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Cardiology

The Cardiovascular Fellowship Program at Bridgeport Hospital is an ACGME accredited, Yale School of Medicine affiliated, 3-year program offering broad-based clinical training in all aspects of cardiovascular practice. Our faculty consists of both full time, hospital based as well as community-based cardiologists with academic appointments at Yale School of Medicine.

The primary site is Bridgeport Hospital in Bridgeport, where the majority of the training experience occurs. Complementary rotations at Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven in nuclear cardiology, advanced heart failure, adult congenital heart disease and advanced imaging provide a university-hospital based, state of the art training.

Application to our program is through the Electronic Resident Application Service (ERAS). The Bridgeport Hospital Cardiovascular Fellowship participates in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) Medical Specialties Matching Service (MSMP). The Fellowship has a total of six fellows, two fellows in each of the three years. In addition, a 4th year fellowship in Interventional Cardiology is available to one individual each year.

Current Fellows

1st Year
Juan Arango MD
Samdish Sethi, MD

2nd Year
Lila Kaminsky MD
AntonStolear, MD

3rd Year
Ju Young Bae, MD
Nneka Nwokeocha, MD

     
Name Year graduated Post-graduation destination
Dan Blendea* 2008 EP Fellowship - MGH
Hittender Jain 2008 Faculty, Yale
Janardan Srinivasan* 2010 Interventional Fellowship - Yale
Ravishankar Kalaga 2010 Interventional Fellowship – Arkansas
Vladimir Rukshin 2010 Practice, New Jersey
Fafa Xexemeku* 2015 MRI Fellowship, London
Arijit Chanda 2015 Interventional Fellowship - Yale
Joseph Gnanaraj 2016 Practice, Waterbury, CT
Kwasi Dakwa* 2017 Interventional Fellowship – Bridgeport Hospital
Erol Nargileci 2018 Interventional Fellowship – Bridgeport Hospital
Qurat-ul-ain Jelani 2018 Peripheral Vascular Fellowship - Yale
Abid Shah 2019
Asiya Mahmut 2019
Saurabh Ranjan 2020
Faheem U-Haq 2021
Kristin Stawiarski* 2021
* - indicates performed Internal Medicine Residency at Bridgeport Hospital-->

 

Faculty

Key Faculty

Gilead Lancaster, MD, FACC Program Director

  • Cardiology Fellow: St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center, (1988)
  • Internal Medicine Resident:  St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center, (1986)
  • Medical School: School of Medicine/Tel Aviv University (1983)

Irma Fotjadhi, MD, FACC- Assistant Program Director

  • Cardiology Fellow: Yale New Haven Hospital
  • Internal Medicine Resident: Hospital of St. Raphael
  • Medical School: Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy

Stuart Zarich, MD, FACC – Chief, Cardiology Section

  • Cardiology Fellow: Harvard Medical School Deaconess Hospital
  • Internal Medicine: Harvard Medical School Deaconess Hospital
  • Medical School: Syracuse Health Science Center

Evgeny Shkolnik, MD, FACC

  • Cardiology Fellow: Yale New Haven Health Bridgeport Hospital (2022)
  • Internal Medicine Resident: Yale New Haven Health Bridgeport Hospital (2019)
  • Medical School: Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry (2002)

Carlos D. Davila, MD

  • Cardiology Fellow: Tufts University School of Medicine
  • Internal Medicine Resident: Albert Einstein Medical Center
  • Medical School: Universidad Central De Venezuela University

Zachary Port, MD, 

  • Cardiology Fellow: Albert Einstein Medical Center
  • Internal Medicine Resident: Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
  • Medical School: St. George University, West Indies
Part-time Faculty

