Fellows join the pediatric cardiology fellowship training program after completion of either a 3-year general pediatrics or a 4-year medicine-pediatrics residency. This is a 3-year post graduate training program designed to provide a well-rounded education in the areas of congenital and acquired heart disease in the neonate, child/adolescent and adult. Fellows are offered the opportunity to further their specific interests during the third year of training where more focused and intensive opportunities in the areas of diagnostic and interventional catheterization, non-invasive and fetal imaging, and critical care cardiology are offered.

Training occurs in both the inpatient and outpatient settings at the Children's Hospital of Richmond (CHoR) and Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. CHoR is central Virginia's most advanced pediatric tertiary care facility offering over 50 different pediatric subspecialties in addition to pediatric cardiology and including pediatric cardiothoracic surgery, level IV NICU services and level 1 PICU and pediatric trauma designation.

The breadth of expertise at this facility provides the fellow with unique opportunities to interact with a multi-disciplinary team of providers, and a vast array of patients with an expansive list of primary cardiac and non-cardiac diagnoses and comorbid conditions.

World Pediatric Project (WPP) opportunities:
CHoR also partners with the World Pediatric Project (WPP) - a Richmond-based, charitable organization with a mission to link worldwide pediatric surgical, diagnostic and preventative resources to care for critically ill children in developing countries - to bring children to Richmond for life-saving cardiac catheterization and cardiothoracic surgical procedures.? The fellow serves as the primary cardiologist for these children with responsibilities ranging from diagnostic echo and advanced imaging, cath, cardiac critical care, and outpatient follow up.?

Additionally, the third year fellow may be offered the opportunity to participate in WPP outreach missions supervised by division faculty and offering an experience in the delivery of pediatric cardiology and cardiothoracic surgical care in Central and South America. This an extraordinary experience in cultural diversity, leadership, team building, and teaching, and affords the fellow the opportunity to see the natural history of congenital and acquired disease in a severely underserved population.

In addition to clinical activities, the fellow is provided at least 12 months over the course of the 3 years of training to pursue quality improvement and research projects in an area of their choosing.

Conferences:
Fellows are involved in weekly didactic sessions with the attendings. Other conferences include a monthly MRI conference of congenital cases, a joint adult congenital echocardiography conference with the adult cardiologists, journal club and electrophysiology.