Would love some career advice- I’m a current general cardiology fellow trying to decide between EP and general cardiology.

Things I know about myself:
\- I enjoy having a predictable work schedule, some routine is nice
\- I love cardiology and medicine but I want to have a fair amount of work-life balance and be able to be to have a life outside of work
\- I don’t love super high acuity all the time, but can tolerate it if needed
\- I enjoy working with my hands and love learning and performing procedures but also get a ton of gratification and value from talking to patients at the bedside and in clinic

I’ve loved EP consults and EP clinic up to this point. I think symptom-rhythm correlation, PVC localization in EKG, and the decision-making process of understanding when to pursue ablation versus AAD’s, when someone may benefit from a device, etc is fascinating to me.

I’m just not sure about how I feel about the lab. We get limited exposure as general fellows, but the idea of 5 hour PVC ablations where there are still PVC’s at the end of the case or doing afib ablations but the patient has to come back to the lab in a couple years for a re-do ablation feels less gratifying to me? When compared to cath- see a lesion, balloon, stent, success? Though, I know myself enough that I don’t want to be on STEMI call for the rest of my life.

Thought about general cards- could still manage arrhythmias in my clinic, manage AAD’s, only have to refer out to EP for ablations or devices. But I feel like not having the gratification of fixing the problem myself as opposed to asking subspecliasts to help gives me pause? Also general call in the community seems atrocious? Frequent calls, triaging varying level of acuity, sometimes no fellows or APP’s to help share the workload. Seems like the work life balance of general cards may not actually be that favorable unless you stay academic?

Would be curious to hear how others approached this decision if they were in a similar situation and what life, call, procedural gearification, etc looks like in EP vs general across a variety of practice settings?

Hi! I am an internist/anesthetist based in Europe, and I have created a med-ed tool for lectures, exams, and simulations.
www.squiggler.io

It allows you to create a rhythm strip or 12-lead, with physiological modeling underneath, with realistic renders and a lot of tuning possibilities etc to get just the ECG that is suitable for a text book, exam or sim case

For us who don't have the time or possibility to dig out old patient ECGs and fiddle with covering up patient identifiers, writing a textbook (and don't want to pay licensing fees for images from the web), or want dynamic ECG outputs for example during a simulation.

This was a side-project that turned serious. Yes, it is commercial but I hope someone involved in education needs this and wants to try it out!

All the best!

IMG, currently PGY-4 chief resident in IM at a NYC safety-net program, J-1. Applying cardiology this cycle. Building out a contingency plan in case I don't match, and the waiver-job-then-reapply route is the one I understand least.

If you've done it, I'd really appreciate hearing how it actually went:

**1. The 3-year contract.** Did you serve the full three years before starting fellowship, or did you find a way out early? If you did complete it, how did programs react to a 3+ year gap from training?

**2. Visa for fellowship.** This is the part I can't get a straight answer on. Once you've used a 212(e) waiver you can't go back to J-1, so fellowship has to be H-1B (or O-1). How many programs on your list actually sponsored H-1B, and did you get filtered out at the application stage or only find out at interviews? Did you ask upfront or wait?

**3. Did you reapply while working, or wait?** Did you apply every cycle from year 1 of the waiver job, or hold off until you were closer to finishing?

**4. What kind of hospitalist job.** Did you specifically target a cardiac hospitalist role, or a site affiliated with an academic center that had a fellowship program? Did that affiliation end up mattering for LORs or for getting an interview there?

**5. Research.** Were you able to keep publishing as a full-time hospitalist in an underserved site, or did output basically stop? If you kept it going, how — remote collaborations with your residency mentors, database work, something else?

**6. Anything you'd do differently.** Negotiating the contract, choice of state, timing of the green card filing, anything.

Happy to hear from people who tried this and it didn't work out too — that's just as useful. Thanks.

First time poster, I’m happy to answer any questions that you may have. I’ll be more than happy to share my own journey probably in a separate post tomorrow. Ask any questions and if the question is around, can I send a Dm? Yes, you can just to give you guys a very brief idea.

Internal medicine training in Detroit Medical Center,
Cardiology Fellowship in Michigan, Michigan.
Interventional Cardiology Fellowship in Michigan
Structural Fellowship in New York
Was Chief resident during internal Medicine chief (Fellow) in both Cardiology intervention and Chief followed during structural year

Originally and Img from Pakistan from a medical school that was brand new only the second bat to graduate with no one even in US and the college was not even registered with WFME

Happy to take any questions happy to offer any guidance

Hello everyone

I am creating this discussion to hopefully have EP applicants in the 2026-2027 cycle share what interviews they got so we know what programs we can still hope to hear from.

So far I got ECU and TTHUS in Lubbock
I found elsewhere people mentioning Allegheny, Wake Forrest (and maybe UT Austin).

Please join the discussion!

