Curriculum

Cardiovascular Medicine Core Curriculum (CMCC Series)

Over the course of 10 months, one-hour lectures are offered twice weekly for a total of approximately 80 hours of instructional time. The CVMCC comprises a wide range with deep focus on arrhythmia disorders, vascular disease, general cardiology, heart failure, and preventative cardiology. TPTCS trainees will be required to attend 20 hours on topics of their choosing. For both PhD and MD post-doctoral fellows, the lecture series fosters clinical understanding needed to make pathophysiologic correlations, encourages collaborations, and creates inspirational pathways for independent investigation.

Clinical Integration for Basic Scientists

TPTCS trainees will attend Cardiovascular Medicine Grand Rounds and the Inherited Arrhythmia Case Conference. These meetings will provide an excellent opportunity for trainees to broaden their understanding of the clinical significance of their education in journal clubs and at the bench, and to integrate clinical practice with basic science mechanism. For those seeking more, arrangements will be coordinated by Dr. Eckhardt, TPTCS Co-director, and Dr. Mohamed Hamdan, Director of Cardiovascular Medicine, for in-depth clinical experiences in their areas of interest. Opportunities will be offered with providers conducting ablation for atrial fibrillation, inserting implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), and managing catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) and long QT syndrome (in the Inherited Arrhythmia Clinic) and heart failure (HF and transplant Clinic).

Launchpad

A program-specific professional development workshop open to all TPTCS trainees but required for the postdocs, both clinical and basic scientists. The goal is to provide career preparation specific to their training paths, generally in their second year in the program. This monthly workshop will be held during 16 evenings over two semesters by the Director and Co-director. The topics will be developed as the following modules: 1) Fellowship/grant writing including Specific Aims development, Premise Validation, Experimental Design, and Study Section critique; 2) Diversity, Inclusion, and Unintended bias; 3) Laboratory, Project, and Budget Management; and 4) How to prepare for the job market.