UBC Postgraduate Program in Cardiology currently has 17 residents and expects Ministry funding for five (5) positions for the 2023 academic year.  Our program has implemented Competency-Based Medical Eduation.  This model places frequent, low-stakes assessments with an emphasis on coaching and self-reflection at the center of cardiology residency education.  Each resident is assigned an Academic Advisor to meet as needed, to plan and reflect on their progress according to their  stages of training. Together they will create learning plans to be reviewed and assessed by our Competency Committee.  Residents meet semi-annually with the program director.to review the Competency Committee suggestions.

As we transition to CBME curriculum the sequencing of rotations in this three-year program is flexible, allowing the trainees to focus in a particular area of interest as soon as they are certain of their career goals.

The three-year program consists of a series of rotations offering graded responsibility and is designed to cover all clinical and laboratory aspects of cardiology as well as research techniques. Each year consists of 13 four-week months.

Nineteen Blocks  are spent in clinical cardiology – including 4 blocks in the coronary care unit.  There are two-blocks of adult congenital heart disease at St. Paul’s Hospital with weekly  pediatric cardiology clinics at BC Children’s Hospital. With an active cardiac surgical program exceeding 2000 open-heart procedures every year, one block is spent in a dedicated surgical ICU managing perioperative cardiac patients. There is a one block rehabilitation cardiology rotation which is included in the mandatory curriculum and a two-blocks heart failure/cardiac transplant rotation which includes exposure to ECMO, LVADs, and Impellas. Eight blocks s are spent in consultative cardiology, including hospital consultation service and ambulatory cardiology clinics.  Residents also attend their own longitudinal clinic, which comprises ½ day of clinic every month during their 3 years of training.

Thirteen  months are spent in laboratory clinical training: 1 block in cardiac catheterization, 6 blocks  in echocardiography, 2 blocks of nuclear cardiology, 2 blocks in electrophysiology, 1 block of Graphics and 1 block in advanced cardiac imaging (CT and MRI).

Bootcamp kicks off the year for incoming PGY-4s.  It serves as an orientation to the UBC Cardiology program, and opportunity to bond and develop residency cohesiveness, and covers high-yield topics to prepare resident for their upcoming year.  Bootcamp typically involves, lectures, workshops, team building exercises, simulation and small group sessions.

The cardiac catheterization program at UBC is an innovative and pioneering program.  In addition to an active primary PCI program, exposure  to novel interventions including alcohol septal ablation for HCM,  PFO and ASD closure, stent closure of paravalvular leaks, percutaneous closure of ventricular septal rupture, and exposure to percutaneous aortic valve replacement, percutaneous mitral annuloplasty, and percutaneous Alfieri techniques are offered.

The echocardiography labs offer training in standard 2D echo, but also exposure to 3D echo, novel techniques such as speckle tracking, etc, transesophageal echo,, and stress echo over a 6-month period.

The electrophysiology program is world-class.  In addition to the fundamentals of EP, the service provides exposure to advanced devices (CRT and AICDs), atrial fibrillation ablation, VT and complex arrhythmia ablation. Residents also perform a one month rotation in Victoria as part of their 2 months of core EP training, usually in the second year.

The final 7 blocks includes research and elective time. 3 blocks are mandatory research blocks.  The remaining are for electives.  Up to 6 blocks can be allocated for research if elective time is also used. The trainee is required to complete and submit for publication at least one clinical or laboratory research project, or participate in a major capacity in ongoing research within the Division.

Didactic Teaching consists of a mandatory 5 hours for residents weekly:  Academic Half Day.  Core teaching includes the Royal College curriculum as well as journal clubs, OSCEs, graphics, physical exam teaching etc.  The UBC program also prides itself on innovative curriculum such as the incorporation of simulation, an advocacy event annually, a “Humanism in Cardiology” and Cardiac Ethics course and a communications curriculum.

Weekly cardiac catheterization conference rounds and Cardiology Grand Rounds are mandatory.  Throughout the week, other specialty rounds such as CT and MRI rounds, Adult Congenital Rounds, Echo rounds, etc are also available for residents to attend.  A generous travel fund for conferences is available, as is support for the purchase of textbooks/software annually. All residents receive a subscription to UpToDate.

UBC offers exciting opportunities (and funding) for those interested in pursuing a FRCPC in conjunction with a Masters or PhD program.

The UBC Division of Cardiology has a heavy emphasis on research and education. The new Centre for Cardiovascular Innovation at UBC is a multidisciplinary academic research organization (ARO) that will be coordinating several multi centre international clinical trials in heart failure, electrophysiology, ischemic heart disease and structural heart disease. The Division collectively holds over 5 million dollars in peer reviewed grant funding from national organizations such as CIHR and Heart and Stroke Canada. UBC Division of Cardiology members chair or are primary authors of many CCS Guidelines and Position Statements (STEMI, Cardiac Arrest, Heart Failure, Atrial fibrillation, Sports Cardiology, Lipid Management, Hypertension, Cardiac Oncology, Ventricular Tachycardia, ICD). Many Division members hold multiple local and national teaching awards.

The UBC Cardiology Training Program is dedicated to training both academic and community cardiologists. Faculty are very willing to facilitate fellowship training opportunities both within the UBC program and internationally.