The cardiology service of the University of Georgia (UGA) welcomes applications for a 3-year residency in veterinary cardiology. Constructed to meet requirements set by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) Specialty of Cardiology, the goal of the program is board certification and diplomate status within the ACVIM. Candidates must be highly motivated and have completed a one-year rotating internship or have comparable private practice experience. The University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine is in Athens, Georgia, a community of approximately 215,000 residents located 65 miles northeast of Atlanta. Our new (as of 2015) 187,000 square foot state-of-the-art Veterinary Teaching Hospital features cutting edge technology and green space. The Small Animal Veterinary Teaching Hospital has an average annual caseload of approximately 32,000 patients.
The UGA cardiology service comprises three board-certified cardiologists (Drs. Mandy Coleman, Lauren Markovic and Hillary Hammond), three cardiology residents, two dedicated cardiology technicians, one veterinary assistant, and three client care representatives. We are well-equipped with Philips EPIQ CVx and iE33 cardiac ultrasound machines, including transthoracic and transesophageal transducers, a Philips CX50 portable ultrasound machine, two Philips TC70 electrocardiographs, a GE/OEC 9900 fluoroscopy unit, an EMKA hemodynamic monitoring system, and Spacelabs Pathfinder Holter monitoring software for on-site study interpretation. Additional on-site diagnostic imaging technologies include Siemens RS Somatom Sensation 64-slice CT scanner, Siemens Magnetom Skyra 3.0 Tesla cardiac-gated MRI, digital radiography, ultrasound, and nuclear scintigraphy.
An interventional laboratory, well-equipped for both small and large animal transcatheter interventions, is also on-site in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Diplomates in the specialties of anesthesiology, emergency medicine and critical care, internal medicine, nutrition, neurology, oncology, pathology, radiology, surgery, and zoological medicine provide additional direct support of this program. In addition, relationships with surrounding pediatric and adult cardiology groups and industry provide support for a growing interventional caseload.
The cardiology service is located within the small animal hospital, and most cardiac evaluations are performed on dogs and cats. Smaller numbers of large animals and exotic pets are examined. A typical day on the cardiology service includes between five and six outpatient appointments, with additional appointments added on an as-needed basis, and in-house consultations performed for other services. One day per week is dedicated for interventional procedures, and space is cleared within the schedule for emergent small and large animal interventional cases as they arise.
Off-clinic time will be allocated for research endeavors, collaborative writing of scientific manuscripts, as well as attending and participating in continuing education. Our residents participate in the didactic teaching of pre-clinical veterinary students and participate in and/or lead daily clinic rounds, weekly book club, weekly journal club, weekly multi-specialty house officer board preparation rounds, and weekly hospital-wide grand rounds. Cardiology faculty provide monthly advanced topic rounds, designed to prepare residents for board examination. Cardiology residents will gain exposure to congenital and acquired cardiopathology during advanced teaching laboratory utilizing UGA’s cardiovascular library of cadaveric hearts. Residents are expected to present at grand rounds once yearly and at multi-specialty board preparation rounds twice yearly.
Residents are also expected to submit one first-author manuscript for publication in a scientific journal prior to completion of this program.
Dr. Mandy Coleman mericksn@uga.edu