Mayo Clinic's Cardiothoracic Imaging Fellowship is designed to provide an opportunity for clinical radiology and research training at the advanced fellowship level.

You work closely with staff consultants and have opportunities for involvement in current research programs or formulation of original investigations.

Clinical training

This fellowship emphasizes chest radiography, thoracic CT, cardiac CT, and cardiac MRI with additional training provided in thoracic MRI, CT and MR angiography. Training in image-guided thoracic interventions can be arranged, if desired. The flexibility of the program allows you to pursue extensive training in thoracic and cardiovascular radiology or focused thoracic or cardiovascular imaging tracks.

You may emphasize either cardiovascular or thoracic imaging in accordance with your educational needs and career goals.

Rotation schedule (sample)

*Elective time may be devoted to additional clinical rotations in thoracic or cardiovascular imaging, clinical rotations complementary to core cardiothoracic rotations such as PET/CT, pathology, nuclear cardiology and echocardiography, or research-related scholarly activity in consultation with the fellowship program director.

Didactic training

Didactic training occurs in the setting of the core resident and fellow lecture series, one-on-one instruction, case conferences, journal club, and visiting professor lectures.

Multidisciplinary conferences

You attend and participate in multidisciplinary conferences supported by the Divisions of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Imaging. The Division of Thoracic Imaging participates in weekly thoracic tumor boards, daily lung cancer service rounds, weekly pulmonary medicine case conferences, monthly autoimmune interstitial lung disease conferences, and twice weekly thoracic radiology-pathology correlation case reviews. The Division of Cardiovascular Imaging participates in weekly resident and fellow case conferences, weekly cardiovascular imaging grand rounds, and weekly congenital heart center conferences.

Research training

Mayo Clinic offers boundless opportunities for research, including access to the CT Clinical Innovation Center and the Center for Advanced Imaging Research in the Opus Imaging Research Building. You are encouraged to actively participate in research projects with consulting staff, which frequently lead to conference presentations and peer-reviewed publications. You are encouraged to participate in research projects with the consulting staff. This includes opportunities for clinical studies and laboratory-based projects.

A program objective is that the primary research project yields results that are suitable for presentation at scientific meetings and publication in peer-reviewed literature. Research projects with the goal of submission for publication and presentation at the end of fellowship are required. You receive dedicated research days to aid in completion of your project. You also receive financial support for travel, lodging, meals, and registration fees for at which you present and for one non-presentation (attendance) trip.

Teaching opportunities

You have the opportunity to teach Mayo Clinic radiology residents, Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine students, and visiting students from other medical schools through daily clinical rotations and formal didactic lectures.

Evaluation

To ensure that you acquire adequate knowledge and develop your technical skills to meet program expectations, your performance is monitored carefully during the Cardiothoracic Imaging Fellowship. In addition to daily case-by-case real-time feedback, you receive formal rotation evaluations on a quarterly basis. You also have the opportunity to regularly evaluate the faculty to ensure that your educational needs are being met.

Call frequency

Call schedules vary by individual rotation. Mayo Clinic follows the recommendations of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).