About the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Program

The Cardiovascular Diseases fellowship programs provides fellows with a comprehensive training experience, which will enable them to pursue careers in either academic or private practice cardiology. Emphasis is placed on both excellent clinical training and a research experience, which is tailored to the individual's aspirations and previous activities. Clinical training consists of practical clinical rotations, didactic instruction, conference preparation and presentation, and both self-directed and assigned reading.

The program now offers two separate training pathways to accommodate the training needs of each individual fellow—a clinical pathway (three years) and a research pathway.  These are two distinct pathways within GME at VCUMC.  The clinical program will be appropriate for the majority of our fellows and involves a three year clinical curriculum with protected time for scholarly activities.  Graduates of the clinical pathway pursue careers in private practice as well as academic practice, often as clinician educators.

The T32 Training Program within the Division of Cardiology at VCU Health is a 4 year (2+2) CV medicine training program designed to provide cardiology training to post-doctoral physicians-scientists capable of developing new advances in multi-disciplinary translational cardiovascular (CV) research directed toward the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease. Trainees of this program will participate in translational CV science using cellular, small animal, or single and multi-center population cohorts and clinical trials for the purpose of applying this knowledge to design and lead future studies regarding important questions in cardiovascular health.  

Cardiovascular disease fellows in both pathways do clinical rotations at VCU Medical Center and at the affiliated Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center (MVAMC). The fellows will spend approximately 70% of the time at VCU Medical Center over the course of three years.   The range of cardiology services and experiences offered at the MVAMC parallel those offered at VCUMC.  The MVAMC is a full service hospital offering veterans the full range of cardiovascular care including advanced electrophysiology and heart failure therapies (Heart Transplantation).  The research opportunities for the clinical track fellow and T32 fellow are available at both institutions, which together present broad and complementary clinical and research faculties.

Training is provided in all areas of clinical cardiology, including invasive/interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, echocardiography, stress testing, critical care cardiology (medical and surgical), ambulatory cardiology, consultative cardiology, pediatric cardiology and transplant/heart failure.

Responsibility for the management of the Cardiology Fellowship Program, and for the successful completion of appropriate training for each fellow, resides in the Division Chief, Dr. Kenneth Ellenbogen, Director of the Pauley Heart Center, Dr. William Gregory Hundley, and the Program Director, Dr. Gautham Kalahasty. Major determinants of the structure of the Fellowship Program are the American Board of Internal Medicine subspecialty requirements for Cardiovascular Disease, and the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Bethesda Conference on Adult Cardiology Training. Additional determinants of program contents include the career plans and special needs of individual fellows, the requirements for adequate clinical exposure to ensure clinical excellence.   Finally, the fellows and faculty continuously contribute to improving program to be at the forefront of the ever-evolving field of cardiology.  Rotations, electives and didactic content is regularly modified to meet the educational needs of fellows maintain the academic and clinical excellence.  

Scholarship

The fellows in this program have a remarkable record of scholarly activity.  Below is a sample of recent publications within the last two years.  Each section is organized by academic year.

Vacation
All fellows receive a total of 3-weeks’ vacation, taken in 1- or 2-week blocks.

Night Float
Integrated into the weekly rotation schedule.

Weekend Coverage
Integrated into weekly rotation schedule.

GME Resident & Fellow Well-Being
Graduate Medical Education training is not easy. With the GME Physician Well-being program, we first and foremost assert our commitment to your well-being, resilience and all aspects of a healthy lifestyle. VCU and VCU Health are dedicated to ensuring that you have the tools you need to be your best. (Learn more)

All About VCU, VCU Health, and RVA
First things first. We fondly refer to Richmond as RVA.  People love this city because it’s awesome. And Virginia Commonwealth University is in the middle of it all.  Learn more about VCU, VCU Health, and RVA!

VCU

• Hem L. Bhardwaj, MD
• Wendy Bottinor, MD
• David Chuquin, MD
• Richard Cooke, MD
• Bethany Denlinger, MD
• Phillip Duncan, MD
• Kenneth Ellenbogen, MD
• Zachary M. Gertz, MD
• William Gregory Hundley, MD - Director:  Pauley Heart Center & Division Chief
• Gautham Kalahasty, MD - Fellowship Program Director
• Jayanthi N. Koneru, MD
• Michael C. Kontos, MD
• Jordana Kron, MD
• Barbara D. Lawson, MD
• Michael Lenhart, MD
• Mohammed Makkiya, MD
• Pranav Mankad, MD
• Roshanak R. Markley, MD
• Naveed A. Naz, MD
• Santosh K. Padala, MD
• Hamang Patel, MD
• Walter Paulsen, MD
• Mary A. Peberdy, MD
• Ajay Pillai, MD
• Krishnasree K. Rao, MD
• Keyur Shah, MD
• Sangeeta Shah, MD
• Richard K. Shepard, MD
• Saima Shikari-Dossaji, DO
• Melissa C. Smallfield, MD
• Inna F. Tchoukina, MD
• Deepak P. Thomas, MD, MPhil
• Jeremy Turlington, MD
• Hoyle "Trey" Whiteside, MD

