Thoracic & Cardiac Imaging Fellowship

Overview

Cleveland Clinic’s Thoracic Imaging Fellowship program offers comprehensive training in all aspects of thoracic and cardiac imaging including thoracic CT, MR, and plain film as well dedicated time with cardiac CT and MR. Chest intervention and biopsy rotations are integral part of the fellowship training. Depending upon a fellow’s level of interest, a portion of each fellow’s schedule is protected for academic and scholarly pursuits such as research projects, preparation of manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals and preparing presentations for national meetings with available mentors to help guide each individual. For projects where the fellow is listed as first author on the poster or presentation and is the “presenter,” the office of Graduate Medical Education provides appropriate funds for attendance pending approval by the fellowship director. A unique resource at Cleveland Clinic is the Center for Medical Art and Photography which is available for support in all academic endeavors, something that past fellows have found particularly useful.

The Thoracic Imagining Fellowship is a 12-month dedicated fellowship for 1 year from July 1 to June 30. There are two open positions in Thoracic and two in Cardiac and both are Non-ACGME/Non-Standard. For those interested in the Cardiothoracic fellowship program, have the option of taking different pathways of training:

• Even split: 6 mo. (thoracic); 6 mo. (cardiac).
• Uneven split: 9 mo. (thoracic); 3 mo. (cardiac).
• Limited clinical provider (4 days clinical fellow and 1 clinical day per week in region as staff for additional salary).
• Informatics/quality track (ability to do concurrent mini fellowship by spending 1 day per week in informatics/quality).

The Cleveland Clinic Cardiothoracic practice is a high-volume clinical service, interpreting over 150,000 thoracic imaging examinations (including 45,000 CT imaging studies), over 300 interventional procedures, over 5,000 Cardiac MR and over 20,000 Cardiac CTs annually. We are a state-of-the-art department equipped with Siemens. Advanced quantitative imaging, DECT, Proton counting CT and 3D Printing are performed at the Clinic. The vast and complex pathologies encountered at Cleveland Clinic – ranging from ILD to post cardiac and lung transplant patients to unusual infectious diseases is unprecedented.

The department consists of 11 full-time thoracic and 4 full-time cardiac imagers, all of whom have advanced training in their respective fields. It is one of the largest sections in the country. All staff members are approachable, eager to teach and actively engaged in educational discussions with fellows and residents.

To complement the rich clinical experience, fellows also participate in multiple interdisciplinary conferences, including Interstitial lung disease conference, Rad-Path conference, Lung cancer tumor board, Lung cancer screening nodule management tumor board, Lung transplant conference, Infectious disease conference and CTEPH/PERT. These conferences provide opportunities for collaboration with clinical colleagues. The fellows also prepare and present at interesting case conferences, resident conferences, medical student conferences and journal club.

Fellows trained at our institution are well trained and well prepared for academic or private practice jobs.

*** All applicants must have completed a United States residency training program in diagnostic radiology and must be board certified or eligible by the American Board of Radiology prior to commencing the fellowship. Foreign applicants must also be Board eligible in their country of origin, ECFMG (Educational Commission on Foreign Medical Graduates) certified and be USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Exam) certified with passing scores on Steps one, two, and three.

Curriculum

• A typical workday is 7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
• Interpretation of all cardiothoracic imaging studies including radiographs, CT and MRI.
• Ample exposure to all thoracic procedures including a high volume of biopsies (CT and ultrasound guided); preoperative nodule localizations, chest tube placements and radiofrequency tumor ablation.
• Exposure to multidisciplinary aspects of cardiothoracic imaging including participation in second opinion consultations with pulmonary, infectious disease, surgery, oncology, and rheumatology colleagues.
• Participation in didactic and clinical conferences including multidisciplinary Interstitial lung disease conference (weekly), Rad-Path conference (bi-monthly), Lung cancer tumor board (weekly), Lung cancer screening nodule management tumor board (weekly), Lung transplant conference (monthly), Infectious disease conference (quarterly) and CTEPH/PERT (weekly), Radiology–Pathology Correlation conference (bimonthly), Asthma conference (weekly), Fellows Conference (monthly), Journal Club (quarterly), and additional departmental conferences including Grand Rounds and the residency Interesting Case Conference.
• Weekend call responsibilities, once a month.

Benefits

• $75,569 (traditional pathway).
• Fellows working as a limited clinical provider in the region will receive additional salary for one clinical day each week.

Academic funding

• Up to 5 days for meetings per year.
• Up to $4,000 for oral presentations.
• Up to $1,000 for attendance only meetings.
• $1000 discretionary fund.
• $850 book fund.

Vacation and time away

• 15 vacation days per year.
• 5 personal/interview days.

Additional benefits

• At least 12 weeks of elective rotations in traditional thoracic fellowship.
• Cleveland Clinic iPhone for the year.
• Comprehensive medical/dental/vision insurance.
• Maternity leave (8 weeks paid) and parental leave (4 weeks paid).
• Employee assistance program.
• Employee wellness program, including free gym membership.