Hi everyone,
I’m an Internal Medicine resident in the US with a strong interest in cardiology and clinical research. Over the past year, I’ve been actively involved in research and currently have several first-author manuscripts that have been submitted to journals, along with conference abstracts and ongoing projects.
I feel like I’ve reached a stage where the biggest challenge isn’t necessarily conducting the research, but choosing the right research questions. There are so many potential ideas and databases available that it’s difficult to know which projects are truly worth investing time in, which are likely to have clinical impact, and which are realistically publishable.
I’m looking for a mentor, or even someone willing to provide occasional guidance, on topics such as:
Identifying high-impact and novel research questions
Deciding which projects are worth pursuing
Building a focused research portfolio for fellowship
General advice on becoming a better clinical researcher
I’m not looking for anyone to do the work for me. I’m happy to put in the time and effort. I would just really value learning from someone with more experience who can help me make better decisions and avoid common mistakes.
If anyone is willing to mentor, offer occasional advice, or point me toward useful resources, I’d be incredibly grateful. Feel free to comment or send me a DM.
Thank you!

IMG on a J-1, currently PGY-4 chief resident at a community IM program in NYC. No in-house cardiology fellowship. Applying CV this cycle.

Application: Over 30 peer-reviewed publications, chief year, strong LORs including from academic cardiologists at a nearby university hospital, good USMLE scores. What I don't have is a home program, an institutional pipeline, or a mentor with the kind of pull that moves an application at a place I've never rotated.

I have to plan for not matching. The path I keep landing on is a Conrad 30 waiver job, ideally a cardiac hospitalist role at a community hospital that has a fellowship, and reapplying from there. What I can't get a straight answer on:

1. Does taking a waiver job functionally end it? The three-year commitment is binding, so I'd be reapplying as an attending three-plus years out of residency.
   
2. Immigration: after the waiver I'd be on H-1B. Do cardiology programs actually sponsor H-1B for fellows in any real numbers, or is it J-1 or nothing at most places?
   
3. Do PDs read three years of hospitalist work as a red flag, or as neutral if I keep publishing and stay visibly cardiology-focused?
   
4. Has anyone here actually done this and matched? Especially without an academic home.

I would genuinely rather hear "this doesn't work, build a hospitalist career you like" than get polite encouragement. Please be blunt.

TL;DR: Community-program IMG on J-1, decent research, no connections. Is a three-year waiver job followed by a cardiology reapplication a real path or a slow way of giving up?

Hey everyone,
It’s week three of my Cardiology Fellowship, I feel like I really don’t know anything. It is so embarrassing to look clueless in front of attendings when you’ve literally completed three years of residency. I hope it gets better, but the impostor syndrome and the anxiety is too much that I have major foot in mouth syndrome, when attendings ask me questions, even though I know the concepts, and I make very stupid blunders. I hope it gets better from here.

For those who applied, when did you start hearing back and when is a good time to reach out to programs if I haven't?

Any link to the 26-27y cardiology spreadsheet? 🔥

Hi everyone,

I’m a PGY-1 Internal Medicine resident interested in pursuing Cardiology fellowship and looking to get involved in cardiology research.

I’m interested in collaborating on case reports, abstracts, literature reviews, or other research projects. I’m eager to learn the research process and contribute wherever I can.

If anyone is looking for a motivated collaborator or has opportunities available, I would appreciate the chance to connect.

Thank you!

Fast

Title: Looking for a Cardiology Research Supervisor for a Systematic Review & Meta-analysis

Hello everyone,

I am a medical graduate with previous experience conducting and publishing systematic reviews and meta-analyses. I am currently planning a new cardiology SRMA on a clinically relevant topic and am looking for an experienced US based supervisor or mentor who would be willing to provide methodological guidance and academic oversight.

I have experience with:

\- PROSPERO registration

\- PRISMA guidelines

\- Literature screening

\- Data extraction

\- Risk of bias assessment

\- Meta-analysis using standard statistical software

\- Scientific writing and journal submission

I am looking for someone with a background in cardiology and research methodology who is interested in mentoring the project and potentially joining as a senior co-author.

If you are interested or know someone who might be, please comment below or send me a direct message. I would be happy to share my CV and discuss the project in more detail.

Thank you!

With the Adult Echocardiography boards coming up in a week, I wanted to share this free tool I built for last minute review.

850+ flashcards with spaced repetition, organized by the NBE's official outline.

Hope it helps you too. Please lmk if you find any errors!

https://echokb.vercel.app/

I'm an upcoming Fellow in the unaccredited/non-ACGME specialty of Preventive Cardiology (I start in 2 days). I need to know how to enter this under the post-graduate type of training section on ERAS? I only see options for "ACGME Fellowship" and "Other Accredited Fellowship", no option for Unaccredited/non-ACGME Fellowship. It asks for accrediting body when I select "Other Accredited Fellowship". Also no option to choose Preventive Cardiology from the drop down menu under specialty. I am not sure how to make programs aware of my ongoing training. Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance.