Fellowship Directors: Dr. Josephine Pressacco & Matthias Friedrich
Residency Program Director: Dr. Jana Taylor
Program Administrator: Cathy Torchia
General Overview
The Department of Radiology (McGill University), in collaboration with the Department of Cardiology (McGill University), offers a 1-year Clinical & Research fellowship in Adult Cardiac Imaging. The fellowship program offers exposure to cardiac MR, cardiac CT, and coronary angiography. The fellowship provides an integrated experience of clinical care and teaching at both adult hospitals.
This 1 year fellowship position is restricted to candidates having completed an accredited residency in Diagnostic Radiology and having passed the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada or the American Board of Radiology or equivalent exams, and having acquired clinical experience in cardiac imaging. The candidate must complete the ACLS course prior to starting the fellowships.
This fellowship is tailored to candidates with goals in pursuing an academic career in Cardiac Imaging.
The fellowship is heavily weighted in research and encourages the applicant to register in a part-time Master’s Degree at McGill University.
Duration: 1 Year
Staff in Cardiac Imaging
Dr. Josephine Pressacco, MD, PhD – Chief of Cardiac Imaging, Department of Diagnostic Radiology. Will provide training in cardiac MRI, cardiac CT and coronary CT angiography.
Dr. Mathias Friedrich, MD – Professor, Departments of Medicine and Diagnostic Radiology. Will provide training in cardiac MRI.
Dr. Andrew Fox, MD – Staff radiologist, Department of Diagnostic Radiology. Will provide training in cardiac MRI, cardiac CT and coronary CT angiography.
Objectives/Guidelines
To learn the principles and practice of Cardiac Imaging.
Adult Cardiac MR: The cardiac MR Service is run and supervised by the staff of the Division of Cardiac Imaging. The number of cardiac MR per week is expected to be approximately 15-20. Currently, a clinical MRI system is dedicated to cardiac imaging two full days at the RVH site and a half day at the MGH site. It is expected that this will be expanded, matching the increasing clinical needs. The fellow is expected to learn all facets of cardiac MR including assigning appropriate CMR protocols to specific indications, directly supervising CMR studies, post-process, evaluate and interpret them. Currently, all CMR scans are performed on a Siemens 3T magnet and GE 1.5T magnet at the RVH site and on a GE 1.5T magnet at the MGH site. Interpretation of CMR is done using dedicated cardiac imaging software (cvi42).
Adult Cardiac CT: The cardiac CT service is run and supervised by the staff of the Division of Cardiac Imaging in the Department of Diagnostic Radiology. The fellow is expected to learn all facets of cardiac CT including how to design protocols, directly supervise CTs and interpret them. All CTs are currently done on GE and Philips 64 channels scanners. Interpretation is done on GE workstations and Philips Intellispace. Evaluation can also be performed using cvi42.
Research: All fellows are required to participate in at least one research project, with the goal of publishing in a major peer-reviewed journal. Fellows are also encouraged to take advantage of the many opportunities to contribute to multi-disciplinary research projects ongoing with other departments.
Teaching: Fellows are expected to teach resident rounds whenever appropriate. This could include general teaching rounds with all the residents, typically one hour per week, as well as case-based teaching.
Clinical conferences: The fellow is expected to actively participate in radiology, cardiology and multidisciplinary conferences such as CVT rounds, TAVI rounds and cardiac imaging rounds. The fellow is also expected to prepare articles for being discussed in journal club sessions during the academic year.
Teaching files: The fellow will have access to large Cardiac MR and CT teaching files. The fellow is expected to contribute to the teaching files.
Schedule: Work day begins at 07:30 hrs and continues to 18:00 hrs.
Evaluation
- The fellow is evaluated on a daily basis by the attending staff
- A formal written evaluation is completed every 3 months, using the CanMEDS roles scheme. The fellow will meet the Fellowship director of his section for direct feedback.
Updated May 2020