VAMC

• Samuel Dow, MD
• Jose F. Huizar, MD
• Ion Jovin, MD, ScD
• Subrata Kar, DO
• Karoly Kaszala, MD, PhD
• Brian Lentz, MD
• Edward J. Lesnefsky, MD
• Neil Lewis, MD
• Anit Mankad, MD
• Edward McFalls, MD
• Johnathon Potfay, MD
• Jonah Pozen, MD - VAMC
• Andreas Prinz, MD
• Alex Tan, MD

Class of 2028

Narotham Badrish, MD
Medical School:   Eastern Virginia Medical School  
Residency:  Inova Fairfax 

Matthew Baer, MD, MA
Medical School:   Georgetown University School of Medicine    
Residency:  Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai - Morningside/West

Hussein Krayem, MD
Medical School:   American University of Beirut  
Residency:  Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 

Ashwin Pillai, MBBS
Medical School:   Topiwala National Medical College, Mumbai, India  
Residency:  University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT 

Saeed Shoar, MD
Medical School:   Tehran University School of Medicine  
Residency:  University of Maryland Capital Region Health

Aimee Willett, DO
Medical School:    Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in Blacksburg, Virginia 
Residency:  OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio

Class of 2027

Raziye Ecem Akdogan, MD
Medical School:  Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Medical School  
Residency:  University of Connecticut

Nichole Brunton, DO
Medical School:  Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine 
Residency:  Danbury Hospital – Yale School of Medicine 

Matthew G. Kaye, MD 
Medical School:  Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, SUNY 
Residency:  University at Buffalo, SUNY 

Arun Umesh Mahtani, MD, MS 
Medical School:  JSS Medical College, Mysore, KA, India
Residency:  Richmond University Medical Center, Staten Island, NY

Catherine D. Nguyen, DO 
Medical School:  Philadelphia College of Osteopathic of Medicine
Residency:  Lehigh Valley Health Network 

Faizal Ouedraogo, MD
Medical School:  L’Unite de Formation et de Recherche en Sciences de la Sante (UFR/SDS) 
Residency:  University of Maryland Capital Region Health 

Class of 2026

Reid Alley, MD 
Medical School:  Eastern Virginia Medical School 
Residency:  Virginia Commonwealth University 

David Gachoka, MD 
Medical School:  University of Illinois Peoria, IL 
Residency:  University of Toledo, OH 

Gowtham Rama Harsha Grandhi, MBBS, MPH
Medical School:  Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, India 
Residency:  MedStar Health Internal Medicine, Baltimore, MD

Angkawipa “Sept” Trongtorsak, MD
Medical School:  Chulalongkorn University, Thailand 
Residency:  Ascension Saint Francis Hospital

Xiaobo Xu, MB
Medical School:  Binzhou Medical College  
Residency:  Jacobi Medical Center - Albert Einstein College of Medicine 

Harika Yadav, MBBS
Medical School:  Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Belgaum, India 
Residency:  University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Chattanooga 

Pamela Lamisi Alebna, MD, MPH - T32 Fellow
Medical School:  University of Ghana Medical School 
Residency:  Rutgers Health, Jersey City Medical Center
Fellowship:  Cardiology

Aditi G.M. Patel, MD, PhD, MPH - T32 Fellow
Medical School:  University of Florida 
Residency:  University of Florida 

Class of 2025

Kelli Fox, DO
Medical School:  Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Bradenton, FL
Residency:  OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, Columbus, OH

Vaishnavi Gadela, MBBS
Medical School:  Mediciti Institute of Medical Sciences, India
Residency: University of Connecticut

Taeshik Park, MD, MS
Medical School:  Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, The Republic of Korea
Residency: Weiss Memorial Hospital-University of Illinois, Chicago, IL

Swetha Pasala, MD, MS
Medical School:  Eastern Virginia Medical School
Residency:  Inova Fairfax Hospital

Gaurang Prabhu, MD
Medical School:  Avalon University School of Medicine
Residency: Eastern Virginia Medical School

Rafae Shaikh, MBBS
Medical School:  Barts & The London, University of London
Residency: University of Connecticut

Pouria Shoureshi, MD - T32
Medical School:  Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (IUMS)- Isfahan- Iran
Residency:  Orange Park Medical Center (OPMC)- Orange Park- Florida

Eligibility Requirements

A major aim of the Cardiology fellowship is to offer comprehensive training that will prepare fellows for careers in either academic medicine or clinical practice.

