Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship

Our one-year Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship offers physicians in training access to a large volume and wide variety of adult and pediatric cardiothoracic procedures. Under the leadership of Jennie Y. Ngai, MD, fellowship director, the training program prepares fellows for a career in academic, hospital, and private-practice settings.

Our fellowship is offered through the Division of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, part of NYU Langone’s Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative Care, and Pain Medicine, and is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

Clinical Training

Fellows gain experience with cardiothoracic procedures performed at NYU Langone’s Kimmel Pavilion, Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone, and NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue.

Each year our anesthesiologists provide care during 1,250 major adult cardiac procedures involving cardiopulmonary bypass; 1,000 thoracic and lung resection operations, including robotic-assisted lung resection; 450 adult catheter-based procedures, including transcatheter valve replacements and repairs and device closures; 200 pediatric congenital cardiac operations involving cardiopulmonary bypass; and 200 pediatric electrophysiology and interventional cardiac catheterization procedures.

Our faculty also administer anesthesia for the following procedures:

robotic-assisted mitral valve repair
robotic-assisted coronary artery bypass
minimally invasive valve repair
transcatheter aortic valve replacement
transcatheter mitral valve replacement
heart and lung transplants
mechanical assist device placement (ventricular assist devices and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation)
aortic surgery (dissection and aneurysm repair)
complex congenital heart surgery
robotic-assisted and video-assisted approaches to lung resection
electrophysiology studies and ablations
percutaneous device closures
interventional cardiac catheterization

Fellows gain clinical experience in pre-, intra-, and postoperative pain management and transesophageal echocardiography training. We stress preoperative patient assessment, including evaluation of myocardial function, interpretation of cardiac catheterization and echocardiographic data, and other preoperative diagnostic tests. Strong emphasis is placed on complete preoperative evaluation and the preparation and development of sophisticated anesthetic plans to contend with intraoperative or postoperative problems. Fellows also collaborate with angiographers, echocardiographers, and cardiac surgeons during procedures.

One-to-one attending-to-fellow coverage means fellows get maximal interaction and education to optimize their clinical experience, allowing time throughout the day to discuss management strategies and techniques. Fellows receive evaluation of and feedback on their performance in a timely manner.

Fellowship Didactic Program

Didactic education includes weekly cardiac conferences. These often take the form of lectures given by the cardiothoracic anesthesiology attending on topics ranging from preoperative assessment of cardiac patients to intraoperative management of patients with intra-aortic balloon pumps and ventricular assist devices. Fellows also attend a separate didactic series concentrating on echocardiography, as well as discussions of pertinent journal articles, case conferences, and morbidity and mortality conferences.

Research Opportunities for Fellows

Our faculty introduce fellows to methods of clinical research and encourage them to participate in ongoing research projects or to explore their own ideas. Previous fellows have successfully presented their work at annual meetings of the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists.

Fellowship Application Process

Our Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship accepts four fellows each year. Candidates are required to have completed an ACGME-accredited anesthesiology residency before the start of fellowship training.

To apply for the Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship, please register through SF Match, and use the organization’s Central Application Service (CAS). For applicants interested in pursuing both the Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship and the Critical Care Anesthesiology Fellowship at our institution, special consideration will be given. Please complete applications for each specialty and email our program coordinator.

We open the application review process in November and begin interviews in February. Fellowship training begins on July 1 of the year following the match and ends on June 30 of the next year.

In addition to the CAS form and the three letters of reference required by SF Match, please send recent in-training examination scores to Pamela Shaw, program coordinator, at Pamela.Shaw@NYULangone.org.