Message from the Program Director

The University of Wisconsin Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship program provides a broad, adaptable training experience that can be tailored to any career trajectory. UW is one of the only quaternary care centers serving the state of Wisconsin and surrounding areas.  Our patients come from diverse rural and urban backgrounds with a variety of early and late-stage cardiothoracic pathology. This variety, combined with a favorable case volume-to-trainee ratio, yields a breadth and depth of training that allows fellows to mature into well-rounded cardiothoracic surgeons.  In the final year of fellowship these core skills are refined through dedicated rotations in an area of professional interest to ensure our residents are ready for independent practice.

Our cardiac surgery training features robust experience in core operations, complemented by exposure to complex and subspecialty procedures.  Coronary revascularization is performed with a variety of modern techniques, including total arterial revascularization, beating heart and off-pump procedures.  Valve replacement and repair are performed routinely and in the context of a robust structural heart team that facilitates access to catheter-based techniques when appropriate.  Advanced aortic disease is an important part of our program, as evidenced by a collaborative aortic center created in partnership with vascular surgery.  Finally, a growing minimally invasive cardiac surgery practice features innovative approaches to the mitral valve and arrhythmia surgery.

Building on a history of transplant innovation within the UW Department of Surgery, thoracic transplant and mechanical support have grown dramatically in recent years. Our residents are deeply involved in thoracic transplant surgery, including heart, lung, heart-lung, and multi-organ transplants involving kidney and liver.  Durable and temporary VAD devices are commonplace.  Residents perform ECMO cannulation in the OR, on the floor, and as part of our out-of-hospital cardiac arrest ECPR program.  This experience is valuable for all modern cardiac and thoracic surgeons, providing technical skills and knowledge that is essential to manage unexpected challenges with routine cardiothoracic cases.  For trainees with an interest in transplant and mechanical support, the UW program provides ample opportunity to build on these areas in the third year.

The general thoracic surgery experience covers the full range of malignant and benign thoracic disease of the lungs, esophagus, mediastinum, diaphragm, and chest wall. Our faculty emphasizes a minimally invasive approach and residents will become facile in both VATS and robotic techniques.  We are a major referral center for esophageal disease and our thoracic track residents regularly graduate with >60-70 esophagectomies. We are also adopting cutting-edge approaches to lung cancer.  Robotic sublobar resections with dye-marking, or post-neoadjuvant anatomic resections, are frequent.  At the same time we continue to see a large number of patients with advanced pathology requiring complex, maximally invasive resections.

Our 3-year program is designed to optimize your educational experience.  You will build skills through a robust simulation experience and a defined graded-autonomy pathway.  You will expand your skills and knowledge through rotations with key partner services like interventional pulmonology, interventional cardiology, and cardiothoracic critical care.  You will have time to explore niche areas, like congenital cardiac surgery, and can build on those experiences in your third year.  Trainees use this time to enhance specific technical skills (e.g. TAVR, robot bronchoscopy), expand their clinical expertise (e.g. transplant selection, donor call), or explore other professional interests (e.g. global surgery).  Finally, you will have access to an active research program and will be encouraged to pursue research endeavors in collaboration with faculty using departmental research infrastructure. Our curriculum is designed to tailor your experience to your professional goals both inside and outside of the OR.

Fellowship is intense.  But our 3-year curriculum provides room to breathe and time to puruse interests outside the operating room.  Madison is a wonderful place to live; housing is affordable and dining, cultural and outdoor activities abound. It rates as one of the most livable cities in United States and it consistently ranks highly among America’s best cities for families, health, schools, jobs, food, sports, and environmental quality.  Combined with the welcoming and collaborative culture of UW, you will find Madison a wonderful place to spend some of the most important years of your life.

Good luck with your application process and congratulations getting this far. Let us know what we can do to convince you to join the Badger family!

Daniel P. McCarthy, MD, MBA
Program Director
mccarthyd@surgery.wisc.edu