Education

Cardiothoracic Transplantation Fellowship

Non-ACGME Accredited Program

Program Contacts

Program Director

Valluvan Jeevanandam, MD

Education Specialist

Zainab Aslam

The Section of Cardiac Surgery provides advanced training in cardiothoracic transplant surgery services, including both heart and lung transplantation through a non-ACGME accredited Cardiothoracic Transplantation Fellowship program. 

 

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Valluvan Jeevanandam, MD

Program Director, Cynthia Chow Professor of Surgery

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The University of Chicago Medicine (UCM) has a long tradition of training surgeons in cardiothoracic surgery.  Our Fellowship in Cardiothoracic Transplantation Surgery began in 2015 and has offered surgeons with the interest in cardiothoracic transplantation surgery the opportunity to get an additional training at University of Chicago Medicine based on the high number of heart and lung transplants performed annually. Our campus has 575 beds spread across an adult and a children’s hospital, 28 operating rooms (4 devoted to cardiac, vascular, and thoracic surgery), 22 dedicated ICU beds, a cardiac catheterization laboratory, an adjacent medical library, and a 525,000 square foot outpatient building that is linked to both the adult and the pediatric hospitals. 

The program is 24 months in duration and includes advanced experiences for trainees’ appropriate for their degree of experience, year (s) of training, and record of achieving competencies appropriate for their year(s) of training. Curriculum is designed by the program director with input from section faculty. Training takes place at the University of Chicago Medicine.

The goals of our program are aligned with the ACGME competencies for fellow education demonstrating increased cardiothoracic transplantation expertise in all aspects of patient care, medical knowledge; practice based learning and improvement, interpersonal communication skills, systems based practice, and professionalism. The fellow will be exposed to the full spectrum of cardiothoracic transplant surgery services, including both heart and lung transplantation.

 

The non-ACGME-accredited Cardiothoracic Transplantation Surgery Fellowship Program at the University of Chicago allows one fellow position to be filled each year. Candidate trainees must have completed medical school, have completed the equivalent of an ACGME-approved residency in cardiothoracic surgery, be focused and dedicated to cardiothoracic surgery as a career, have the ability to be licensed in the state of Illinois (permanent or temporary); have no criminal record; and be able to work collaboratively with other physicians and staff associated with the cardiothoracic service.

To apply:

Complete and sign a hard copy of the application (please do not leave any items blank). Include with the application:  Curriculum Vitae, a Personal Statement that delineates your career plans and gives us a brief biography, hard copies of your USMLE Scores, a copy of your ECFMG certificate if you are a foreign medical graduate, and provide three letters of recommendation addressed to Valluvan Jeevanandam, MD, Director. Submit application and required documents to Zainab Aslam. 

UCM is an equal opportunity employer. UCM evaluates qualified applicants without regard to race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, civil union status, parental status, religion, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics.

Top candidates will be interviewed and selected prior to March of 2024. The fellowship start date is July 1, 2024.

Applicants are invited for virtual interviews on a competitive basis, and the evaluation of applicant interviews and credentials are completed by the program’s faculty.

For information about virtual interviewing here at UChicago, check out our virtual interviewing page which has videos on our medical center, information about wellness, news on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and highlights about GME training here at our institution. 

For more information about Graduate Medical Education here at University of Chicago, please see the UChicago Medicine GME website.  Resources available for review include the Graduate Medical Education Handbook, Resident/Fellow Contracts, Stipends, and Compensation information.
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Valluvan Jeevanandam, MD

Program Director, Cynthia Chow Professor of Surgery

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Tae Song, MD

Assistant Professor of Surgery

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Takeyoshi Ota, MD

Professor of Surgery

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Christopher Salerno, MD

Professor of Surgery

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David Onsager, MD

Clinical Associate

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Atsushi Nemoto, MD

Atsushi Nemoto, MD

Cardiothoracic Transplantation Fellow 2020-2022

 

Learn more about our city and our neighborhood! The University of Chicago Medicine is one of the few academic medical centers in the country that is situated on the same campus as its undergraduate and graduate counterparts. By training at UChicago, you can take advantage of all that our campus has to offer through participating in ethics workshops, lectures on public policy, or a medical education fellowship.