Felloship Program

Cardio-Thoracic / Vascular Anesthesia Fellowship

Advanced Cardio-Thoracic / Vascular Anesthesia Fellowship

Advanced Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia Fellowship positions are offered for 2 (two) years. Fellowship program includes cardiac anesthesia, cardiac postoperative intensive care, perioperative echocardiography and major thoracic and vascular surgical procedures at the Leipzig Heart Center, Leipzig, Germany.

Leipzig Heart Center is a specialty clinic of the University of Leipzig, and is one of the major referral centers in the country. The center is specialised for Cardiac, Vascular and Thoracic surgeries for Adult, Pediatric and the Newborn population. There will be exposure to wide variety of cases which includes adult major valve repairs (minimal m invasive and conventional), surgery for the newborn and pediatric age group, heart and lung transplantation, implantation of the latest ventricular assist devices (, and aorto-coronary bypass procedures. The Fellow will assist in looking after complex and rare, as well as predominant, congenital cardiac cases. An active program for around 3000 intra-operative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) examinations are performed every year. 

Aims of the Fellowship 

Leipzig Heart Center is an equal opportunity employer encouraging applications from all over the world and thereby encouraging applicants and considering applications without concern  to, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, disability or veteran status. The Fellowship program is an internationally acclaimed program and applications are invited from doctors around the world. Every year 3 Fellows will be accepted, upon successful completion of the supervised assessment, lasting for a period of 6(six) months from the date of joining.

The Fellow will be completely trained as to work independently after the completion of the Program. This program offers excellent opportunities for the Fellow to become proficient in Cardiothoracic and Vascular anesthesia, both in a clinical and research setting. The Candidate will have extensive exposure not only to conventional modes of cardiac surgery but also to the pioneering techniques in cardiac surgery, including surgeries for heart failure, surgical modalities for treatment of rhythm disturbances and catheter based valve implantation. 

The Fellow will have experience with surgeries with complete circulatory arrest using deep hypothermic techniques and will be acquainted with the different models of Ventricular Assist Devices and Artificial Hearts. It is designed to meet the Fellows individual needs as well as maximal exposure to the clinical caseload available within our center. 

General information

The Fellowship program will start from January/October every year.

Medium of Instruction for the Fellowship Program is German.

The remuneration for the program will be 51,000 Euros per year. During the second year of the Fellowship the Candidate will be paid 54,000 Euro. The above remuneration will be paid equally on a monthly basis. There is a provision for an additional 7200 Euros per annum subject to additional working hours by providing on-call services.

Health Insurance needs to be purchased for a month before leaving their home country. After arrival German health Insurance needs to be purchased, and can be paid on a monthly basis. Assistance and Information in details will be provided upon arrival.

If you are interested in our Advanced Cardiac Fellowship Program, please feel free to contact us.

Fellows  will be exposed to extensive TEE training and will be prepared for TEE accreditation examination from the European Association for Cardio-Vascular Imaging (EACVI), a subseciality community of the European Society of Cardiology( ESC,) and EACTA conducted twice a year. Leipzig Heart Center is a certified TEE  training center by DGAI (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Anaesthesiologie und Intensivmedizin e.V.). Fellows will have a proper training both for basic and advanced TEE, including 2D and 3D modes. The TEE training will be divided into understanding the basic principles of echocardiography (physics, standard views for examination, Doppler principles and quantification etc.) to advanced mode  as they master the basic skills of TEE. Twice a year 2 day courses are conducted for TEE training and participants are given an intensive training in TEE. This course is recognized and accredited by DGAI.

Fellows will be rotation postings in Adult and Pediatric Operating Rooms as well as the post anesthetic care unit (PACU). The implementation of PACU facilitates fast-tracking our patients undergoing minimally invasive surgery. There is also an added Step-Down unit with 48 beds, providing facilities of Invasive monitoring but without facilities for invasive ventilator support. The Intensive care unit comprises of 36 ventilated beds for patients undergoing complex cardiac surgery and is equipped with advanced cardiac monitoring and ventilation facilities.

Fellows will be alternated, during their 2 year tenure, in state of the art Operating rooms (Adult and Pediatric), Hybrid ORs for percutaneous valve implantation procedures and insertion of Endovascular stents .They will gain sufficient exposure with vascular cases including carotid endarterectomies, thoraco-abdominal aneurysms, and stent procedures from abdominal and descending aorta.  Transesophageal echocardiography with 2D and Live3D and 4D modes with Philips 7500, and Philips iE 33, Real Time 3D machines for regular use in the ORs with multiplane probes for both adult and pediatric patients. ECG ST segment analysis, Narcotrend monitor for assessing "Awareness and Depth of Anesthesia", mixed venous oximetry, continuous cardiac output monitoring, evoked potentials, cerebral blood flow/trans cranial Doppler, and large accessible patient outcome database is accessible to train our Fellows during their training period.. There is also facility for post processing imaging workstation, a new dimension and future of cardiac surgery. The inclusion of a TEE simulator in our department is an additional teaching tool to enhance TEE skills before going “hands-on” in patients.

The Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine is academically very active. The fellowship program also offers a strong, diverse academic program that include conferences at least once  a week-lectures on diverse topics relating to cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia, TEE review, and case conferences. In addition, Fellows should participate in journal club session. The monthly teaching rounds should include didactic session of TEE and topics related to principles of cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia. These sessions will be supervised by the Staff and the Fellow will be given assistance in preparing for the presentation. 

Fellows who have a special interest in clinical research will be encouraged in academic writing. They will be given extra time within the work schedule for pursuing their academic interests, starting from the second year of their fellowship. No research time will be allocated during the first year of the fellowship. They will be given incentive for carrying out their original work after confirmation from the program director, and they may participate in the on-going research projects. Fellows will be given 100% financial assistance for presenting their original work in international and national meetings and conferences. The fellow will have an access to the central library which has an adequate collection of all the major journals subscribed through the department. They are also entitled to use the electronic library of the University of Leipzig. Reading material could be lent out on request to a maximum period of two months. There is also an extensive collection of books and DVDs on TEEs which could be borrowed on a periodical basis.

The Fellows will individually be assigned to a topic of clinical investigation by the Chairman/Program Director, which may include any of the following:

  • Blood saving techniques
  • Fast track cardiac anesthesia 
  • Neurological protection in cardiac surgery
  • Ongoing or new echocardiographic projects

The greatest strength of the academic program lies on the experienced faculty, who has diverse interests and broad expertise in their region of interest.

During the first months of the program there will be supervised assessment of the fellow, where the fellow will be assessed for both theoretical, practical and communication skills. This will also enable the fellow to get acquainted with the OR set up and be familiar with the different monitors and TEE machines. Upon successful completion of the assessment (lasting for 3 months) they will be responsible for handling their own ORs, although staff coverage will always be available. At the start of the fellowship every fellow will be provided with a manual from the Program Director which enables them to get acquainted with the existing clinical practice prevalent in the department, and the fellows are expected to abide by the same. Encouragement will be given to share their adopted clinical practice, provided it does not hamper the quality and safety of patient care management.

There is a structured rotation of the Fellows which is divided into a year’s training in the operating room. Three months will be spent in premedication ambulant clinic and PACU which will be equally divided during the 2 year tenure. Thereafter three months will be dedicated for pediatric cardiac anesthesia and the last 6 months will be dedicated to Intensive care training.

The Fellows will be working in a contract with a stipulated time not exceeding 48 hours per week.

The Fellows will be assessed by the Staff on a one to one basis during the first  3 months of the fellowship. Upon successful completion of their assessment after 3 months, fellows will be subjected to a quarterly evaluation by a Staff anesthesiologist. Failure during assessment period will lead to discontinuation from the program. The means of evaluation will depend on the Fellows performance in the OR, clinical and theoretical knowledge of the subject in proper and the ability to apply in practical set-up, quality of demonstration during seminar presentations, their ability to communicate in the OR with the Colleagues, Surgeons and the Nursing staff. 

The Chairman can ask the Fellow to upgrade his communication skills if the need arises. The Fellow can communicate directly with the Program Director anytime during the term, if there are any queries regarding the Fellowship Program. Upon successful completion of the Fellowship Program the Candidate will be issued a Certificate for the Fellowship Program from HEART CENTER LEIPZIG, Germany and from EACTA (European Association of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiologist).

Although the Final selection lies at the discretion of the Chairman and the Program Director, the Fellows should have the following requirements before they can apply for the Program:

  1. The Candidate should have a Medical Degree from a recognized University.(Certified translated German copy required).
  2. Certification of Specialisation In Anesthesia from the Medical Council of the candidate’s country of Education, with German translation .(Certified translated German copy required).
  3. Updated Curriculum Vitae with German Translation.
  4. Three letters of reference with German translation.
  5. Basic knowledge of German for communication. This should be at B2-C1 level and should be certified from Goethe Institute or their equivalent from the candidate’s country of origin or where he /she is presently residing.  The candidate may be subjected to medical language test  by the Sächsische Landesärztekammer (Chamber of Physicians for state of Sachsen) prior to the grant of the professional license.
  6. Experience in Cardiac Anesthesia for a minimum period of one year. Experience with TEE is an added advantage, although it is not mandatory.
    Although these are the basic requirements, the Candidates Papers will be assessed by the Regierungspraesidium Leipzig (Licensing body to practice Medicine).The Candidate will have to furnish the additional documents, as and when required, for obtaining the license  to practice medicine in Heart Center Leipzig. Upon successful assessment, the Candidate will be registered with Sächsische Landesärztekammer (Chamber of Physicians for state of Sachsen) and then can commence with their work.
  7. German qualified candidates (Facharzt für Anästhesie) can communicate directly with the Chairman for entry into the Fellowship Program.
  8. Candidates must be members of the EACTA at the commencement of the fellowship