The Cardiovascular Medicine Division (Director, Bonnie H. Weiner, MD, MSEC, MBA) has 18 Faculty members, all with University of Massachusetts Medical School appointments from instructor to full professor. The active Cardiovascular Fellowship Program currently has a total of 8 9 fellows, 7 8 in the three-year cardiovascular medicine training program and 1 who has completed cardiovascular medicine training and is in the accredited Interventional Program. Within the division there are three catheterization laboratories, an electrophysiology laboratory and a set of noninvasive cardiology laboratories in all of which the fellows participate on a rotating basis. An affiliation with the VA Boston Healthcare System in West Roxbury, MA affords the fellows a diverse one month consult rotation each year. Fellows also spend a half-day per week in the office of one of the Faculty throughout their three years (this has always been one of the most popular programs with the fellows). The Cardiovascular Medicine Division directs the coronary care unit and has active daily interchange with Cardiovascular Surgery and Cardiothoracic Surgery divisions whose headquarters are adjacent to the Cardiovascular Medicine Division. All cardiovascular and cardiothoracic beds and all the laboratories are on level 2 of the hospital so that interservice, interchange and diagnostic, therapeutic and consultation activities are most efficiently conducted.

Cardiology Fellows have progressively increasing responsibilities from their first to third year. (The interventional program is separately accredited but completely integrated.) In addition to their assignments at St. Vincent Hospital at Worcester Medical Center, Fellows have increasing amounts of elective time from first to third year. This can be spent at St. Vincent Hospital but is very often at other hospitals including the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, New England Medical Center, and hospitals elsewhere in the United States.

The Division engages in a full range of academic actives, with each Fellow responsible for personal and collaborative research both clinical and laboratory based. This results in frequent publications in national and international medical journals. Fellows also participate in numerous national and international mega-trials of therapy with particular interest in management of acute ischemic syndromes and complications, as well as investigations in management of dyslipidemias.
The Division adheres strictly to the national matching program for Cardiology fellows. Application for Fellowship through ERAS includes a letter of intent, a concise statement including personal interest comments and any academic and publication achievements and three letters from recent supervising physicians.

For more information, please call Linda Bakutis at 508-363-6162 or email linda.bakutis@stvincenthospital.com.

Interventional Program:
Our Interventional Cardiovascular Training Program (Director, Eddison Ramsaran, MD), is fully accredited by the ACGME. Training takes place for one year, following which the trainee is eligible to sit for the Interventional Cardiovascular Boards, offered by the ABIM.

The cardiac catheterization laboratory comprises three fully digital rooms for cardiac and peripheral procedures and one electrophysiology laboratory. In the cardiac catheterization lab we perform over 4000 procedures a year, including over 1400 coronary interventions. The trainee is exposed to a full range of procedures, including coronary angiograms, pulmonary angiograms, right ventricular biopsies, right heart catheterizations, atherectomies (directional and rotational), stent placements, intracoronary pressure wire measurements, intravascular ultrasound, valvuloplasties and peripheral diagnostic and interventional procedures.

The laboratory experience also actively involves research, with participation in several multicenter trials with pharmacologic agents and devices including new distal protection and PFO closure devices.

The interventional program is fully integrated into the cardiovascular training program with regularly scheduled conferences, journal clubs and didactic teaching sessions.

For more information, please call Linda Bakutis at 508-363-6162 or email linda.bakutis@stvincenthospital.com.