Cardiology Fellowship Programs

The MAUDE (McGill Adult Unit for congenital heart Disease Excellence) (Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH), Montreal General Hospital (MGH), Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) and the Sir Mortimer B Davis Jewish General Hospital (JGH)) Cardiology Division, McGill University offer a 1 year or 2 year Fellowship program for Adult Cardiologists who desire to obtain Level 2 or 3 training in adult congenital heart disease (ACHD). Read full description here.

The Jewish General Hospital (JGH) Cardiology Division and McGill University offer a Fellowship Program for cardiologists who desire to obtain Level 3 training in echocardiography (echo). The JGH is a McGill University affiliated teaching hospital with a large and active Cardiology Division and a nationally recognized echo lab. The echo lab has extensive experience in providing basic as well advanced echo training, having provided dedicated echo fellowships to over 50 cardiologists nationwide since 1991. Echocardiography combines the technical challenges of image acquisition with accurate image interpretation. This necessitates an understanding of the physical principles of sound transmission, as well as of fluid dynamics. Using advanced echocardiography equipment, one acquires high quality images, both static, as well as moving in 2D/3D images in order to visualize heart’s structure and function, and applies Doppler principles to assess heart valve and chamber function. Read full description here.

The Heart Function and Transplant Center was created in the year 2000. It is based at the Royal Victoria Hospital site of the McGill University Health Center. It is home to the MUHC Heart Failure Program which offers a complete multi-disciplinary integration of all medical and surgical therapies available to the patient afflicted with heart failure. The physicians working in the Heart Function Center follow patients on an outpatient and inpatient basis. We offer our patients a multi-disciplinary team approach: physicians and specialized nurses offer stateof-the-art comprehensive care to patients with heart failure, as well as patients requiring heart or multiorgan transplantation or mechanical circulatory support. Along with the help of dieticians, social workers, psychiatrists, and other specialists, patients and their families receive optimum care, education and support to help cope with their illness. Our Heart Function Center acts as a day-hospital during working hours for drop-in visits and administration of intravenous diuretic therapy. Read full description here.

The Cardiology Division of the McGill University Health Center offers a one year Fellowship Program for cardiologists who wish to obtain expertise in Interventional Echocardiography with the American College of Cardiology / American Heart Association level 3 of clinical competency in echocardiography. Echocardiography is a non-invasive imaging modality with great diagnostic capabilities and accessibility. However, optimal diagnostic accuracy is greatly influenced by operator expertise. For that reason, a competent clinical echocardiographer must master both the cognitive skills necessary for diagnosis AND the technical abilities to obtain the best images possible. Read full description here.

Cardiac electrophysiology is one of the fastest growing subspecialty areas in cardiology. This subspecialty focuses on diagnosis and management of cardiac arrhythmias. It is recognized that the technical and cognitive skills required for performance of cardiac electrophysiology are considerable and take extensive time and training to acquire. Fellowship includes training in appropriate history, investigation and ECG diagnosis of arrhythmia, pharmacologic management of arrhythmias, and catheter ablation, as well as patient selection, implantation techniques, complications and management for pacing, implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Read full description here.

Cardiac electrophysiology is one of the fastest growing subspecialty areas in cardiology. This subspecialty focuses on diagnosis and management of cardiac arrhythmias. It is recognized that the technical and cognitive skills required for performance of cardiac electrophysiology are considerable and take extensive time and training to acquire. Fellowship includes training in appropriate history, investigation and ECG diagnosis of arrhythmia, pharmacologic management of arrhythmias, and catheter ablation, as well as patient selection, implantation techniques, complications and management for pacing, implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Read full description here.

During the fellowship, the candidate will be exposed to a variety of complex CTO PCI techniques, including the retrograde approach, dissection re-entry techniques, IVUS-guided CTO cap puncture, techniques that are exclusive to CTO PCI. Moreover, he will be exposed to other complex PCI techniques including unprotected left main PCI, coronary atherectomy, 2- stent bifurcation techniques, and others. The program is aiming at a volume of 150 complex PCI per year, which will be among the highest volume of such interventions in Canada. Also, the fellow will be expected to conduct several prospective and retrospective studies under the supervision of dr Kedhi Elvin , who is professor of medicine at McGill, in the field of CTO PCI, with a volume of publications of 2-3 manuscripts per year. Read full description here.

The CMR Cardiovascular Imaging Research Fellowship is a 2-year clinical research program offered at the McGill University Health Centre and its affiliated hospitals. During the Research Fellowship, the trainee is expected to take primary responsibility for a cardiovascular research project using Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) and related techniques. He will work within the CMR Research Team group, led by Dr. Matthias Friedrich, Chief of Cardiovascular Imaging. Currently, the CMR research at the McGill University Health Centre focuses on visualizing cardiac physiology for identifying novel diagnostic targets in acute and chronic cardiac disease, using novel evaluation and post-processing tools, including multi-parametric tissue characterization and machine-learning supported pattern analyses. They will work within a team with at least one physicist, clinical coordinators, administrative managers, clerical assistants, and other students (MSc or PhD). They will be based in the Departments of Cardiology and Diagnostic. A state-of-the-art MRI system dedicated exclusively to CMR research (3T) is installed. Access is also possible to a 1.5T MRI system and another 3T scanner. Read full description here.

