Educational Conferences

The University of Michigan Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship has a robust curriculum of didactic and clinically oriented educational conferences as well as routine clinical care and quality improvement conferences within the Division of Pediatric Cardiology.  The fellows are encouraged to attend all conferences when able and are expected to attend the core fellowship curriculum conferences unless urgent clinical duties intercede. 

Imaging Conference

Adult Congenital Case Conference

Subspecialty conference led by ACHD faculty and staff, presenting current patients with discussion of diagnostic or therapeutic dilemmas. Held twice monthly.

Cardiac Catheterization Conference

  1. Cardiac Catheterization Case Review Conference: Faculty and fellows review cases performed during the previous week and scheduled for the upcoming week. Held weekly.
  2. Catheterization M&M: Monthly morbidity and mortality conference specific to catheterization procedures. Held monthly.

Cardiac ICU Case Conference (Kulik Conference)

A current inpatient on the PCTU service is discussed at length with respect to the differential diagnosis, anatomy, physiology, pre and post-operative management, and surgical options. Once a month, the conference is reserved for QI review of PCTU outcomes. A 2nd year cardiology fellow prepares the case for presentation. Held weekly.

CHC Research Conference

Each conference highlights an ongoing research project in MCHORD (The Michigan Congenital Heart Outcomes Research and Discovery unit), which is the clinical research unit dedicated to the Heart Center faculty, fellows, and staff. The conference highlights current status, results, and future opportunities of the project. Held monthly.

Echocardiography Conference

Noninvasive imaging faculty review echocardiograms from the prior day with fellows and sonographers; fellows are asked to review the images with faculty guidance.  Held 4 mornings/week.

Electrophysiology "Office Rounds" 

Fellows and faculty review ECGs to highlight basic findings as well as interesting tracings; fellows are encouraged to bring their ECG questions. Held weekly

Fellowship Core Curriculum Conferences

Didactic lectures that range from core series of lectures in each subspecialty on the science and practice of pediatric cardiology, along with other selected cardiovascular subjects required for all fellows to learn. The presentations given primarily by the cardiology faculty, are designed specifically for the fellows. Held daily.

Fellowship Program Meeting

Monthly check-in with all fellows, with fellowship director, associate director, and fellowship coordinator.  We convey information and discuss any fellowship issues. Held monthly in curriculum slot.

Fellow Scholarly Oversight Meeting

Core clinical research faculty meet with fellows and provide oversight for the fellows’ individual scholarly projects.  Fellows give updates and discuss potential pitfalls, while faculty and senior fellows provide assistance.  Faculty also provide practical teaching sessions on subjects such as abstract writing and designing a poster for presentation. Held monthly in curriculum slot,

Journal Club

The fellows in rotation present and discuss recent (or classic) journal articles, with mentoring from one of the clinical research faculty. Held monthly in curriculum slot.

Medical Cardiology Grand Rounds

Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine conducts an hour conference with presentations by internal or visiting experts on many facets of cardiovascular biology and disease. On occasion, the topic is particularly relevant to Pediatric Cardiology and we will encourage our fellows to attend. Held weekly.

MRI Conference

Fellows and faculty review and discuss cardiac MRI’s, often with echo/MRI correlation. Held twice monthly in the morning echo conference slot.

Pathology Conference

Review of clinical history, gross and microscopic pathology of patients who have died or received a heart transplant; data presented by a fellow and pathologist, followed by discussion of presentation, treatment and outcome, as well as examination of the pathological specimens.  Held monthly in curriculum slot

Pediatric Cardiology- Cardiac Surgery Conference

All patients scheduled for surgery the following week are reviewed and presented; patient histories and data presentation provided by pediatric cardiology fellows and faculty, with active discussion of options and surgical plan involving pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery fellows and faculty. Held weekly on Wednesdays at 4-5:30 pm.

Pediatric Grand Rounds

Department wide conference on the broad range of pediatric topics presented by internal and external speakers covering biomedical science, clinical problems and disorders, and socioeconomic issues. On occasion, the topic is particularly relevant to Pediatric Cardiology and we will encourage our fellows to attend. Held weekly.

Peri-operative Performance Rounds

Multidisciplinary, quality-improvement focused conference to review all surgical patient outcomes from prior 2 weeks. Congenital Heart Center faculty (including cardiologists and surgeons) present pre-operative planning, intra-operative and post-operative outcomes and compare to program and PC4 benchmarks.  Areas for future improvement are discussed. Held weekly.