In a little lodge beside a peaceful pond in Coralville’s North Park on a sunny Saturday, a couple dozen clinicians and researchers in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine gathered to listen to presentations from first- and second-year cardiovascular fellows and one second-year internal medicine resident.

As associate program director of the cardiology fellowship program, Kaiko Irani, MD, organized the first annual Cardiology Faculty/Fellow Research Retreat to tackle a variety of purposes at once. Trainees could receive feedback from multiple perspectives not only on the direction their research has taken them thus far, but also on the presentation itself. Because communication of one’s work is a critical but often overlooked component of research, the presenters also appreciated the opportunity to practice their skills in front of a friendlier audience.

In addition to all first-year and selected senior cardiology fellows who presented their preliminary projects, two Internal Medicine second-year residents, members of a “Cardiology Interest Group,” were present. Aziz Hammoud, MD, describes his research project on Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, and Alissa Kauffman, MD, attended.

Milena A. Gebska, MD, who has been working with members of this Cardiology Interest Group and was also in attendance, had the following to say:

It was wonderful to see everyone, mentors together with their mentees, away from a busy hospital setting and talking science. I truly enjoyed listening to all the research presentations and discussions that followed. I learned a great deal about the quality of the ongoing research projects within our Fellowship Program, and could not admire more our dedicated faculty and trainees for their excellent collaborative efforts.

“Off-sites” of this type are a unique opportunity to interact, share concepts, views, and ideas, without the constraint of time otherwise always present in our more formal academic environment. Wonderful day!

Presenters included:
Emmanuel Akintoye, MBBS
Shubha Deep Roy, MBBS
Josiah Zubairu, MD
Abdullahi Oseni, MBBS
Colin Burnett, MD
Parijat Joy, MBBS
Phanicharan Sistla, MD
Jennifer Streeter, MD, PhD
Aziz Hammoud, MD
Amgad Mentias, MBBCh
Rakesh Ponnapureddy, MBBS

Special thanks to the other attendees for their involvement:
Frank Abboud, MD
Ferhaan Ahmad, MD, PhD
Paulino Alvarez, MD
Christopher Benson, MD
Alexandros Briasoulis, MD, PhD
Milena Gebska, MD, PhD
Saket Girotra, MBBS, MS
Sal Harwani, MD, PhD
Barry London, MD, PhD
Denice Zingman, MD