
Director, Cardiovascular Diseases Fellowship

Associate Director,
Cardiovascular Diseases Fellowship
Thank you for your interest in the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Program. Our goal is to help fellows develop to the fullest of their potential in a stimulating and supportive program. The University of Michigan, from the days of opening the first University Hospital in 1850, has a longstanding tradition of excellence in training leaders in cardiovascular disease. We have a diverse and internationally recognized faculty practicing in a state of the art facility at one of the greatest public universities in the world.
While we have a great tradition, faculty, facility and university, the greatest asset of all is our fellows. We are fortunate to recruit some of the brightest young talent in medicine. Additional strengths of our program include outstanding clinical training in all disciplines, a state of the art VA hospital staffed by UM faculty, a broad range of basic and clinical research opportunities, and leadership committed to trainee development and mentorship. Our clinical services are busy and growing, and fellows care for patients with a broad range of cardiovascular diseases. We believe first and foremost in producing well-trained clinical cardiologists. We believe in the critical role of a strong culture in the optimal performance of our program and in empowering our fellows to drive the culture.
Ann Arbor is a fabulous place to call home, and is frequently ranked among the best places to live in the US. Our current fellows are outstanding individuals and we are extremely fortunate and proud to work with such a fine group of people. We are confident that you will find Ann Arbor a great place to live and train, and we will do our best to help you reach your goals.
We appreciate your interest in our program and look forward to meeting you.
Sincerely,
Peter Hagan, MB, Program Director
Richard Weinberg, MD, PhD, Associate Program Director
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Identity Statement
We, at the Frankel Cardiovascular Center, believe that delivering the very best heart and vascular care in the world can only be achieved through a culture of respect for one another and by celebrating the diversity of our patients, their families, and our workplace community. We strive to inspire an equitable and inclusive environment that welcomes and respects individuals from all races, ethnicities, gender identities, religions, beliefs, abilities, appearances, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Diversity is at the heart of our values, improving patient outcomes, enhancing our work culture and optimizing health care.
APPLY
Thank you for your interest in the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship at the University of Michigan (general cardiology). The University of Michigan Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship is a 3-year ACGME accredited program. We participate in the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP). Applications for fellowship starting July 1, 2022 should be submitted through Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) by August 1. Please reference program ID 1412521096.
Interview Dates
All interviews will be conducted virtually. Dates are TBD at this time.
** We will gladly consider applicants with a J-1 visa, but cannot consider other visa types.
We look forward to receiving your application and wish you well through the process.
Required Documentation
(Please refer to the ERAS website for specific application and required documentation submission details.)
- A completed ERAS Cardiovascular Medicine Fellowship Application
- A current copy of your curriculum vitae
- A personal statement
- A letter of recommendation from your Internal Medicine Program Director
- Two additional letters of reference
- A copy of your medical school Deans' letter
- An official copy of your medical school transcripts
- Copy of your USMLE Scores (Steps1, 2, 3)
- ECFMG Status Report if applicable
- Photo
The University of Michigan offers highly competitive salaries and tremendous benefits to our residents/fellows. An overview of salary, benefits and employment eligibility is available on the Graduate Medical Education Office website, under “Prospective Residents/Fellows”.
If you have any questions during the application process, please do not hesitate to contact us at (734) 936-8214.
Curriculum
Below you will find sample schedules for the first and second year of the University of Michigan Cardiology Fellowship. The third year varies depending on the research or subspecialty interest of each fellow. Fellows often use this year to pursue investigational research, but in the case of fellows pursuing careers in intervention or imaging, they may begin clinical training during this year.
Cardiology Consults
Cardiac Catheterization
Cardiac Electrophysiology (VA)
Outpatient Heart Failure/Transplantation
Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
Night Float
Echocardiography
Research
Adult Congenital Heart Disease
Cardiology Consults (VA)
Cardiac Catheterization (VA)
Cardiac Electrophysiology
Cardiac CT/MRI
Cardiovascular Surgery ICU
Inpatient Heart Failure/Transplant
Nuclear Cardiology
Echocardiography (VA)
Vascular and Preventive Cardiology
Research
In addition to the above rotations, fellows maintain continuity clinics at Michigan Medicine and the VA Health System.
Educational Conference Schedule
Clinical Facilities
Michigan Medicine includes the U-M Medical School, with its Faculty Group Practice and many research laboratories; North Campus Research Complex, the U-M Hospitals and Health Centers, which includes University Hospital, Frankel Cardiovascular Center, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital, 120 outpatient clinics and approximately 40 health centers
Its hospitals have 925 licensed beds. As a tertiary care center, UMHS has 179 intensive care unit (ICU) beds, giving it one of the highest numbers of ICU beds in the country. UMHS is also a high-volume surgical center with a total of 66 operating rooms.
Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor
The Veterans Affairs (VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System is a major referral institution within the Veterans Health Agency. It is responsible for providing primary, secondary, and tertiary care to veterans residing in the lower peninsula of Michigan and also Northwestern Ohio. It operates 105 acute care beds and 40 Community Living Center (extended care) beds. More than 550,000 outpatient visits are made to its facilities yearly.
Useful Links
Research
The clinical and translational research programs outlined below are at the disposal of all cardiology fellows at Michigan Medicine. Research opportunities are uniformly strong across disciplines, and fellows are encouraged to create new collaborations across the schools and institutes at the University. Over the course of training, fellows have been known to publish in high impact journals such as the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Circulation, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and the New England Journal of Medicine.
Formal Clinical Research Programs
- Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program
- Institute for Health Policy and Innovation
- Michigan Cardiovascular Outcomes Research and Reporting Program (MCORRP)
- Value Based Insurance Design
- Center for Health Outcomes and Policy
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan Vascular Interventions Collaborative (BMC2)
- University of Michigan Center for Arrhythmia Research
- Michigan Biology of Cardiovascular Aging (MBOCA)
Ongoing Clinical Trials
Clinical Registries
- CRS — Cardiac Sarcoidosis Registry
- CR — Cardiac Rehabilitation
- IRAD — International Registry on Aortic Dissection
- MHYH— My Heart Your Heart
- FMD — Global Fibromuscular Dysplasia Registry
- MAQI — Michigan Anticoagulation Quality Improvement Registry
- PHS — Project Healthy Schools Initiative
- BRIDGE — Post Discharge Cardiac Patient Management Registry
Basic Science Research Opportunities
Follow this link for an in depth description of basic science research opportunities
- Justus Anumonwo, PhD
- Researching molecular interactions involved in the regulation of cardiac ion channels
- Investigating arrhythmia mechanisms in animal models and in patient-specific, stem cell-derived cardiac myocytes
- Understanding excess adiposity induced electro-mechanical dysfunction of the heart
- Omer Berenfeld, PhD
- Investigating the mechanisms of ventricular and atrial fibrillation with emphasis on translation of potential therapies from bench to bedside
- James Brian Byrd, MD, MS
- Discovering novel biomarkers to guide the personalized treatment of resistant hypertension
- Understanding the role of mineralocorticoids in obesity-associated hypertension
- Yuqing Chen, MD, PhD
- Understanding molecular mechanisms underlying the development and progression of diabetes-induced cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and stroke
- Daniel T Eitzman, MD
- Determining the impact of various genetic alterations on atherosclerosis and arterial thrombosis using in vivo mouse models
- Todd J Herron, PhD
- Studying cardiovascular regeneration and the development of cell based therapies
- Santhi Kalaichelvi Ganesh, MD
- Investigating the genetic basis of vascular diseases
- David Ginsburg, MD
- Understanding the components of the blood clotting system and how disturbances in their function lead to human bleeding and blood-clotting disorders
- Daniel R Goldstein, MD, PhD
- Focusing on how aging impacts inflammation during acute viral infections and during chronic inflammatory disorders such as atherosclerosis
- Jose Jalife, MD
- Employing mathematical and biophysical concepts to increase the understanding of the mechanisms of life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, from the molecule to the bedside
- Isom Lori, PhD
- Studying human patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell neurons and cardiac myocytes to understand the mechanism of inherited epilepsy and co-morbid cardiac arrhythmias linked to mutations in sodium channel genes
- David Joel Pinsky, MD
- Studying mechanisms driving hypoxic/ischemic modulation of vascular phenotype
- Hector Valdivia, MD, PhD
- Using molecular, cellular, whole heart and intact animal approaches to elucidate basic mechanisms of excitation-contraction coupling and the role of calcium mishandling in the generation of ventricular arrhythmias and atrial fibrillation
- Margaret Westfall, PhD
- Understanding the roles played by protein kinase C and downstream myofilament targets in the modulation of cardiac performance under physiological and pathophysiological conditions
- Stephen Weiss, MD
- Investigating transcriptional regulators and proteolytic effectors that control cardiac development, vasculogenesis and angiogenesis in vivo, ex vivo as well as 3-dimensional model systems that recapitulate morphogenic and differentiation programs in vitro
NIH T32 Training Grant
- The purpose of this NIH sponsored training grant is to provide an intensive research training experience in cardiovascular research. The program is designed for postdoctoral MD's or PhD's in preparation for independent investigative careers related to cardiovascular disease.
- Follow this link for further information
Fellows Visiting Professor & Wellness Initiatives
Fellows Visiting Professor
Each year the cardiology fellows collectively invite an expert clinician as a visiting professor to the University of Michigan Health System. The fellows spend a two day time period with the visiting professor where they participate in case based discussions in a variety of venues. The list of the most recent fellows visiting professors are:
- 2019 - Clyde Yancy, MD
- 2018 - Valentin Fuster, MD
- 2017 - Eugene Braunwald, MD
- 2014 - Rick Nishimura, MD
- 2013 - Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD
- 2012 - Morton Kern, MD
- 2011 - L. David Hillis, MD
- 2010 - James Willerson, MD
Fellows Wellness Initiatives

