Adult Cardiology Fellowship at Advocate Christ Medical Center

The Cardiology Fellowship Program at Advocate Christ Medical Center is a combined program affiliated with the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center in downtown Chicago.

The Section of Cardiology at UIC Medical Center is committed to providing excellent clinical service that utilizes state-of-the-art technology. By virtue of the fact that we are part of a major university hospital and medical school, we also have a strong and unwavering commitment to education and research.

The clinical mission of the program is supported by a distinguished faculty whose training and expertise places them at the forefront of contemporary cardiology. The clinical mission is further supported by a superbly capitalized clinical facility within the UIC medical center which houses state-of-the art equipment for diagnostic and interventional catheterization, invasive and non-invasive electrophysiologic evaluation, and echocardiographic, nuclear, ultrafast CT, and MRI imaging of the heart. We also participate in the care of patients at the Westside VA hospital.

Our commitment to education is reflected in the training provided to our fellows, residents and students. Our fellows, in particular, benefit from a rich didactic program and from clinical experiences that are structured specifically to enhance their educational impact. A world-famous "Harvey" teaching center is located within the section and assures that our graduates have well-honed diagnostic skills. Clinical and basic research opportunities are integral to the educational process, and all fellows have substantial periods of protected research time which is designed to facilitate their development as academic cardiologists.

Research is on-going in many areas within the section. Notable is an established cardiovascular research initiative that has linked the clinical activities of the section with the rich basic research environment within the larger medical school campus. Specific interactions that have been supported include studies with investigators in the Department of Physiology investigating cellular mechanisms of cardiac muscle dysfunction and studies exploring endothelial transport with faculty in the Department of Pharmacology. Beyond this, there is a wealth of clinical research within the Section.

The heart failure group is involved in a large number of trials studying both pharmacological and mechanical therapies for patients with advanced heart failure; the electrophysiology group is exploring catheter based techniques for the treatment of common arrhythmias (including atrial fibrillation); and the cardiac prevention group is in the process of defining unique cardiac screening modalities (including Electron Beam Tomography), which may predict the development of clinically relevant coronary artery disease.

This is an exciting time for cardiology in general and for the Cardiology Section at UIC in particular. We have great confidence that the supportive environment provided by the University and Hospital administrations and the leadership within the Department of Medicine will allow us to fulfill a very optimistic mission: To define the highest clinical, educational and research standards in our profession.