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Department of Surgery Department of Surgery
  1. Department of Surgery
  2. Divisions
  3. Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery
  4. Education
  5. Traditional Fellowship

Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship

UC San Diego's Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Fellowship program is designed to train leaders in CT surgery. Our program is directed by Patricia Thistlethwaite, MD, PhD, a world authority in pulmonary hypertension research, and under the guidance of our chief, Michael Madani, MD, an internationally-recognized expert in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) and pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE).

Please use the navigation on the left to learn more about didactics, locations, cases and surgical volume, current fellows, past graduates, and trainee perks. 

Flexibility

The trainees rotate such that they are never both at the same hospital. This means that residents are able to have their pick of cases each day. Additionally, there are no predefined cardiac and general thoracic tracks or rotations, meaning that residents are able to tailor their training and case load to their desired clinical practice. Lastly, robust coverage provided by our nurse practitioners and physician assistants allows residents to focus primarily on their operative responsibilities.

Graduated Autonomy

At each hospital, the cardiothoracic resident assumes chief resident responsibility, supervising general surgery residents in pre-operative and post-operative care. Over the two years of training, the cardiothoracic surgery residents achieve increasing levels of surgical experience and independence. In addition to carefully structured clinical time, weekly conferences are held in adult and pediatric cardiac surgery, pulmonary surgery, and transplantation. There is a weekly session specifically devoted to resident education and review of the thoracic surgery curriculum. The members of our faculty have a strong commitment to teaching and are dedicated to maintaining an excellent training program.

Program Details

  • One fellow is accepted per year
  • Two-year traditional cardiothoracic track
  • Home call
  • Fully accredited by the ACGME
  • Weekly resident education conference, which follows the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Thoracic Surgical Curriculum.

Application Information

2025-2026 Match Timeline

  • November 12 - First day to submit applications
  • December 3 - First day for programs to review applications
  • January 20 - Universal interview offer day (UOD)
  • April 15 - Rank list due
  • April 29 - Match Day

UC San Diego exclusively participates in the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) for application submission and the National Residency Match Program (NRMP) for rank list submission.

If you are interested in knowing more about our graduate medical education program, please go to our Graduate Medical Education page.

For more information, please contact our residency coordinator:

Veronica Felix
CT Fellowship Program Coordinator
vfelix@health.ucsd.edu 
Phone: 858-657-7777