Letter from the Director

The Section of Cardiology at Rush University Medical Center and the Rush Heart and Vascular Institute are deeply committed to the three pillars of academic medicine: delivering the finest care to our patients with cardiovascular disease; educating the very best academic physicians who will become leaders in their field; and furthering medical knowledge through the pursuit of innovative research in cardiovascular disease. There are six fellowship positions offered each year.

Our institution is one of the largest hospitals in Chicago and one of the busiest tertiary and quaternary referral centers serving the Midwest. Between Rush University Medical Center, Rush Oak Park Hospital, and John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, our trainees are exposed to the entire spectrum of acute and chronic cardiovascular disease.

Rush Oak Park Hospital is a major community-based affiliate of Rush University Medical Center and is located in the western suburbs. This 176-bed hospital provides exposure to a patient population different from that seen at the primary downtown facility.

In an effort to provide a balanced and comprehensive clinical experience, fellowship training in cardiovascular disease takes place at these institutions, as well as at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, Chicago's primary public service hospital.

The physical facilities at Rush University Medical Center include state-of-the-art Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories, including a Bi-Plane Hybrid Catheterization Laboratory and two Electrophysiology Laboratories. All forms of cardiac catheterization, intervention and radiofrequency ablation are carried out on a routine basis. A modern 26-bed coronary care unit (CCU) and cardiac step down unit (CSU), a 14-bed medical intensive care unit (MICU), and a 7-bed respiratory intensive care unit (RCU) are used in caring for patients with complex cardiac problems and cardiomyopathy.

Echocardiography at Rush is extremely active, performing over 4200 routine transthoracic studies per year, as well as transesophageal and stress echocardiography. More than 3500 nuclear stress tests are performed each year using various stress modalities and protocols. Positron emission tomography (PET), cardiac MRI, and 64-slice CT scanner multi-detector coronary CT angiography are available as routine diagnostic modalities.

Outpatient services located in the Rush Heart Institute provide an important component of cardiovascular fellowship training at Rush. A preventive cardiology program addresses the treatment of hyperlipidemias, as well as overall cardiovascular risk assessment and risk factor modification. The Rush Congenital and Structural Heart Disease Center is very active and evaluates and provides the very latest catheter-based, surgical, and hybrid procedures for patients the world over who will come to Rush University for evaluation and treatment of complex congenital and structural heart disease.

We have been fortunate to attract some of the most talented cardiologists available anywhere to join our program. Together, these physicians provide expertise in all major areas of cardiovascular medicine including:

• invasive and interventional cardiology
• echocardiography
• electrophysiology
• nuclear cardiology
• preventive cardiology
• heart failure and transplantation
• congenital and structural heart disease

Our faculty fosters a broad range of investigational activities as part of our long-term commitment to innovative research in heart disease.

We believe that our fellowship program has evolved into one of the finest and most comprehensive training programs available in cardiovascular medicine in the country.

Sincerely,

Clifford J. Kavinsky, MD, PhD