Faculty

Ruffin Graham, MD
Section Head

Undergraduate: Duke University School of Medicine
Graduate School: Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University Rhode Island Hospital
Medical Education: Texas Tech University School of Medicine
Residency: Saint Elizabeth Health Center - Youngstown, OH
Fellowship: Evanston Hospital and Cleveland Clinic

Ruchi Yadav, MD
Thoracic Imaging Fellowship Director

Internship: Grand Medical College & Sir J.J. Group Hospital
Medical Education: Grant Medical College & Sir JJ Hospital Group
Residency: Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College, Sion Hospital - Mumbai, India
Fellowship: Thoracic Imaging, Cleveland Clinic - Cleveland, OH
Fellowship: Abdominal Imaging, Cleveland Clinic - Cleveland, OH
Interests: Interstitial lung disease, sarcoidosis, quantitative imaging and teaching

Joseph Azok, MD

Undergraduate: Case Western Reserve University
Medical Education: Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Internship: MetroHealth Medical Center
Residency: Mallinckrodt Institute Washington University
Fellowship: Mallinckrodt Institute Washington
Interests: Lung nodule and lung cancer screening

Ryo Benson, MD

Undergraduate: Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis
Medical Education: Indiana University School of Medicine
Residency: Indiana University Hospitals
Fellowship: Saint Luke's Hospital - Kansas City
Interests: Teaching

Mnahi Bin Saeedan, MD, MPH

Medical Education & Internship:  King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Master of Public Health: University of Miami, Miami, FL
Residency: King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Fellowship:  Cleveland Clinic; Cleveland, OH

Michael Bolen, MD
Cardiovascular CT & MRI Imaging Fellowship Director

Undergraduate: The Ohio State University - Columbus, OH
Medical Education: The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health
Internship: Albert Einstein Medical Center
Residency: Georgetown University Hospital
Fellowship: Massachusetts General Hospital
Interests: Cardiovascular and thoracic radiology, image-guided

Aamer Chughtai, MD

Medical Education: Allama Iqbal Medical College
Graduate School: Center for nuclear studies islamabad, Pakistan
Internship: Services Hospital Lahore, Pakistan
Residency: Shaukat Khanam Cancer Research Institute lahore, Pakistan
Residency: St. Mary's Hospital NHS trust London, Cleveland, OH
Residency: University of Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
Fellowship: University of Michigan Health System Ann Arbor, MI
Interests: Procedures and interstitial lung disease

Subha Gosh, MD, MBA

Medical Education: Calcutta Medical College
Residency: Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research
Residency: Wyckoff Heights Medical Center
Fellowship: Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Graduate School: Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Interests: Research and teaching

Omar Lababede, MD

Medical Education: Damascus University - Faculty of Medicine
Fellowship: Thoracic imaging, Cleveland Clinic - Cleveland, OH
Residency: Diagnostic radiology, Cleveland Clinic - Cleveland, OH
Fellowship: Pediatric radiology, Cleveland Clinic - Cleveland, OH

Jason Lempel, MD

Graduate School: Ner Israel Rabbinical College
Medical Education: New York Medical College
Internship: Richmond University Medical Center
Residency: Norwalk Hospital
Fellowship: University of Maryland
Interests: Procedures, lung nodule localization and teaching

Nadeem Parkar, MD

Medical Education: Grant Medical College, University of Bombay
Residency: Edgewater Hospital
Fellowship: Saint Louis University Hospital
Residency: Saint Louis University Hospital
Fellowship: Washington University Medical Center
Interests: 3D printing and teaching

Rahul Renapurkar, MD

Internship: KEM Hospital
Medical Education: University of Mumbai, Seth G.S. Medical College
Residency: B.J. Medical College
Fellowship: Cardiovascular imaging, Cleveland  Clinic - Cleveland, OH
Fellowship: Thoracic imaging, Cleveland Clinic - Cleveland, OH
Interests: Pulmonary hypertension and teaching

Shaoxiong Zhang, MD

Internship: Xinhua Hospital
Residency: University of Science & Technology of China
Medical Education: Peking Union Medical University
Fellowship: Beijing University-Body Imaging
Fellowship: University of Washington-Cardiovascular MR Research
Residency: St. Vincent’s Medical Center-Diagnostic Radiology
Fellowship: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania - Cardiothoracic Radiology

How to Apply

To apply, please print out and complete the Thoracic and Cardiac Imaging Fellowship Application and submit it along with a personal statement, curriculum vitae, and three letters of reference to the Fellowship Program Director and Coordinator. Applicants are encouraged to obtain an Ohio medical license, DEA number, and be ABR (American Board of Radiology) eligible prior to the beginning of the fellowship.

Download the fellowship application.

Ruchi Yadav, MD
Program Director
Section of Thoracic & Cardiac Imaging
Cleveland Clinic Imaging Institute
9500 Euclid Ave. – L10
Cleveland, Ohio 44195
216.445.0573
yadavr@ccf.org

Breanna Unzueta
Fellowship Coordinator
Cleveland Clinic
9500 Euclid Ave., L10
Cleveland, Ohio 44195
216.636.5544
unzuetb2@ccf.org

Danielle Berry, MEd
Education Program Administrator
Cleveland Clinic
9500 Euclid Ave., L10
Cleveland, Ohio 44195
berryd2@ccf.org

Subsequent required interviews will be granted on a first come, first serve basis.

Please take a moment to review a listing of all the requirements that must be met to train at Cleveland Clinic as well as the non-smoking policy.