In light of the increasing complexity and prevalence of older adults presenting with cardiovascular disease, there is an unmet need to incorporate the expertise of the geriatric cardiology specialist into the “heart team”. Beyond knowing how to treat older adults with heart disease in a general sense, this specialist requires a unique skillset in knowing how to perform a comprehensive geriatric assessment and, importantly, how to integrate the geriatric issues along with the underlying cardiac conditions to formulate a balanced holistic therapeutic plan. To equip the geriatric cardiology specialist with the requisite up-to-date knowledge of integrated cardiovascular and geriatric assessment and care, the following fellowship curriculum is proposed. Read full description here.

With great strides made in the field of cardiovascular imaging in the past decade, the time has come to introduce new pathways of training emphasizing the multimodality approach and provide for advanced imaging training in 2 years of total fellowship training. This innovative program promotes an approach adapted to the comprehensive and integrated care needed for our patients. Improvements in existing techniques in echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have changed the face of cardiovascular imaging in just a few short years. The future of cardiovascular care rests on the ability for clinicians to rely on future diagnostic specialists with advanced training in several imaging modalities. Read full description here.

In 2006, the MUHC concentrated all cardiology interventional activities at a single site (the Royal Victoria Hospital), and opened three state of the art cardiac catheterization laboratories, including a bi‐plane unit. The two single‐plane rooms were entirely updated in 2013 with new flat‐plane image intensifiers, one of which is large enough to allow for structural and peripheral vascular interventions. Current equipment allows the performance of diagnostic studies (coronary disease, cardiomyopathies, valvular disease, pericardial disease, adult congenital disease), including ultra specialized diagnostic procedures such as intravascular and intracardiac ultrasound, optical coherence tomography, instantaneous flow reserve and fractional flow reserve. Therapeutic interventional procedures performed at the MUHC include coronary angioplasty and stent implantation, rotablation, coronary lithotripsy, excimer laser atherectomy, use of ECMO and percutaneous ventricular assist devices (Impella, Protek Duo, Tandem Heart), PFO / ASD & VSD closure, LAA closure, balloon valvuloplasty, percutaneous valve implantation, valve percutaneous clipping (mitral, tricuspid), pericardiocentesis, and CTO / CHIP interventions. This concentration of activities and standardization of care, with much tighter integration and professional formation of support staff, i.e. nursing and X‐Ray technologists, has allowed us to provide level three interventional training for qualified cardiologists (ACC interventional task force). As well, it has allowed us to recruit well trained interventionists, with varied procedural and research interests. Read full description here.

In 2006, the MUHC concentrated all cardiology interventional activities at a single site (the Royal Victoria Hospital), and opened three state of the art cardiac catheterization laboratories, including a bi‐plane unit. The two single‐plane rooms were entirely updated in 2013 with new flat‐plane image intensifiers, one of which is large enough to allow for structural and peripheral vascular interventions. Current equipment allows for the performance of diagnostic studies (coronary disease, cardiomyopathies, valvular disease, pericardial disease, adult congenital disease) including ultra-specialized diagnostic procedures such as intravascular and intracardiac ultrasound and fractional flow reserve. Therapeutic interventional procedures performed at the MUHC include coronary angioplasty and stent implantation, rotablation, use of percutaneous ventricular assist devices, ASD & VSD closure, LAA closure, balloon valvuloplasty, transcatheter valve repair and replacement, and renal denervation. This concentration of activities and standardization of care, with much tighter integration and professional formation of support staff, i.e. nursing and X‐Ray technologists, has allowed us to provide level three interventional formations for suitably qualified cardiologists (ACC interventional task force). Read full description here.

The mission of the Lipidology and Preventive Cardiology Fellowship is to promote and advocate the understanding of dyslipidemia and the primary and secondary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). The primary goal of this specialized training is to reduce the morbidity and mortality from dyslipidemia and related diseases by bridging basic knowledge and recent understanding of vascular biology and molecular genetics and their relevance to the basis of high risk screening and prevention of disease in a clinical setting. This fellowship is offered to residents having completed Internal Medicine Residency, Medical Biochemistry Residency or Cardiology Residency. Exceptionally, physicians having completed family practice will be considered. Read full description here.

The mission of the Lipidology and Preventive Cardiology Fellowship is to promote and advocate the understanding of dyslipidemia and the primary and secondary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). The primary goal of this specialized training is to reduce the morbidity and mortality from dyslipidemia and related diseases by bridging basic knowledge and recent understanding of vascular biology and molecular genetics and their relevance to the basis of high risk screening and prevention of disease in a clinical setting. This fellowship is offered to residents having completed Internal Medicine Residency, Medical Biochemistry Residency or Cardiology Residency. Exceptionally, physicians having completed family practice will be considered. Read full description here.