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The University of Tennessee

The Graduate School of Medicine




Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship

Introduction to the Fellowship Program

We are delighted that you are interested in the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Program at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine. We look forward to discussing the University's program with you and invite you to visit Knoxville for an in-depth look at an outstanding educational program.

Program Strengths:

  • The fellowship program is an integral part of the UTGSM Internal Medicine program that has been in existence since 1956, with continued full accreditation since its inception. The UTGSM program has over 170 residents and fellows training in 10 ACGME accredited core residency programs and four ACGME accredited subspecialty fellowship programs.

  • UTGSM provides fellows with an excellent support system, including nursing, pharmacy, library, laboratory, nutritional support, social workers, consultative support from subspecialists, and an excellent Resident Assistance Program. The University of Tennessee Medical Center has state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic facilities with an electronic medical record system, the CoPath pathology information system, and the PACS radiology information system.

  • UTGSM is minutes away from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, main campus and has the resources of this large institution at its disposal. UTGSM has a close working relationship with the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis. Teachers and researchers at UTGSM collaborate and share facilities with colleagues at the prestigious University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine (in Knoxville) and Oak Ridge National Laboratories.

  • UTGSM draws patients from a large geographic area in East Tennessee, southeast Kentucky, northwest North Carolina, and western Virginia. University of Tennessee Medical Center is a Level 1 Trauma Center, with three helicopters providing transport of critically ill patients, including numerous acute myocardial infarction patients. Due to the tertiary referral nature of the university program, a large number of patients with a broad spectrum of clinical pathologies are available for both clinical experience and research studies.

  • The fellowship faculty practice, University Cardiology, is located in offices connected to the hospital and is part of the University of Tennessee Medical Center's Heart Lung Vascular Institute. The large University Cardiology practice sees over 200 patients daily from all over the East Tennessee region and neighboring states.

  • The volume of cardiovascular procedures performed annually at UT Medical Center, in both the hospital and clinic, is substantial, with over:
    • 9,000 echocardiograms
    • 4,500 cardiac catheterizations, including interventional and pediatric cases
    • 6,000 cardiac nuclear studies, including PET scans
    • 44,000 ECGs
    • 4,800 stress tests
    • 600 diagnostic and therapeutic electrophysiological studies (including catheter ablations and implantable devices)

  • The Program Director, Dr. Dale Wortham, has a distinguished academic career, with six years as Program Director for the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship program at Walter Reed Hospital, Chief of the Cardiology Division at Walter Reed, and Consultant to the Surgeon General of the Army. Dr. Wortham has served as a Cardiology Consultant to the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and a member of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Advisory Council. He has over 50 publications.

  • The fellowship faculty physicians have trained at some of the best training programs in the country, including Baylor, Johns Hopkins, Brown, University of Michigan, Boston University, Emory, LSU, Harvard, Tulane, Southwestern, Vanderbilt, and University of Pennsylvania. All faculty members are board-certified in cardiovascular disease. In addition, there are faculty members board-certified in interventional cardiology, nuclear medicine, and electrophysiology and pacing.

 

 

 



The University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine

1924 Alcoa Highway
Box U-114
Knoxville, TN 37920
Phone (865) 305-6324
Fax (865) 305-6849