Fellows’ Projects

Research stories from the Fellows’ perspective.

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Dr. Thomas Gilliland

Entering Class of 2018
Mentor: Dr. Pradeep Natarajan

Dr. Thomas Gilliland is a 4th-year cardiology fellow supported by a post-doctoral T32 training grant in cardiovascular epidemiology and population genetics. His current work leverages large-scale biobanks to study the genetic underpinnings of lipid traits and thromboembolism. He completed internal medicine residency training at Brigham and Women's Hospital. During medical school he was a Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation fellow.

Dr. Njambi Mathenge

Entering Class of 2018

Dr. Njambi Mathenge is a Chief Cardiology Fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital, from the entering class of 2018. She is a burgeoning global cardiologist, with research interests centered on addressing the cardiovascular care needs of marginalized communities, both locally and globally. Her current research is focused on investigating the prevalence and determinants of cardiac dysfunction, and coronary artery disease, in rural Uganda, along with her multi-disciplinary mentorship team lead by Mark Siedner, MD, MPH. She is a recipient of the 2021-2022 HBNU Fogarty Global Health Fellowship awarded by the NIH Fogarty International Center in support of this work, including expanding collaborative capacity building initiatives to improve cardiovascular systems of care in Uganda. Clinically, Dr. Mathenge will be pursuing advanced fellowship training in interventional cardiology to further expand her expertise to collaborate in advancing access to life-saving procedural cardiac care, both locally and globally.

Dr. Jonathan Salik

Entering Class of 2018
Mentors: Drs. Doug Drachman, Jim Gordon, Jeffrey Markuns (BU), Tom McCoy 

Dr. Jonathan Salik, from the entering class of 2018, is interested in general cardiology, critical care medicine, and medical education. He served as one of the Chief Medical Residents for the Mass General Internal Medicine Residency in AY 2020-21, and he is currently pursuing a Master’s of Health Professions Education during his third year of fellowship. In addition, he is also serving as the Mass General Simulation Fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Jim Gordon during his third year. Following the completion of his general cardiology fellowship, Dr. Salik plans to pursue a one-year critical care fellowship at Mass General to complete his training in cardiac critical care. His research centers on the design and implementation of novel educational modalities within cardiovascular education. Specifically, he is working with Dr. Phil Podrid to create a new virtual platform for EKG education, and he is also working with Vibe Inc., a startup tech company, to pilot the use of smartboards on medical rounds for inpatient teams. In addition, Dr. Salik is working with Dr. Tom McCoy, the Director of Research at the Mass General Center for Quantitative Health, to design an informatics consult service for the DOM that will allow for real-time data mining of Mass General’s robust electronic medical record to help inpatient teams answer clinical questions that arise during the course of care. Their first publication, assessing the differential risk of hyperkalemia between ACEs and ARBs, is currently submitted and under review.

Dr. Emily Zern

Entering Class of 2018
Mentor: Dr. Jennifer Ho

Dr. Emily Zern, from the entering class of 2018, is interested in hemodynamic and echocardiographic assessments of right ventricular function and their correlates with adverse outcomes in high-risk cardiovascular populations. She completed the Program in Clinical Effectiveness at the Harvard School of Public Health for additional research training. Clinically, she has completed a year-long fellowship in Critical Care Medicine and is joining a two year Advanced Echocardiography fellowship to finalize her training. Outside of Mass General, she serves on the Fellows-in-Training council for the American College of Cardiology. 

Dr. Rachael Venn

Entering Class of 2019
Mentor: Dr. Steven Lubitz

Dr. Rachael Venn, from the entering class of 2019, is currently pursing clinical outcomes research within the field of cardiac electrophysiology. She is particularly interested in risk assessment, ambulatory rhythm monitoring, and pragmatic intervention, as well as medical applications of novel device-based technology. To that end, she is working with Dr. Steven Lubitz to better understand the clinical implications of ambulatory rhythm data in patients using wearable technology. While consumer wearable devices represent a major opportunity in cardiovascular medicine, in some respects, the ability of the mainstream public to collect such data has outpaced the field’s ability to interpret it. Her research involves analysis of the relationship between rhythm anomalies detected in the ambulatory setting and clinical outcomes, with an ultimate goal to better inform how physicians can meaningfully use wearable device data to improve the care delivered to patients. 

Dr. Cian McCarthy

Entering Class of 2019
Mentor: Dr. James L. Januzzi

Dr. Cian McCarthy’s interests include atherosclerotic coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction. His research in this area is multi-faceted and includes the study of biomarkers used in the diagnosis and prognostication of coronary artery disease, outcomes research, health policy, and clinical trials. He has a particular interest in improving outcomes for patients diagnosed with type 2 myocardial infarction and he is currently conducting a prospective study investigating the role of CT coronary angiography in this population. His research is supported by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital NIH sponsored T32 imaging training grant. At a national level, he is a member of the NCDR Chest Pain-MI Registry Steering Subcommittee. During his research years of fellowship, he will also be pursuing a Masters of Science in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health.

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