The Cardiovascular Disease Program at Hartford Hospital/University of Connecticut is a three-year program specifically designed to prepare cardiovascular fellows for the practice of Cardiology.

While in the three-year program, fellows receive training in basic cardiovascular diseases, clinical cardiology, and subspecialty practices. This is accomplished by clinical experiences that allow exposure to cardiovascular related diseases and problems, didactic sessions covering basic mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases, dedicated research months and subspecialty rotations.

During the clinical rotations, the cardiovascular disease fellow interviews, examines and formulates basic evaluations in patients with cardiovascular related illnesses and carries out diagnostic and therapeutic plans in conjunction with a attending cardiologist. During subspecialty training, cardiovascular disease fellows are exposed to the practices of cardiac catheterization, preventive cardiology, arrhythmias, nuclear cardiology, echocardiography, cardiovascular surgery, vascular medicine, pacemaker techniques and interventional electrophysiology. During the third year, the cardiovascular disease fellow chooses either an invasive or non-invasive track for additional training in those areas.

At the completion of the cardiovascular disease program, the fellow is qualified to enter the practice of cardiovascular diseases either in the invasive, non-invasive and clinical areas. Although, not specifically part of the cardiovascular disease program, interested fellows may choose a fourth year subspecializing in various aspects of cardiology in hopes of pursuing an academic career. The Interventional Cardiology Program at Hartford Hospital is ACGME approved and is an option for further training.

The research experience in the cardiovascular disease program is designed to allow the fellow ample exposure to the process of designing, performing data analysis, and manuscript preparation of a research project. Research is begun in the first year specifically to allow the cardiovascular disease fellow opportunity to gain skill and knowledge in the performance of cardiovascular disease research and to allow time for completion of a research project.

The early exposure to research also allows the fellow the opportunity to evaluate the possibility of entering academic cardiology. Fellows engaged in research are expected to prepare results for abstract presentation at national meetings and manuscript submission. Local hospital funding is available for support of projects, and several attending physicians have national support for studies.