Seminars & Programs
Seminars & Programs
We aim to further fellowship and professional education by providing various learning experiences. Our primary fellow’s curriculum and other events are available on the Calendar link in the left-hand menu. Offerings include:
Mortality and Morbidity
The Morbidity and Mortality conference is held monthly on Wednesdays with no CGR from 7:30 – 8:30 am. The goal of the conference is the prevention of complications by problem-based learning improvement and changes in patient care, procedures, and effective communication among providers, ultimately reducing complications.
Journal Clubs
CV Disease Journal Club is held monthly in the evening at a faculty member’s home. Fellows are assigned journal articles to read and present. They are expected to discuss study designs and statistical methods and to appraise the clinical studies. Fellows are required to attend, and many faculty are usually in attendance.
Fellowship Conferences
1st Tuesday: CMR/CT Conference
2nd/4th: Multimodality/General Imaging Topics
3rd Tuesday: Nuclear Conference
(1st Friday in the month is Fellow/Program Director meeting)
We are an organization of physicians from the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine (Department of Medicine) and the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery (Department of Surgery) focused on issues and challenges unique to women in cardiovascular-related fields. The group is co-chaired by Cardiovascular (CV) Medicine faculty member Angela Taylor, MD, with Cardiology Fellow LeAnn Denlinger, MD, serving as the fellows’ chair.
Men have largely dominated the specialties of cardiovascular medicine and cardiovascular surgery over the years–a trend that has not changed much in recent times. A 2009 American College of Cardiology survey found that women represented only about 12% of general cardiologists and less than 10% of those in advanced CV specialties. Reasons cited by respondents for not specializing in cardiology included the long years of training, difficulties with work/life balance, and perceived radiation risks. Thus, a key part of our mission is offering mentorship to medical students and residents considering CV-related fields and supporting women already in CV fellowships.
The group meets monthly to discuss clinical, research, and professional issues; over time, it has broadened to include women cardiologists in Charlottesville and beyond.
Our focus on professional education and development includes a journal club and sponsorship of speakers in the Cardiology Grand Rounds series.
We welcome your participation. To find out more, contact: Angela Taylor, MD
Humanitarian Collaboration:
Rheumatic Heart Disease in the Dominican Republic
Cardiovascular fellowship program’s humanitarian mission to the Dominican Republic.
The University of Virginia Cardiovascular Fellowship program, in collaboration with Cedimat Hospital in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, provides free treatment for mitral stenosis to hundreds of people a year who would otherwise not receive medical attention. UVa faculty (noninvasive and interventional cardiologists) and fellows (noninvasive and interventional) work with cardiology teams in several field clinics to screen clients and provide life-saving therapy.
Despite a decreasing incidence in the United States, rheumatic heart disease remains a major cause of morbidity and premature death. It imposes a substantial burden on healthcare systems in poor and developing nations. Rheumatic mitral stenosis presents at a much younger age, frequently in the late teen and young adult years. Symptoms may begin with an episode of atrial fibrillation or may be triggered by pregnancy or other stress on the body, such as infection or other cardiac disorders. Mitral valvuloplasty is a minimally invasive therapeutic procedure that dilates the valve using a balloon. In later practice, skills used to treat those living in poverty in the Dominican Republic are transferrable to non-rheumatic mitral stenosis.
The program provides transportation, lodging, and an unusually satisfying educational opportunity for participating fellows. You agree to provide charity care for rheumatic heart disease in the future to other impoverished populations and to repay the program’s investment of $2500 within five years of graduation (< 1% of an average U.S. cardiologist’s earnings) to the UVa-Cedimat Charity (503b charity status; tax deductible).
Contact Information
Dominican Republic Humanitarian Service
For more information on our humanitarian service in the Dominican Republic, please contact:
D. Scott Lim, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine
Division of Cardiology: Pediatric
P.O. Box 800386
Charlottesville, VA 22908-0386
Phone: 434.243.0884
Fax: 434.982.6139
Email: D. Scott Lim, MD