Pediatric Cardiac Radiology Fellowship

The pediatric cardiovascular imaging program at Texas Children’s Hospital is one of the largest programs of its kind in North America, performing approximately 1,500 MR and CT studies each year.

The cardiac MRI program is a combined program supported by the Department of Radiology and the Section of Pediatric Cardiology within the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. Four Philips MR scanners are utilized, including one 3-Tesla magnet, each with unique cardiovascular imaging capabilities. The cardiac MRI program also features two Ph.D. physicists and an image post-processing specialist.

The full spectrum of pediatric cardiovascular MR is performed, including:

• Neonatal imaging
• Complex two-ventricle repair
• All stages of single ventricle repair
• Aortopathy
• Thrombosis
• Cardiomyopathy
• Perfusion and viability

The pediatric cardiovascular CT program is based on a volumetric and dynamic approach using a 320-array scanner. Highlights include:

• Coronary anomalies
• Pulmonary perfusion
• Dynamic airway evaluation
• Neonatal imaging
• Preoperative planning for single ventricle repair
• Post-operative imaging

Our active and established cardiovascular imaging research program is termed the “Children’s Cardiovascular Imaging Biomarker Initiative (cCIBI)” and focuses on development of reproducible and cost-effective imaging biomarkers for common cardiovascular entities in children including aortopathy, anomalous coronaries, cardiomyopathy, myocardial ischemia and viability, single ventricle and complex two-ventricle repair.

Dedicated research pathways include:

• Adapting MR sequences for free-breathing 3-dimensional acquisition in sedated children
• Adapting CT sequences for low-dose acquisition in unsedated children
• Dynamic contrast enhanced MR angiography
• Advanced 3D image post-processing
• 3D printing

Our research program is well-funded, equipped with state-of-the-art hardware and software in a dedicated 3D lab, and has collaborations with research partners in academia and industry worldwide who share a common goal of improving the quality of pediatric cardiovascular imaging.

Original letters of recommendation should be mailed, but all other application materials may be submitted electronically to our coordinator, Sherri Musslewhite.

Submit applications to:

Pediatric Cardiac Radiology Fellowship
Texas Children's Hospital
6701 Fannin St., Suite 470
Houston, TX 77030

• Baylor House Staff Application
• Current curriculum vitae
• Personal statement
• USMLE board scores (photocopies accepted)
• Three letters of reference
• Letter of verification from residency program director (if not included as a reference)

Applicants with completed applications are selected to interview after application review by the Education Committee. Our program coordinator will contact selected applicants with a selection of available interview dates.

The interview day consists of interviews with multiple faculty members, a tour of the department with a current fellow, lunch with all available fellows at a local restaurant, and participation in noon conference.

Benefits are provided by Baylor College of Medicine at the PGY-VII salary level. Fellows are given three weeks of vacation and one week of meeting time per year. Extra time off is given around the Christmas/New Year’s holidays.

For additional information, visit the Graduate Medical Education site.

We accept one fellow per year. The general pediatric radiology fellows occasionally overlap when they do two-week blocks of cardiac imaging. The pediatric cardiology fellowship program also has an advanced imaging fellow who may rotate through cardiac MRI during the fellowship year.

Occasionally rotating radiology residents request one-week electives in cardiac imaging. Having additional rotators allows the cardiac fellow to teach and mentor their juniors, providing another way to practice and solidify what they’ve learned.

The majority of teaching occurs during the performance of imaging studies and during read-out. The fellow is expected to research each patient prior to the start of the procedure, to review all pertinent prior imaging studies, and to understand the goals for the procedure and any alternatives or unique aspects to the procedure.

The cardiac fellow also participates in fellow-level conferences with the general pediatric radiology fellows and in Fellows’ College activities, which are organized and sponsored by the Pediatric Fellowship Program Directors group, which serves all of the pediatric medical subspecialty fellowships by providing lectures and workshops on research, mentoring, job searching and other general topics.

In the first month of fellowship, the cardiac imaging fellow also participates in lectures for the cardiology fellows on basics of cardiac anatomy and physiology. A weekly cardiac imaging conference is organized by the cardiac imaging section and includes didactic lectures, research presentations and protocol workshops.

• Echocardiography conference
• MRI conference
• Fetal cardiology conference
• Fetal multidisciplinary conference
• Pediatric cardiology fellows’ core conference

• Quality Improvement Review

The fellow will perform one to two clinical research projects in the form of an abstract and/or the publication of a manuscript. Fellows are expected to submit their abstract to the Society for Pediatric Radiology annual meeting. Accepted abstracts will be presented by the fellow, with meeting and travel expenses paid by the department.