Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship

Overview from the program director

The clinical cardiac electrophysiology fellowship at the University of Kansas Medical Center is a one year accredited program that provides comprehensive training for a career in academic and clinical electrophysiology. The program is ACGME accredited and fulfills requirements for training as indicated in the July 1, 2007 ACGME Program Requirements for Graduate Medical Education in Cardiovascular Diseases.

The cardiology program at KUMC currently has forty cardiovascular physicians with active general cardiology, interventional cardiology and electrophysiology services, including subspecialty fellows in these disciplines. The KUMC cardiovascular medicine and cardiac surgery program is consistently ranked as one of the top programs in the nation by the US news and World Report.

The University of Kansas Hospital Electrophysiology program is also pleased to offer an additional non-accredited Advanced Electrophysiology Fellowship in ablation and complex lead extraction. This second year of training is geared toward fellows who are interested in fine tuning their skills in both complex atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. The trainee will have the opportunity to utilize various types of advanced mapping and ablation techniques including ultrasound guided mapping, epicardial mapping and ablation, and cryoablation. In addition, the fellow will gain exposure to high risk lead extractions from a high volume center. During this year, the fellow is also expected to enhance his/her research experience with an independent project to be submitted for publication at a peer reviewed journal at the conclusion of their training. We would highly recommend this second year of fellowship training to any physician interested in pursuing a career in academic medicine.

The KU Hospital is a 456-bed academic tertiary care referral center for the Kansas City metropolitan area, western Missouri, and eastern Kansas. It includes a 72-bed state of the art, Center for Advanced Heart Care that opened in 2006. KU Hospital and clinics feature a robust electronic medical record system from Epic Systems Corporation.

The clinical cardiac electrophysiology program is a high volume program performing a wide variety of procedures. There are four electrophysiology laboratories (including a hybrid suite where high risk lead extractions and complex ablation procedures are done with readily available cardiothoracic surgical support). The case load continues to grow every year. In calendar year 2011, almost 2000 procedures were performed with more than 300 atrial fibrillation ablations, >200 biventricular ICD, and 700 SVT ablations. Our state of the art EP lab rooms include 3D noncontact mapping (Biosense Carto and ESI) as well as Stereotaxis navigation systems.  We are a regional referral center for complex ventricular arrhythmias and lead extractions with patients traveling throughout all areas of the Midwest. In October 2012 we opened the first "MediGuide" enabled suite which allows us to significantly decrease radiation exposure to patients and physicians. In addition, we are one of the leading performers of epicardial left atrial appendage ligations. This program is a joint venture between interventional cardiology and electrophysiology.

The fellow will work with five electrophysiology specialists who are all high volume operators. The electrophysiology fellow will obtain experience in performing comprehensive electrophysiology procedures including ablation of both supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias. In addition, the fellow will become proficient at implantation of pacemakers, defibrillators, and biventricular devices. Both inpatient and outpatient consultations as well as the management of arrhythmia patients will be emphasized during the fellowship year.
Apart from a well rounded experience in the electrophysiology laboratory, the fellowship program provides other learning activities such as monthly journal clubs, weekly didactic and clinical conferences, as well as monthly morbidity and mortality conferences. A monthly research conference and Cardiology Grand Rounds are also offered to round out the fellow’s educational experience.

The electrophysiology section is actively involved in a variety of research activities including both multi-center studies and investigator initiated trials. We are currently involved in more than 20 clinical trials, a number of which are unique phase 3 trials.  We routinely present at national meetings of the Heart Rhythm Society, American Heart Association, and American College of Cardiology. In 2012, eight abstracts were accepted for presentation at Heart Rhythm Society. Academic research is considered an important part of the fellowship with the expectation that the clinical cardiac electrophysiology trainee will complete at least one project with submission of at least one abstract and one manuscript to a peer reviewed journal.

After completion of the one year accredited fellowship program the fellow will meet all requirements to be able to sit for the ACGME sponsored clinical cardiac electrophysiology boards.

The University of Kansas Medical Center’s Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology program offers an intense high volume, academic experience that will result in development of superior cognitive, clinical and procedural skills required for a successful career in clinical cardiac electrophysiology.

CCEP Fellowship Applicants
Please contact the fellowship coordinator Sara Kombrink, for applications, questions or concerns.
Email: mailto:skombrink@kumc.edu

Faculty

	Rhea C. Pimentel, MD, FACC CCEP Fellowship Director Assistant Professor of Medicine - Cardiology rcpimentel@mac.md Medical School: Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University (Chicago, IL) IM Residency: University Hospitals of Cleveland (Cleveland, OH) CV Fellowship: Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO) CCEP Fellowship: Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO)
	Loren D. Berenbom, MD Professor of Medicine - Cardiology ldberenbom@mac.md Medical School: Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University (Chicago, IL) IM Residency: Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO) CV Fellowship: Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO) CCEP Fellowship: Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO)
	Raghuveer Dendi, MD Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine - Cardiology rdendi@mac.md Medical School: Osmania Medical College (Hyderabad, India) IM Residency:  SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse (Syracuse, NY) CV Fellowship: University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (Iowa City, IA) CCEP Fellowship: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston, MA)
	Martin P. Emert, MD Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine - Cardiology mpemert@mac.md Medical School: University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Med (Kansas City, MO) IM Residency: Case Western Reserve, University Hospitals of Cleveland (Cleveland, OH) CV Fellowship: Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO) CCEP Fellowship: Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO)
	Dhanunjaya R. Lakkireddy, MD, FACC Associate Professor of Medicine - Cardiology Director, Center for Excellence in AF and EP Research dlakkireddy@mac.md Medical School: Osmania Medical College (Hyderabad, India) IM Residency: University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Med (Kansas City, MO) CV Fellowship: Creighton University (Omaha, NE) CCEP Fellowship: Cleveland Clinic Foundation (Cleveland, OH)