Advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology fellowship

The Corewell Health – Grand Rapids/Michigan State University Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology Fellowship at the Corewell Health Frederick Meijer Heart & Vascular Institute is a one-year subspecialty fellowship designed to train cardiologists in the management of patients with advanced heart failure, mechanical circulatory support, heart transplantation and pulmonary hypertension. At the completion of our program, fellows will be eligible for certification in the subspecialty of Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology by the American Board of Internal Medicine and meet the requirements for UNOS certification as a heart transplant cardiologist. As a fellow, you play an integral role in the management of a wide spectrum of heart failure, including:

• Initial evaluation of advanced heart failure
• Chronic management strategies of advanced heart failure and pulmonary hypertension patients
• Management of patients with cardiogenic shock and temporary mechanical circulatory support
• Selection of candidates for advanced heart failure therapies
• Selection of donor-hearts for transplantation
• Management of heart transplantation and durable mechanical circulatory support patients
• Approach to the management of end-of -life care in end stage heart failure patients

Thank you for considering the Corewell Health – Grand Rapids/Michigan State University Advanced Heart Failure & Transplant Cardiology Fellowship.

Corewell Health offers quaternary cardiac care and is a regional referral center in West Michigan. We have one of the largest volumes of cardiovascular procedures in the state of Michigan. Our Advanced Heart Failure Section was established in 2008, and since then we have provided care to thousands of patients with advanced heart failure. We provide advanced therapies to patients with all types of cardiomyopathies and pulmonary hypertension. Our board-certified advanced heart failure and transplant cardiologists trained at different institutions, thus being able to provide a diverse and well-rounded experience to the fellowship.

This one-year (PGY-7) fellowship will focus on the inpatient and outpatient management of patients with advanced heart failure, heart transplantation, mechanical circulatory support devices and pulmonary hypertension.

In addition to our advanced heart failure & transplant cardiology fellowship, our institution offers both an ACGME-accredited cardiovascular disease fellowship program (currently enrolling four fellows per year) and interventional cardiology fellowship (enrolling two fellows per year). We also have a non-ACGME accredited one-year advanced cardiovascular imaging fellowship.

On behalf of the advanced heart failure faculty, I want to thank you again for your interest in our program and please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Sincerely,

Renzo Y. Loyaga-Rendon MD, MSPH, PhD.
Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology
Medical Director of Research, Frederick Meijer Heart & Vascular Institute
Program Director, Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology Fellowship
Corewell Health – Grand Rapids/Michigan State University

Under the direction of Michael Dickinson, MD, the advanced heart failure section was developed soon after the opening of the Frederick Meijer Heart and Vascular Institute in 2004. In 2008, Asghar Kaghani, MD, a world leading thoracic transplant surgeon, with more than 25 years of experience at Harefield Hospital (United Kingdom), was named the surgical director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Heart and Lung Transplant program. Under this leadership, the left ventricular assist device program was initiated in 2009 and the first heart transplant occurred in 2010. Since then, we have implanted more than 500 LVADs and performed more than 200 heart transplants. The Frederick Meijer Heart and Vascular Institute is a quaternary referral center for West Michigan and beyond.

The advanced heart failure section at Corewell Health in West Michigan consists of: 

• Seven advanced heart failure and transplant cardiologists
• Nine inpatient and four outpatient advanced practice providers
• Two transplant pharmacists
• One psychologist
• Two inpatient and 11 outpatient heart failure nurses
• Seven pre and post-heart transplant coordinators
• Four LVAD coordinators
• Two social workers
• Nutritionists, ethicists and financial specialists

In the inpatient setting, advanced heart failure cardiologists participate in our cardiogenic shock call system, a multi-specialty system dedicated to the early identification and support of patients with cardiogenic shock. As a result, we perform more than 120 ECMO runs annually and implanted hundreds of temporary mechanical circulatory support devices. In addition, the Frederick Meijer Heart and Vascular Institute admits more than 1,700 patients with decompensated heart failure a year and our advanced heart failure team plays a very important role in the management of this population.

In the outpatient setting, our advanced heart failure clinic provides more than 7,500 visits a year. Our advanced heart failure cardiologists lead and participate in the hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, pulmonary hypertension and cardio-obstetric clinics. Our telemonitoring program is expanding and currently follows many high-risk patients with pulmonary artery pressure monitor devices.

In the cardiac catheterization laboratory, our advanced heart failure cardiologists perform cardiac catheterizations for advanced heart failure patients, heart transplant and LVAD patients. We also perform hemodynamic assessment with exercise and pharmacological challenges, endomyocardial biopsies and pulmonary artery sensor (cardiomems) implantations. Our cardiologists also attend the echo lab and interpret cardiopulmonary stress testing.

The advanced heart failure section at Spectrum Health is actively involved in clinical research. We have been selected as participating sites for LVAD clinical trials and heart transplant registries. Our faculty have published their work in leading journals of our subspecialty and presented their research at national and international meetings.