Fellows Are The Future

As cardiology advances, cardiology fellowship education must evolve with it. On MedAxiom HeartTalk, host Melanie Lawson speaks with Ami Bhatt, MD, FACC, the chief innovation officer of the American College of Cardiology and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Doreen DeFaria Yeh, MD, FACC, adult congenital heart disease cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Ana Mercurio-Pinto, VP of Care Transformation at MedAxiom. Together, they explore how cardiology fellows are the future and discuss opportunities for enhancing education during cardiology fellowship. Guest Bios: Ami B. Bhatt, MD, FACC: Dr. Ami Bhatt is the Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) of the American College of Cardiology. As CIO, Bhatt provides leadership and expertise in healthcare innovation and continues to grow the College's comprehensive Innovation Program in support of the ACC's Mission to transform cardiovascular care and improve heart health. A graduate of Harvard College and the Yale School of Medicine, Bhatt completed her medicine and pediatrics residency at Harvard, her adult cardiology fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital and her adult congenital heart disease and pulmonary hypertension fellowship at the Boston Children's Hospital. She was the Inaugural Richard Liberthson Endowed Scholar in Adult Congenital Heart Disease and Director of the ACHD program for over a decade. She most recently served as the Director of Outpatient and Telecardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Corrigan-Minehan Heart Center. Dr. Bhatt continues as a Harvard College premedical mentor and associate professor at Harvard Medical School. As an active clinical cardiologist, investigator, and educator Bhatt brings nearly ten years of experience in telemedicine and digital health to her new role. She founded her first program in virtual care in 2013 and continues to work on creating culturally relevant personalized virtual cardiovascular care delivery models. Her research has centered on identifying and implementing solutions to overcoming access barriers to cardiovascular and telemedicine care. Dr. Bhatt's interest in digital health strategy and the digital transformation of the cardiovascular field stems from her belief that state-of-the-art, personalized care can be delivered to individuals in the community, empowering patients and creating stronger clinician-patient partnerships for sustainable health outcomes. The ACC Innovation Program has a robust platform to transform digital patient care and advance technologies that are reshaping medicine and is focused on furthering these strategies. Doreen DeFaria Yeh, MD, FACC: Dr. Doreen DeFaria Yeh completed Internal Medicine Residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and Cardiology and Echocardiography fellowships at the University of California at San Francisco. She completed advanced training in Adult Congenital Heart Disease and Cardio-Obstetrics at the University of San Francisco California, and currently serves as the Associate Director of the MGH Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) Program and Co-Director of the MGH Cardiovascular Disease and Pregnancy Program. She is board certified in Internal Medicine, Adult Cardiovascular Disease and Adult Echocardiography. The has received Certification from the National Board of Echocardiography for Adult Comprehensive Echocardiography. Dr. DeFaria was selected as one of the American College of Cardiology 2012 Emerging Faculty and received the Brian McGovern Memorial Award from the Department of Medicine in 2012 and 2016 for Excellence in Clinical Teaching in cardiology. She also received the MGH, Department of Medicine Fellowship as part of the Eleanor and Miles Shore Scholars in Medicine from Harvard Medical School. In 2013 she was awarded the Clinician Teacher Development Award, a four-year grant supported by the Massachusetts General Hospital Physicians Organization and Center for Diversity and Inclusion, a project titled: Redefine ACHD Education. She currently serves as the Director of the MGH Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship Program and Chair of Internship Selection for the Department of Medicine. Her clinical focus is ACHD, Pregnancy & Cardiovascular Disease, particularly high-risk cardiac conditions in pregnancy as well as Echocardiography with expertise in ACHD Echocardiography. Dr. DeFaria speaks regionally and nationally on these topics. Ana A. Mercurio-Pinto, MM: Ana is energized by the possibilities. She has extensive professional experience running large, multi-specialized cardiovascular medicine divisions and has had the privilege of working and partnering with some of the industry’s leading thought leaders: master clinicians, practice changing trialists and groundbreaking research scientists. She is dedicated to developing nimble and adaptive organizations that combine the best of traditional practice with the spirit of continuous modernization in the face of evolving and changing times. As vice president of care transformation at MedAxiom, Ana applies her wide-ranging experience in budgeting, forecasting, physician/practice P&Ls, clinical and federal/non-federal research operations, new program development, service-line integration, and dyad and other matrixed leadership structures to help cardiovascular organizations transform care. Ana has a keen interest in hospital/physician organization integration, faculty transitions, staffing optimization, administrative and research operations, and startup ventures. Ana has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Boston University Questrom School of Management and a master’s in management with a concentration in Healthcare Management. Additionally, Ana has pursued certificates in Launching New Ventures and Research Administration.