Cardiopulmonary Transplantation and Assist Device fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh is designed to provide extensive exposure in the disciplines of lung transplantation, heart transplantation and mechanical cardiac assist as well as exposure to surgical therapy of end-stage heart failure. The cardiothoracic transplantation and assist device programs at the University of Pittsburgh are quite active in both clinical and research endeavors.

Our lung transplantation program is one of the oldest in the world and currently performs approximately 120 transplants per year making it one of the most active. Our heart transplant and assist device programs are also quite active with over 60 heart transplants and 50 ventricular assist devices performed each year. All of these programs enjoy national and international recognition and have extensive clinical and basic research efforts.

The transplant and assist device fellowship is, generally, a 1-year position (July through June) at the instructor level with in-depth exposure to the above outlined disciplines although flexibility in duration, timing and scope is possible. The successful applicant(s) has generally completed cardiothoracic training.  Three to four fellows per year are accepted and function in a collaborative fashion to participate in and support the programs.

Patients are managed on a separate cardiothoracic transplant service that is staffed by dedicated surgical and medical transplant faculty, nurse practitioners, a junior surgical housestaff and the transplant fellows. The fellowship provides exposure to pretransplant selection, intraoperative management and techniques, posttransplant management and multiorgan donor procurement. Fellows are expected to actively participate in all areas and are given supervised graded responsibility as their knowledge and experience grows.

It is anticipated that fellows will meet all UNOS requirements for heart transplantation and lung certification. Fellows are also actively encouraged to participate in clinical research efforts and are given opportunities to participate in standard adult cardiac surgery cases as well as cases involving surgical treatment of heart failure.