NAME MED SCHOOL LOCATION INT. MED CARD. FELL. LOCATION SUB-SPEC.
Ali, Yousuf King Edward Lahore, Pakistan Bridgeport Hosp Bridgeport Hosp Bridgeport, CT Clinical Card.
Amir, Doron Sackler Israel Maimonides Withrop Univ. Long Island, Clinical Card.
Casale, Linda Med. NY, NY Albert Einstein Univ. of CA San Diego, CA Clinical Card.
Chiavuri, Murali Tufts Boston, MA Brigham Harvard Med Boston, MA EP
Driesman, Mitchell Brown Providence, RI Tufts Mt. Sinai NY, NY Intervent. Card
Fotjadhi, Irma Carol Davilla Bucharest, Romania Hosp. St. Raphael Hosp. St. Raphael New Haven, CT Clinical Card.
Kanin, Elenita Wisconsin Madison, WI Baylor Yale New Haven, CT Clinical Card.
Gordon, Ram U. Pittsburg Pittsdburg, PA U Penn Mt. Sinai NY, NY Clinical Card.
Hur, Sik Univ. of MD Baltimore,Maryland Univ of MD UTHSCSA San Antonio,TX Clinical Card.
Landau, Charles Harvard Boston, MA Columbia Presbyt. Boston Univ Med Boston, MA Clinical Card.
Mejia, Victor Cornell NY, NY Columbia Hosp of U. of Penn Philadelphia,PA Intervent. Card
Moskowitz, Robert Cornell NY, NY Brigham Mt Sinai NewYork CHF
Meizlish. Jay New York U. NY, NY Harbor UCLA Yale New Haven, CT Intervent. Card
Pollack, Ari NYU NY, NY Columbia Presbyt. Mt. Sinai NY, NY Clinical Card.
Schussheim, Adam Harvard Boston, MA Cornell Med Ctr Mt. Sinai NY, NY Clinical Card.
Taikowski, Richard Boston Univ. Boston, MA Boston Univ. Mt. Sinai NY, NY Clinical Card.
Tuohy, Edward NY Med NY. NY Yale New Haven Yale New Haven, CT Intervent. Card
Werner, Craig Univ of SC Charleston, SC McGraw Medical NE Deaconess Boston, MA Clinical Card.
Winslow, Robert NY NY Brigham Mt Sinai NY. NY EP

Prerequisite Training / Selection Criteria

Candidates for fellowship must have completed a Residency in Internal Medicine that is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical education (ACGME) and be Board eligible / Board certified in Internal Medicine. Candidate selection criteria include academic achievements (including USMLE scores), letters of recommendation (3) and demonstrable interest in the field of cardiology. Research experience is desirable. Additionally applicants must demonstrate a consistent record of academic achievement and future academic potential, a commitment to the process of career development in academic medicine, personal integrity and a commitment to humanistic values expected of compassionate physicians.

Program Description

  1. Clinical and research components: During their 3 years of training, Cardiology fellows amass knowledge of the basic science, anatomy, physiology, pharmacology and clinical principles required to direct the cardiac care of patients with diverse cardiovascular disease. Concurrent with their clinical experience, fellows learn basic principles of clinical cardiovascular research and are required to participate in clinical research projects. Components of this clinical experience (“clinical rotations”) occur on a rotating basis and include the elements listed below.

    • Clinical Cardiology Service – approximately 8 months over 3 years. During this experience fellows participate in care of patients in the CCU, in the post-operative ICU and the Cardiology Consultation Service. Perioperative management of cardiac surgical patients is included in the Clinical Cardiology Service.

    • Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory – approximately 4 to 6 months over 3 years. This experience includes training in cardiac catheterization, coronary intervention (including management of acute myocardial infarction), intra-arterial support (intra-aortic balloon and other cardiac output support devices), temporary pacer insertion, right heart hemodynamic assessment, temporary transvenous pacing and pericardiocentesis. The ACGME requirement is 4 months; most trainees receive training beyond this, particularly those who wish to pursue a career in Interventional Cardiology. During the course of their training, all fellows perform at least 100 cardiac catheterization studies (as per ACGME requirements).

    • Cardiac Electrophysiology Service – 2 months over 3 years (ACGME requirement). This experience includes exposure to invasive electrophysiology testing and intra-cardiac ablation procedures, tilt-table testing, interpretation of ambulatory ECG monitors and recording devices, evaluation of patients with known or suspected arrhythmias and interrogation and programming of pacemakers and internal defibrillators.