Over the past 2 years, we have developed a wellness curriculum to discuss topics such as burnout/moral injury, medical mistakes, and how to deal with difficult situations/patient deaths. Outside of the hospital, we have activities to help with team bonding including annual tailgating, bowling, and karaoke. Twice a year, we have a "Beer with a Peer" event where we invite one of our faculty to join us for dinner and discuss their experiences and advice about career paths. There is also a monthly "Joy in Work" lunch in our cardiac critical care unit to help foster unit culture and collaboration between all of the staff.
Our Faculty & Fellows
Our Faculty
To see all of our faculty, click here.
Our First Year Fellows

Kent Brummel, MD
Medical School: Northwestern University
Residency: University of Chicago

David Hamilton, MD
Medical School: University of Chicago
Residency: Massachusetts General

Daniel Kobe, MD
Medical School: Northeastern Ohio University
Residency: Case Western Reserve

Michael Madigan, MD
Medical School: Washington University
Residency: Washington University

Daniel McBride, MD
Medical School: Eastern Virginia Medical School
Residency: University of Pennsylvania

Rabel Rameez, MD
Medical School: Dow Medical College, Pakistan
Residency: Cleveland Clinic

Raymond Yeow, MD
Medical School: Oakland University
Residency: University of Michigan
Our Second Year Fellows

Tariq Azam, MD
Medical School: Ohio State
Residency: Mayo Clinic, Rochester

Greg Baker, MD
Medical School: Rutgers New Jersey
Residency: Boston University

Apu Chakrabarti, MD
Medical School: University of Michigan
Residency: University of Michigan

Taylor Dawson, MD
Medical School: University of Toledo
Residency: University of Michigan

Navin Natarajan, MD
Medical School: Case Western Reserve
Residency: NY Presbyterian/Columbia

Daniel Perry, MD
Medical School: University of Michigan
Residency: University of Michigan

Muazzum Shah, MD
Medical School: University of Michigan
Residency: University of California, San Francisco
Our Third Year Fellows

David Beavers, MD, PhD
Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine
Residency: Duke University

Amrish Deshmukh, MD
Medical School: Case Western Reserve
Residency: University of Chicago

Hamed Emami, MD
Medical School: Tehran University of Medical Services
Residency: Yale-New Haven Hospital

Thomas Franzon, MD
Medical School: State University of NY Upstate Medical University
Residency: University of Pennsylvania

Jessica Guidi, MD
Medical School: Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania
Residency: University of Pennsylvania

Erinn Hughes, MD
Medical School: Georgetown University School of Medicine
Residency: Loyola University Medical Center

Vaiibhav Patel, MD
Medical School: Wayne State University
Residency: Barnes Jewish Hospital

Eric Smith, MD
Medical School: Case Western Reserve
Residency: University of Michigan Health System

Andrea Thompson, MD, PhD
Medical School: University of Michigan School of Medicine
Residency: University of Michigan Health System
Alumni
We are incredibly proud of our network of alumni who are advancing cardiovascular care in all regions of the country and world. Please follow this link to learn more about our alumni network, and join our LinkedIn and Facebook alumni groups.
Contact Us

Peggy Engel, Program Coordinator
University of Michigan Health System
2381 CVC SPC 5853
1500 E. Medical Center Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5853
Phone (734) 936-8214
Fax (734) 615-3326
pengel@umich.edu