As the first recipient of Dr.Thomas Peter mentorship award, I was fortunate to have interaction with world leaders in cardiology & electrophysiology at both UCLA and Cedars Sinai hospitals.
I am especially grateful to Dr.Kalyanam Shivkumar, Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology at UCLA, whose persistent untiring efforts made my visit not only a reality but also comfortable in every way possible, including stay, travel and incidentals; and to Dr.Tom Peter, Professor and Director of Cardiac electrophysiology at Cedars Sinai hospital, who was a true mentor in every way, inspiring, guiding & encouraging me and generously supporting all educational courses.
Faculty: At UCLA, Dr.Kalyanam Shivkumar along with his team of attending electrophysiologists- Dr.David Cesario, Dr.Noel Boyle, Dr.Isaac Weiner, Miguel Valderrabano - allowed me to observe, interact and learn from all the procedures done in the Lab; Seeing Dr.Kevin Shannon perform ablations in children was a good learning experience. It was a great pleasure to hear Dr.Weiss speak on basic cardiology topics at noon conferences. I was fortunate to attend Dr.Joseph Perloffs’ clinic and be taught nuances of pediatric cardiology practice. Similarly at CSHS, Dr.Thomas Peter along with other electrophysiologists- Dr.Peng-Sheng Chen, Dr.Mandel, Dr.Walter, Dr.Gang, Dr.Swerdlow, Dr.Goodman, Dr.Gallik- were all warm and cordial to allow me to interact with them. Dr.Tasneem Naqvi as in charge of echocardiography esp. tissue Doppler echo, was very warm and friendly; we could discuss many possible research topics.
Fellows: At UCLA, Dr.Ramandeep Brar along with Dr.Nicolas Lellouche, Carlos De Diego, Marmar Vaseghi and Eric Buch and at CSHS, Dr.Somasundaram, Dr.Amit, Dr.Joanne Tsai, Dr.Mike Shahata were not only friendly but inspiring in their serious academic pursuit.
EP Lab work: There were many device implantations including pacemakers, Implantable defibrillators, biventricular pacemakers and BiV-ICDs. Since not many BiV-ICDs are done at our center in India due to high cost involved, it was a good learning experience for me. Also observing defibrillation threshold testing with ULV was very interesting which I can now confidently use in our patients during ICD implantation. As for ablations, use of Navx/ Ensite system was something completely new to me and Navx appeared to be quite cost effective for Indian scenario compared to Carto. Intracardiac echo was also new to me and I could see that transeptal punctures are really made easy and safe with it.
Academic Sessions: At UCLA, daily noon cardiology conferences provided for good learning. Morning sessions on Wednesday & Thursday, between 7.30AM & 8.30AM, had focused EP topics such as journal club/ roll reviews/ research forum; these were interactive and educative. At CSHS, with the exemplary academic coordination of Mrs.Elaine Lebowitz- daily morning 7AM to 8AM sessions on various cardiac electrophysiology aspects (roll review, journal article review, and faculty talks) were very informative. ECG session on Tuesday 8-9AM for local cardiologists conducted by Dr.Tom Peter was an excellent source of knowledge for this almost neglected field of cardiology; I learnt the appropriate practical use of ladder diagrams to tease out arrhythmias from Dr.Peter.
Device Clinic: At both UCLA & CSHS, the device clinic with its organized personnel and work was a good learning experience. Apart from device trouble shooting, I saw for the first time, transtelephonic monitoring of pacemakers. I learnt much from Lucy at UCLA, Carol & Derek at CSHS who are in charge of device clinic.
Courses and Conferences attended: I was fortunate to attend the EP course conducted by Dr.Josephson at Cedars Sinai Hospital; his astounding knowledge and teaching skills made it a most learning experience for me. At “Exercising best clinical judgement” in Chicago, I learnt a great deal from Dr.Prystowsky, Dr.Stevenson, Dr.Cannom and Dr.Wilber. It was a privilege to hear Dr.Stevenson speak on Entrainment mapping. At ACC ’06 in Atlanta, I could hear, learn and interact with world leaders in cardiology and electrophysiology, including Dr.Wellens, Dr.Josephson, Dr.Sogaard, Dr.Pappone etc. At CARI course in Oklahoma (April3-7), Dr.Warren Jackman and Dr.Hiroshi Nakagawa were very good teachers of the subject making it easy and fun. It was interesting to see use of stereotaxis for ablation of even difficult pathways, such as Mahaim and paraHisian accessory pathways. I had the opportunity to attend and gain knowledge from many small courses organized by device companies- Medtronic, Guidant and St.Jude.
The staff at UCLA & CSHS: At UCLA - Michelle, Anna, Shelly, Jean and Susana were very warm, friendly and helpful. Tan, the computer expert was ever ready to help. At CSHS, I will always have very fond memories of Mrs.Elaine Lebowitz who took personal interest in making my visit a wonderful experience. Brenda, Gilda and Subriya were always there to help me.
Accommodation: The apartment provided to me was comfortable, well furnished and conveniently close to UCLA. Having internet access in the apartment was very useful and I am very grateful for the many kind and thoughtful gestures that have been extended to me.
It has been a truly wonderful experience being the first Tom Peter Mentee and I would like to place on record my deep sense of gratitude & appreciation to every one who was involved in making it one.
