowship at the University of Texas Medical Branch/Methodist-Debakey Hospital in Houston. He had the pleasure and privilege of being chief resident after completing his residency in the Legacy Medical Health System in Portland, Oregon.

Dr. Sanjay Mehta is an Interventional cardiologist. He is the current Cardiac Catheterization Lab Director and also Director of Research at Carle Heart and Vascular Institute. He has held the positions of Division Director and Director of Nuclear Medicine in the past. He is involved in multiple clinical trials and has been closely involved in teaching students and residents. His area of passion and focus is structural heart interventions and he is one of the leads performing TAVRs, Mitral Clips, PFO/ASD closures and other advanced structural interventions at the Heart and Vascular Institute at Carle Foundation Hospital.

Dr. Ibrahim Shaik is an Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Cardiologist. He is actively involved in resident and medical student teaching and training. He is the Cardiology sub-specialty coordinator for the Internal Medicine residency program. He is serving as clinical assistant professor for Carle Illinois College of Medicine. Dr. Shaik has served as 4th year chief resident for Internal Medicine training program and as a Cardiology chief resident during his training. His area of interest are advancing care and finding novel treatments for both systolic and diastolic heart failure. He is also passionate about working with patients who are dealing with cardiotoxicity due to various cancer treatment regimens.

Dr. Timothy Shih earned his bachelors of science in engineering at Duke University, his Masters of Science at Tulane University, and completed medical school at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago and stayed to complete a fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease, where he was also Chief Fellow. Dr. Shih is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular disease, the National Board of Echocardiography, the Certification Board of Nuclear Cardiology, and the Certification Board of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography. His clinical interests involve advanced cardiovascular imaging, valvular heart disease, lipid disorders, hypertension, and medical education. Dr. Shih joined Carle in 2019.

Dr. Issam D. Moussa is the medical director of the Carle Heart and Vascular Institute and associate dean for research at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. Dr. Moussa earned his MD at Damascus University Medical School in Syria and his MBA in health administration at the University of Colorado. Currently, Dr. Moussa's research priorities are focused on the brain-heart axis with particular emphasis on translational and clinical applications. He is an interventional cardiologist with focus on structural heart interventions including TAVRs, left atrial appendage closures, mitral clip in addition to complex coronary interventions, peripheral interventions and he's involved in multiple clinical trials at Carle Foundation Hospital.