The Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship at Cooper University Health Care is a one-year ACGME-accredited fellowship program that provides a well-balanced year of educational, academic, and clinical experience. Cooper University Health Care is a tertiary care center that boasts a growing volume of cardiothoracic cases. The cardiothoracic surgery team performs a variety of cardiac cases ranging from minimally invasive valve repairs and replacements to off-pump coronary bypass surgeries to temporary left ventricular support devices for refractory heart failure.
In 2022, we performed almost 800 cardiac procedures, including approximately 200 open surgical valve cases. Cooper is the regional leader in, with 189 done in 2022. Cooper is also a regional leader in structural heart failure procedures, with 189 Trans-catheter Aortic Valve Replacements (TAVRs) and 47 Mitral Clips done in 2022. Additionally, Cooper performs a significant volume of aortic surgery and is a referral center for Type-A Aortic Dissections. Fellows can expect to become intimately involved with advanced procedures including complex aortic surgery and minimally invasive cardiac surgery. Cooper is also seeing a rapidly growing volume of non-cardiac thoracic patients, providing fellows with significant experience in robotic and open lung resection, mediastinal surgery and esophageal resection.
While there is a large volume of clinical cases for the fellows to gain experience, trainee education remains the cornerstone of our fellowship program. Assignments are based on educational need and not staffing requirements; fellows will usually participate in the most complex procedures of the day. The fellow will gain experience with both supervision of trainees and with independent practice where he/she will function as the primary house staff. Additionally, the fellow will spend a month-long rotation on echocardiography, performing and reviewing transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) studies.
The Department of Anesthesiology has a diverse and excellent cardiothoracic faculty who are experts in their field; they play an integral role in perioperative decision making. Our entire cardiothoracic anesthesiology faculty is extremely facile with TEE. Academically, faculty members are involved in several IRB-approved projects. Nationally, they are involved with the leadership of the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists. We also have four American Board of Anesthesiology oral examiners on our staff. We enjoy significant infrastructural support of our departmental academic mission from Cooper University Health Care and Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, including two full-time research coordinators.
The cardiothoracic faculty at Cooper fosters an educational and supportive environment that will help our fellows grow and mature into exceptional clinicians. With the breadth of training this program provides, we are confident in the ability of our graduating fellows to provide exceptional care anywhere they go.