University Hospital

University of New Mexico Hospital is on the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center campus. It is a 618-bed general and tertiary care hospital including complete pediatric services and outpatient facilities and is the only level I trauma center in New Mexico.  The hospital also operates its air service, including fixed-wing and helicopters. The hospital has a coronary care unit, cath lab, electrophysiology lab, echo lab, heart station, nuclear cardiology laboratory, and a 20-bed cardiac step-down unit. It provides the fellows unique educational opportunities, including pediatric cardiology, cardiac trauma, adult congenital heart disease, and structural heart interventions. 

The New Mexico VA health Care System

The New Mexico VA health care system is a 350-bed tertiary care hospital that serves veterans from a four-state area, active duty Air Force, and Air Force dependents. The hospital includes a coronary care unit, cath lab, electrophysiology lab, echo lab, heart station, a 12-bed CCU/cardiac step-down unit, a 20-bed telemetry unit, outpatient facilities, and numerous research facilities.  
 
The VA Hospital provides the trainees with the opportunity to deal with severe coronary artery disease, degenerative valve disease, and malignant ventricular arrhythmias. 

Rotations

Year One

The first year of fellowship is devoted to clinical training. Rotations consist of 13 four-week blocks, which occur at both University Hospital and the VA and include: 

• 2-3 blocks of diagnostic cath 
• 2-3 blocks of echo 
• 3 blocks of inpatient cardiology/TSICU/consults 
• 1-2 blocks of EP 
• 1-2 blocks of nuclear cardiology and stress testing
• 1-2 blocks of outpatient pediatric cardiology/ACHD/cardiac CT/cardiac rehab 
• 1-2 blocks of research

Outpatient continuity clinic begins in the first year and continues throughout the duration of training. Fellows have clinic one-half day per week, alternating between the University and VA. 

Year Two

The second year of training involves similar rotations but with more flexibility in scheduling desired rotations and an emphasis on independent decision-making in clinical care settings. More research time is allotted with the expectation of preparing and submitting an abstract and article for peer review during the third year of fellowship. Participation in national conferences is expected, and funding for travel is provided.

Year Three

The third year of training is designed to transition from fellowship to future career plans, whether that is further subspecialty training, an academic career, or clinical practice. There is an emphasis on completing rotations to achieve COCATS level 2 training in desired aspects of cardiology, as well as completion of the research requirements as outlined above. Fellows are expected to further develop their independent decision-making and teaching abilities. Focused training in future career plans is available for fellows who wish to pursue it. Historically, all fellows become COCATS level 2 trained in the major disciplines within cardiovascular medicine.

Conferences

Didactic lectures cover a broad range of cardiovascular topics.

• There is a Tuesday UNM Core Curriculum Conference.
• Wednesday VA graphics/Imaging conferences alternate between cath, echo, EP/ECG, nuclear, and CT/MRI imaging conferences.
• The Friday UNM conferences consist of four rotating talks covering cardiac cath, electrophysiology, echocardiography core board prep, and morbidity and mortality conference. Fellows are expected to participate in the production of conferences, solidifying their skills as content experts and building their educational skills for further pursuit of academic positions.
• A monthly Journal Club focuses on new, state-of-the-art articles pertinent to the practice of cardiology.
• There are monthly core ECG conferences, biweekly combined cardiology/CT surgery case conferences, cardiac cath lab morbidity and mortality conferences, and cardiac cath lab quality conferences.
• There is a semi-annual research conference, where fellows present their research ideas and projects for feedback and suggestions and practice scholarly product presentations before national meetings.
• Cardiology Grand Rounds are held multiple times yearly, with nationally known speakers presenting interesting topics. 

Graduated Fellows (Class of 2022)

• Amjad Alrashdan, MD
• Camila Maestas, MD
• Madhura Myla, MD
• Arianna Pregenzer-Wenzler, MD

3rd Year Fellows (Class of 2023) 

• Lucas Chacon-Lutrick, MD
• Carmel Moazez, MD
• Shazib Sagheer, MD
• David Sosa, MD

2nd Year Fellows (Class of 2024) 

• Erika Jones, MD
• Maedeh Kholghi, DO
• Reed Otten, MD
• James E. Kelly, MD

1st Year Fellows (Class of 2025) 

• Karla Almaraz, MD
• Shannon Clay, MD
• Wilfredo Henriquez Madrid, MD 
• Revati Reddy, MD 
• Ishan Shan, MD