The Division of Pediatric Cardiology’s faculty and fellows are active in a variety of clinic and basic science research and collaborate widely with other researchers at Vanderbilt and many other institutions. Research mentorship for fellows is one of our top priorities, and we offer resources and support for all types of clinical, basic science, and translational research projects. We are committed to training the next generation of academic pediatric cardiologists.
MSCI and MPH Programs
Many of our fellows obtain a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation or Master of Public Health degree during their fellowship training through the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. These two-year mentored programs are geared for fellows, residents, and junior faculty with a goal of continuing on to funded research awards.
Because both master's degree programs require 80% protected research time for a period of two years, we require additional time to complete clinical training. This is generally incorporated into a fourth year of subspecialty training (e.g., in advanced cardiac imaging, electrophysiology, cardiac catheterization, heart failure and transplant, or other disciplines).
Research Program
Research is a fundamental part of our fellowship training and comprises at least one-third of the training period. Our research training program capitalizes on the strengths of our faculty in cardiovascular imaging, heart failure and transplant, electrophysiology, interventional cardiology, and adult congenital heart disease.
Beyond this, we have close ties to the Vanderbilt University Department of Pediatrics and School of Medicine in developmental biology, vascular biology, regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, cardiovascular pharmacology and pharmacogenetics, personalized medicine, and population and outcomes research. An example resource is the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR) program, which provides funding for projects and working studios to support research of all types.
We provide didactic teaching in scientific methods in addition to mentoring individual research projects. All fellows have an active Scholarship Oversight Committee (SOC) to help guide their research progress and for career mentoring. We hold a divisional research meeting at least once per month to review progress on individual projects, brainstorm ideas for novel projects, review manuscripts in preparation, and practice presentations in advance of national scientific society meetings. We provide opportunities to pursue master’s degree programs as described above, or to pursue individual courses of particular interest and benefit to the fellow’s training needs. Applications for extramural grant funding are always encouraged and supported, including Departmental or Institutional T32 training grants, as well as various internal funding sources.