Cooper University Hospital is the leading tertiary-level provider serving the southern New Jersey region and its population of approximately 1.5 million. The medical center serves the needs of a broad patient mix and delivers primary, secondary and tertiary medical care. As such, other institutions in the region refer their most complex patients to our full-time faculty in all subspecialties of internal medicine. Cooper physicians treat diverse urban, suburban and rural populations from different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.
Our clinical campus is renowned for a world-class ICU, Level 1 Trauma Center and Cooper Heart Institute. In annual surveys assessing the region’s medical care, Cooper’s physicians are prominently recognized as “Top Doctors” in their fields. Physicians with a broad and long-standing commitment to resident and fellow education compose a large faculty of full time teachers and practitioners.
Cooper University Hospital is the major clinical site of Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU), which opened its doors to its first class of medical students in August 2012.
Cardiovascular Programs
With 24,500 inpatient admissions and 49,250 outpatient visits annually, the cardiology division sees the gamut – from patients needing routine cardiac care to the most complex of cardiac diseases. Cooper has a 24-bed same day procedure unit for monitoring of patients who have had outpatient procedures or interventions. There is a 12-bed coronary care unit and 75-bed telemetry unit; the latter houses a special area for inpatient angioplasty patients. More than 28,000 echoes (9,100 inpatient) and 6,500 nuclear studies (3,000 inpatient) are performed annually in the Cooper system, providing fellows with a wealth of educational opportunities.
The Cooper Interventional Cardiology Program offers cutting-edge percutaneous therapies for coronary, valve and vascular interventions. There are six dedicated laboratories where more than 7,000 procedures (6,600 coronary, 450 peripheral) are performed each year. Another 1,200 peripheral cases are done in the interventional radiology suites.
The Cooper Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia Management Program is one of the most innovative in the Philadelphia area. Cooper electrophysiology is at the leading edge of ablation therapy, device implantation and arrhythmia detection. There are two dedicated electrophysiology laboratories that last year performed 924 implants and 337 ablations.
A robust program to treat acute myocardial infarctions is supported by a comprehensive transfer center that features a dedicated helicopter program. Specialized diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, in conjunction with renowned faculty, provide the foundation for an active vascular program, and the Cooper Valve Center is a regional leader in percutaneous valve interventions.
Cooper also has nationally recognized critical care medicine and cardiothoracic surgery (550-600 open heart surgeries per year), both closely affiliated with the cardiology division.
Fellows rotate through an integrated three-year program, allowing exposure to all faculty cardiologists and division activities. There are clinical rotations as well as rotations dedicated to specific laboratories such as cardiac catheterization, echocardiography and electrophysiology. The trainee’s experiences and specific rotations will depend upon individual needs and career goals, especially in the second and third years when specific career planning has begun. The goal of the program is to train board-eligible internists in the subspecialty of cardiovascular disease and prepare those who are interested in further subspecialty training.
The cardiology fellowship curriculum is structured to provide well-rounded training in all aspects of cardiovascular disease. Fellows are scheduled for clinical rotations for a minimum of 24 of the 36 months of the fellowship. These rotations include cardiac catheterization, electrophysiology, coronary care unit, clinical consult service, echocardiography, advanced heart failure and nuclear cardiology. Elective time is flexible, allowing the fellow the opportunity to complete a research project, to acquire specialized skills in non-invasive cardiology such as CT/MR, echocardiography, electrophysiology or nuclear medicine, or to further develop skills in invasive cardiology.