Program Organization and Faculty

Program Organization

This is a two-year program. The first year is predominantly concerned with the diagnosis and surgical treatment of vascular disease. The fellow shares responsibility for a vascular service with a R-4 general surgery resident. The service has a dedicated vascular nursing unit of 24 beds where the majority of our patients are managed. Seven physician assistants support the service. Besides having an intense operative experience (average 350 cases) the clinical fellow is responsible for the management of a vascular clinic, preparation of a weekly mortality and morbidity conference and basic science conference, and a monthly journal club. Furthermore, a monthly conference on cerebrovascular diseases will involve interaction with neurology, neurosurgery and neuroimaging. Weekday night call is alternated with the R-4 senior resident and is taken from home. Weekend call is one in three, shared with the R-4 and senior vascular fellow. The first year fellow will initiate a research project that may be continued through his fellowship.

The second year, or senior fellow, is directed towards interventional procedures, noninvasive vascular diagnosis, and clinical or experimental research. Approximately 2000 diagnostic and interventional procedures are done annually by interventionalists who work in the same group as the five board certified vascular surgeons who are responsible for 98% of the patients on this service. Additionally, a substantial portion of the endovascular experience is obtained at the University of Connecticut Health Center under the guidance of a board certified vascular surgeon. The complete gamut of vascular interventional procedures is done, including thoracic and abdominal aortic stent grafts, renal and infrarenal angioplasty. Additionally, several ongoing clinical carotid angioplasty trials provide the largest exposure to this procedure in Connecticut. The senior fellow is in charge of a monthly interventional conference.

The Vascular Laboratory at Hartford Hospital is an ICAVL accredited facility which performs more than 8000 diagnostic tests annually on the venous, peripheral arterial and cerebral systems. The Medical Director of the Vascular Laboratory and all physician supervision is performed by board certified vascular surgeons. The senior fellow is expected to spend sufficient time in this facility to be completely comfortable with this technology and to qualify him/her to successfully complete the RVT examination.

Clinical research is a mandated component of this program. The senior fellow is expected to organize and present several papers during his/her tenure and is responsible for maintaining the extensive database of the service. It is understood that during this time the senior fellow is often taking board exams and allowance is made for this effort.

 

Faculty

The faculty for this program is comprised of six board certified vascular surgeons. Four of these surgeons have extensive endovascular skills. Five of the surgeons belong to the same professional multispecialty group and are all committed to comprehensive patient care and the maintenance of the specialty of vascular surgery as the central focus of patients with vascular diseases. We are committed to the education and training of physicians who will continue this tradition. 

Michael Dahn, MD, PhD Director, Endovascular Program and Services Program Director, Vascular Fellowship Department of Surgery University of Connecticut/Hartford Hospital
Mohiuddin Cheema, MD Vascular & Endovascular Surgeon Hartford Hospital Associate Program Director & Site Director Vascular Surgery Fellowship University of Connecticut/Hartford Hospital
Mary H. Windels, MD Surgery / Peripheral Vascular Surgery Hartford Hospital
James J. Gallagher, MD Surgery / Peripheral Vascular Surgery Chief of Vascular Surgery Hartford Hospital
Robert Lowe, MD Surgery / Peripheral Vascular & Thoracic Surgery Hartford Hospital
Thomas Divinagracia, MD
Fellows: Myron St.Louis Jummy Haouilou