The USF Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology Fellowship Training Program only accepts applications through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) Fellowship Application Site.

Registration with ERAS is required.

• Must be a graduate from a North American Medical School that is LCME or AOA accredited or have full ECFMG certification.
International medical graduates that are not US citizens must have successfully received a J-1 visa.
• Must have a current certification in ACLS/BLS
• Has an active state of Florida Board of Medicine unlicensed physician in training or a full and unrestricted license to practice medicine in Florida
• 3 Letters of Recommendation (1 must be from Program Director)

The deadline to submit applications for the 2023-2024 academic year is Sunday, August 7, 2022.

Our program is also committed to the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), also referred to as The Match. Applicants will be "matched" to our program using the certified rank order list of the applicants and program director.

Registration with NRMP is required.

Educational Program & Curriculum

Our Mission

The Mission of the Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology Fellowship Training Program is to: • Train ABIM board-eligible or board-certified physicians to become clinician-scientists and leaders in the field of heart failure, • Provide extensive training in all aspects of heart failure, including medical and device therapy, heart transplantation, and mechanical circulatory support. • Ensure program graduates are capable of competent and independent clinical practice as outlined by the ACGME Program Requirements for Residency Education in Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology, the American Board of Internal Medicine, and the American College of Cardiology.

Our Program Aims

1. Train fellows in the evaluation and management of advanced heart failure, heart transplant and mechanical circulatory devices while developing strong clinical and procedural skills.
2. Meet or exceed the standards set forth by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and ACC/AHA guidelines
3. Produce graduates with the highest competency level in the field of advanced heart failure and transplant, training them as clinicians, educators and researchers

The USF Advanced Heart Failure & Transplant Cardiology Fellowship Training Program is a 12-month, longitudinal, clinical track that consists of four clinical experiences:

1. The Advanced Heart Failure/Transplant Inpatient and Consult Experience
2. The Ambulatory Care Experience
3. The Cardiac Cath/ Biopsy Lab Experience, and
4. The Pulmonary Hypertension Experience. (The specific knowledge/skill that will be acquired in each of these experiences is included in the skills and competence policy.)

This training combines the pre-procedure, procedural and post-procedural periods of patient care in a manner that reflects the actual practice of Advanced Heart Failure/Transplant Cardiology and provides realistic training for this cardiac subspecialty. The Advanced Heart Failure/Transplant (AHFT) trainee will spend 6 months in the Advanced Heart Failure/Transplant Inpatient and Consult Experience. and another 2 months rotating through the cardiac catheterization lab satisfying the Biopsy Lab Experience. Two-half days per week of Ambulatory Care Experience will continue on a weekly basis throughout the year providing longitudinal care experience of the heart failure. The Pulmonary HTN experience is covered with a one month dedicated Pulmonary Hypertension rotation in addition to attending the Pulmonary HTN clinic on a bi-weekly basis throughout the year.

We recognize that there are other aspects of AHFT that are essential in the care of these patients and require the collaboration with other services. As such, we have established five mandatory rotations to enrich the AHFT fellow’s education. The fellow will dedicate 1 month of rotation in each, the Electrophysiological (EP) and the Cardio-Oncology services. In addition, there will be 2-week rotations assigned with the Infectious Disease, Palliative Care and the Immunology Lab.

Educational Content

Mix of Disease

Approximately 80% of patients seen by the Advanced Heart Failure/Transplant service are referred for evaluation for transplant or mechanical circulatory support. Approximately half of the patients with systolic heart failure will undergo evaluation for advanced heart failure therapy (cardiac transplantation or mechanical circulatory support). Patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction constitute approximately 20% of our referral pattern.

Environment of Teaching

The clinical training and teaching environment for the advanced heart failure/transplant fellowship includes both inpatient and ambulatory clinical settings. The inpatient environment includes cardiac step-down and intensive care units as well as provision of inpatient consultative services on medical/surgical inpatient units and non-cardiac intensive care units. The core ambulatory clinical setting includes the:

1. The advanced heart failure clinics which provide longitudinal care experience under the supervision of an Advanced Heart Failure/Transplant attending. This clinic includes the follow-up and management of patients post-VAD.
2. The post-transplant clinic involves multidisciplinary care with the transplant nurse coordinators and a transplant pharmacist.
3. The Comprehensive Pulmonary Hypertension Center which is an integrated referral center staffed by faculty from the divisions of pulmonology. This clinic provides a unique opportunity for fellowship trainees to interact collaboratively to provide comprehensive evaluation and management plans to patients referred specifically for pulmonary hypertension evaluation and treatment. In this clinical setting, supervision of the AHFT fellow will be provided by the pulmonary faculty.
4. Cardiac catheterization lab where the AHFT fellow will learn to perform surveillance endomyocardial biopsy in post-cardiac transplant patients, invasive hemodynamic testing for cardiac transplant and pulmonary hypertension evaluations and use of both vasodilator challenges and provocative exercise testing in these evaluation procedures.

Didactic Lectures & Educational Activities

Fellows are expected to attend conference. Attendance will be monitored by the Program Director.

• Weekly Medical Review Board
• Weekly AHFT Conference
• Monthly Pathology Review Conference
• Quality Improvement
• Morbidity and Mortality
• Journal Clubs
• Pathology rounds

Evaluation System

Electronic evaluation forms are used by the faculty as one of the ways to assess the fellows. These evaluations have been devised to assess the aspects of the ACGME’s Six Core Competencies: Patient Care, Medical Knowledge, Interpersonal and Communication Skills, Professionalism, Systems-Based Practice and Practice-Based Learning and Improvement. Fellows receive written and verbal feedback at the end of each rotation from the faculty preceptor and fellows are given the opportunity to review and ask questions.