    • Noninvasive Cardiology – approximately 6 to 9 months over 3 years

      This experience includes several distinct components many of which occur concurrently:

      • Echocardiography: Fellows learn how to perform and interpret M-mode, 2-dimensional, 3-dimensional, exercise and transesophageal echocardiography and Doppler studies. Each fellow, over the course of 3 years of training, interprets over 150 and performs over 150 echocardiograms (as per ACGME guidelines), thereby guaranteeing a sufficient experience base for full echocardiography proficiency. All fellows become eligible to sit for echocardiography boards and most have successfully become board certified in this discipline during their training.
      • Nuclear Cardiology and advanced cardiovascular imaging: All fellows receive annual training and certification in radiation safety. Nuclear Cardiology provides experience in performing and interpreting nuclear studies of myocardial performance and perfusion at rest and during exercise, cardiac CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) studies. In addition to ongoing such training at Bridgeport Hospital, all fellows spend 2 to 3 months over 3 years at Yale New Haven Hospital, where many nuclear cardiac procedures were developed and advanced.
      • Electrocardiography: Fellows read electrocardiograms throughout their training. Focused supervision of ECG interpretation occurs at a weekly one to two hour didactic ECG reading conference with the Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology. Exercise electrocardiography includes supervision of exercise treadmill testing, exercise echocardiographic and exercise nuclear myocardial perfusion imaging studies. During the course of their training, as required by the ACGME, all fellows interpret at least 3500 ECG tracings and perform at least 50 exercise studies.

    • Cardiology Clinics

      • Continuity Clinic: Longitudinal continuous care and consultative experience are gained in an on-site ambulatory adult Cardiology Clinic, which all fellows attend one-half day weekly for 3 consecutive years (as per ACGME requirements).
      • Subspecialty Clinics: During elective rotations at Yale New Haven Hospital fellows participate in non-continuity, subspecialty clinics that include Cardiomyopathy Clinic, Adult-Congenital Heart Disease Clinic, Heart failure-transplant Clinic, Cardiac Genetic Disorders Clinic and Cardio-Oncology Clinic
      • Cardiac rehabilitation – Level 1 experience is gained during the Clinical Cardiology Service rotations. Levels 2 and 3 experience is obtained at the Cardiac Rehabilitation Center of Fairfield County. Fellows learn proper writing of exercise prescription and monitoring of patient progress in the cardiac rehabilitation process while working in a multi-disciplinary team that includes nutritionists, nurses and exercise physiologists.

    • Research:

      A vital component of a well-rounded training experience is the opportunity to participate in ongoing research. At Bridgeport Hospital clinical research is emphasized. Every fellow is required to participate meaningfully in at least one clinical research project during the required three-year curriculum. Ample attending staff supervision is available to provide assistance in formulating and carrying out projects. This work is generally performed as part of elective or non-invasive rotation blocks. All past fellows have presented research at regional and/or national meetings. Many of these have led to publication. In addition, the Cardiology Section is actively involved in industry and NIH-sponsored multicenter trials and fellows participate in these activities.

  2. Trainee’s supervisory and patient care responsibilities
    Cardiology fellows supervise medical residents, medical students and physician associate students in the care of patients on the Clinical Cardiology Service. They are responsible for writing progress and consultation notes on patients on the Clinical Cardiology Service and in the Cardiology Clinic. They coordinate the overall care of their patients in the Cardiology Clinic. They write procedure reports on patients at whose procedures they assist, and pre and post-procedure orders on such patients. They prepare reports on patients whose studies they perform and/or interpret in the non-invasive cardiovascular laboratories. The fellow is the first physician to evaluate patients on the Cardiology Consultation Service and those who present to the Emergency Department with cardiovascular symptoms or conditions. All fellows take night call (from home) approximately every 6th night and every 5th or 6th weekend (call is shared with the Fellow in Interventional Cardiology).

  3. Clinical procedural requirements
    Procedural requirements are established by the ACGME and are enumerated above. Fellows track their procedure volumes in logs that are periodically reviewed with the Program Director to insure that all fellows will meet required procedure volumes.

  4. Didactic Conferences
    The following conferences are included in the curriculum:

    1. Cardiac catheterization conference – weekly
    2. Noninvasive Cardiology conference – weekly
    3. ECG Conference - weekly
    4. Core curriculum conference – 2 to 3 times per month
    5. Journal Club – monthly
    6. Research Conference – quarterly
    7. Morbidity and mortality Conference – quarterly
    8. Yale Cardiovascular Grand Rounds – weekly (this is viewed via videoconference)