The University of Minnesota's Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship program is a three-year ACGME approved training program that offers outstanding educational opportunities in general and subspecialty cardiology designed to develop careers in clinical practice, academic medicine, and industry.  The program's core goal is to produce the next generation of physicians, scientists, and innovators. This objective is aligned with our vision for the Cardiovascular Division at the University of Minnesota. The first two years of the training will concentrate on core clinical rotations where one will obtain the basic knowledge and technical skills needed to proceed to more advanced training in a subspecialty area. The third year is predominantly focused on exploring each fellow's individual interests and obtaining higher levels of training in those fields.  

The University of Minnesota program is offered through the cooperation of four hospitals.  Clinical rotations are predominantly at the University Medical Center and at the Minneapolis VA. Rotation at these various sites offer diverse training experiences through varied patient populations, levels of patient acuity, service-delivery arrangements, and academic professional relationships.  Participating hospitals include:

• University of Minnesota Medical Center (in partnership with Fairview Health Services) - a tertiary/quaternary clinical and research center with an international reputation for its heart failure and heart transplant programs as well as the center for resuscitation medicine.  Affiliated with the Lillehei Heart Institute.

• Minneapolis VA Medical Center - known throughout the VAMC system for its cardiac services

• Methodist Hospital - a private, suburban hospital staffed by the physicians of Park Nicollet, a large multi-specialty practice group

• Regions Hospital - a private, urban hospital that treats a diverse patient population

Prominent clinical subspecialty areas within our fellowship program include the following:

• Advanced cardiovascular imaging 

• Electrophysiology 

• Interventional and structural programs

• Mechanical circulatory support and heart transplant

• Heart transplantation

• Critical care cardiology, the first ACGME-accredited program of its kind in the county

Our fellowship educational seminars are exceptional supplements to clinical and research training.  Fellows attend weekly academic half-day sesions covering ECG interpretation, core didactic lectures, journal club, non-invasive and invasive imaging, and grand rounds.

Our fellows are a diverse group of intelligent and driven trainees from all over the country. We strive to provide the fellows with an atmosphere of comraderie and support to help them achieve their goals of becoming cardiologists on the cutting edge of medical knowledge. It’s all about vision, working together as a team aligned to that vision,  making a difference in the lives of our patients, and having fun!