We typically have six first year positions to fill; we interview upwards of 50 applicants for the six positions. As you are probably aware, fellowship programs are extremely competitive. The number of applicants is increasing each year. To help guide your decision in applying.  Here are some of our requirements:

1. Fellows must have U.S. citizenship or a permanent or J1 Visa.  YOU MUST POSSESS YOUR PERMANENT OR J-1 VISA AT THE TIME OF YOUR FELLOWSHIP APPLICATION. H-1 Visa will NOT be considered.

2. Graduates of foreign (not U.S. or Canadian) medical schools should have three years of residency in internal medicine in the primary hospital of a university medical school in the U.S. or Canada. We cannot consider candidates without residency in a university hospital.

3. Personal statements should provide background information about you. We are interested in knowing why you have chosen Cardiology and what you plan to do after fellowship. We would also like to know what special interests you have during fellowship so we can include appropriate faculty among your interviews.

4. We judge you most heavily on what is comparable to other members of your cohort, e.g.:

• Class standing in medical school.
• Scores on USMLE examinations.
• The quality of your residency program.
• Research productivity.
• Letters of recommendation are required. Please ask letter writers to objectively compare your work with that of your peers. The letter from the Chairman or Director of your residency program should summarize the scores of the latest evaluations of your work by the residency evaluation group, or in some way show where you stand among your peers.

How To Apply

All applications to the Cardiology Fellowship Program  should go through ERAS. The timeline for application for medical subspecialty fellowships has been modified. This will leave very little time for completion of applications, review of applications, and selection of applicants for interviews.

Any interested applicants are urged to start their application process early. Requests for USMLE reports, reference letters, and other supporting documentation should be ready for submission on June 7 when you receive your applicant number from ERAS. We would recommend to applicants that they have all of the information required for the ERAS application form ready for submission on June 7. When reference letters are requested, we recommend that faculty members be notified that their letters should be ready for submission to ERAS on June 7, if possible.

Required Documentation

All applicants must apply through ERAS and register with the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). If selected through the NRMP Match, we require several documents that ERAS does not scan. 

Accepted by ERAS:  

• Application 
• Curriculum Vitae 
• USMLE/COMLEX score reports 
• Medical School Transcripts 
• MSPE 
• Personal statement 
• Internal Medicine Residency Program Director letter 
• 4 letters of recommendation, of which one should be from your program director    
• Photograph 

Not accepted by ERAS (if applicable) 

• a copy of permanent medical license  
• a copy of DEA  
• a notarized copy of your ECFMG certificate; 
• a notarized copy medical school diploma (and translation where applicable);  
• a notarized copy of your IM Residency if you graduated prior to the current year.

Our ideal candidate has completed three years of Residency in Internal Medicine in a university hospital.

*** The majority of the documents described in “Required Documents” are required by ERAS. However, ERAS will not scan several of the documents that we require, i.e. social security card, copy of Virginia medical license (if you have one), ECFMG certificate; copy of your J1 or green card; medical school diploma (and translation where applicable). Mail all documents to (if selected for fellowship):

VCU School of Medicine
Dept of Internal Medicine
Box 980509
Richmond, VA 23298-0509
Phone: (804) 828-9726
Email: imfellowships@vcuhealth.org

Application Timeline

We plan on interviewing applicants on Thursdays during August through November. We will begin to review applications on July 15 and priority will be given to applications that are complete.  Our deadline for applications will be August 1.

Interview Information

Interview Days will be approximately 07:30 am to 4:00 pm.  This will include Cardiology Conference, a meet and greet and program overview, interviews with five faculty members and current fellows, lunch and a tour by current fellows and a wrap up with the Program Director.

Attention:  In support of our applicants, we will be flexible in providing virtual and on-site fellowship interview opportunities.  We understand that applicants may have restrictions on travel during this time.  Our interview schedule may change as we approach the late summer and fall.  We appreciate your patience and understanding; we will absolutely work to accommodate all applicants as best possible during the COVID pandemic.

Program Director

Gautham Kalahasty, MD
Phone: (804) 828-7576 
Email: gautham.kalahasty@vcuhealth.org

Fellowship Coordinator

Jeanette Wood
VCU School of Medicine
Dept of Internal Medicine
Box 980509
Richmond, VA 23298-0509 
Phone: (804) 828-9726
Email: imfellowships@vcuhealth.org

For training verification requests, please visit us at https://intmed.vcu.edu/education/verification/