Congenital Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship
Reviewed by Deborah M. McGlinn
Reviewed on
The Congenital Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is a two-year clinical training program. We are approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) to offer one fellowship position every two years.
Overview and mission
The primary learning for the ACGME fellow occurs in the operating room. At CHOP, we have 2-3 cardiac operating rooms in use daily, accounting for more than 900 cardiac procedures each year. The ACGME fellow makes the daily OR assignments. Thus, they can determine which cases will provide them with the best learning opportunities and ensure they are present for those cases.
Over the two-year fellowship, the fellow will be exposed to the entire spectrum of congenital heart disease in children and treatment options. Additionally, the ACGME fellow will be involved in the day-to-day care of patients with congenital heart disease including daily rounds, pre-operative planning discussions, family meetings and bedside procedures.
The ACGME congenital cardiothoracic fellow will work alongside our non-standard training pathway fellow, rotate with our adult cardiothoracic surgery fellows, and support our team of experienced congenital cardiac physician assistants to provide daily surgical care to patients.
We aim to:
- Foster a supportive clinical training environment
- Deliver high-quality patient-centered care
- Develop judgement and teach surgical technique
- Enable fellows to care for the most complex cardiac diseases and lesions in children and adults living with congenital heart disease
- Develop proficiency in professionalism, multidisciplinary communication and accountability
Our mission
We strive to develop future leaders in the field of congenital cardiac surgery by instilling in our trainees the necessary knowledge, technical skills and experience to perform excellent cardiac surgery for patients of all ages with congenital heart disease.
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Jonathan M. Chen, MD: We're so thrilled to introduce you to the Congenital Cardiac Surgery Program at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. As you probably know, CHOP has a very rich tradition of congenital heart surgery, going all the way back to Julian Johnson and through the titans of John Waldhausen and Tom Spray, even Norwood himself, who was here for a time, Bill Gaynor more recently.
What you probably don't know is that we are now comprised of a group of surgeons who trained all over the United States and the world in different places, and have brought to this group a multitude of ways of doing different operations, approaching patients in different ways. And that provides a really unique experience for trainees because they'll see not just one way of doing an operation or, and a particular strategic approach, but probably sometimes four, sometimes five.
And so the challenge as a trainee at the end of your time is to try to figure out which aspect of each of these mentors' approaches are gonna become sort of thread together for you as you start to sculpt your career.
Paul Devlin, MD: If I were to sum up the fellowship in congenital cardiac surgery at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in one word, it would be opportunity.
Opportunity in the breadth of cases that are performed, in the depth in offering absolutely every possibility of care for children with congenital heart disease, it happens here at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Fawwaz Ridwan Shaw, MD: In the operating room, I think it's really important to build on the skills that fellows currently have.
So our goal as a surgeon here at CHOP is to focus on identifying where each fellow is when we first have the opportunity to work with them, and then build on the technical abilities that they already have.
Jonathan M. Chen, MD: There is a small army of physician assistants who are able to help take care of the daily work, the chest tubes, and the line pulls, and the notes, so that it's not all the fellow burden.
Paul Devlin, MD: It allows you to truly focus on the cases, both beforehand in case preparatory work, and also in the operating room, really optimizing the learning that you're going to get from that patient. From a post-operative care perspective, we have an incredible multidisciplinary team of ICU practitioners, as well as cardiologists who help to summarize the patient course and conditions so that you can help make the decisions that direct the patient's care without necessarily being the person that performs every single aspect of that care.
We have a large breadth of teaching conferences here at CHOP that fills up your team's calendar faster than you can blink. From highly specialized meetings looking at congenital valve repair and advanced imaging of congenital valve, to dedicated conferences to diseases such as congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries, as well as our kind of the crown jewel of our conferences, which is our Thursday morning pre-surgical conferences, where we have sometimes lively debates with the heart center as a whole, kind of determining the best course for patients with congenital heart disease and the surgical course of action that we're planning to take.
Fawwaz Ridwan Shaw, MD: Our didactic conferences takes the format more of an oral board style where cases are presented. This allows them to have a repository of cases that at the end of their training and even in their years as a junior attending, they can take with them and kind of review over the years and modify and build upon.
But it also provides them with a framework from which they can study for their oral boards.
Paul Devlin, MD: Whether you have a family or you're by yourself, there's great opportunities in the city of Philadelphia. It's a great city for food, for museums, entertainment. We have some world-class Michelin Star restaurants. A community right across the river called Naval Square that makes it very easy to live in the city while not necessarily feeling in the city for your little kids, and it's a walk to work.
Jonathan M. Chen, MD: One of the final things that we consider our absolute obligation is to help fellows find the right job for them when they're done, and we take a lot of pride in how we place our fellows afterwards. And quite honestly, the fact that once you've joined the cardiac surgery family here at CHOP, you never leave.
You're always a family member. We e- entertain calls from former fellows who are, go as far back as 20 years from here, to talk about a hard case or their career or what is the n- next best step for how they're gonna build their own program. Because we here at CHOP are invested in building and training the leaders of tomorrow, and we hope that that will include you.
The history, expertise and compassion that make CHOP unique is also what makes it the best place for medical trainees. The hospital, founded in 1855, is the nation’s first hospital devoted exclusively to the care of children.
Program leadership
Program Director
Associate Program Director
Division Chief
Faculty
Program Coordinator
Deborah M. McGlinn; Email: McGlinn@chop.edu
Conference schedule
| Name of conference | Frequency | Individual/Department Responsible for Organizing Sessions |
| Cardiac Center MMI/ Clinical Care Conference | Monthly 7:30 a.m. / 1st Monday Virtual/Teams | Cardiac Center Susan Ferry, organizer |
| ACHD Clinical Conference | Monthly 7:30 a.m. 2nd & 4th Monday Virtual | Yuli Y. Kim, MD Christine Seavey, organizer |
| MCS Journal Club | Weekly 4 p.m. Tuesday | Katsuhide Maeda, MD, PhD Catherine Montgomery/ Nicole Schurr, organizers |
| Fellows Case Conference | Weekly 7:30 a.m. Wednesday Hybrid: Teams/8592 | CT Faculty/Fellows/PAs Deborah M. McGlinn, organizer |
| Heart Failure/Transplant Rounds | Weekly 3 p.m. Wednesday Hybrid: Teams/8NW106 | Katsuhide Maeda, MD, PhD Madelaine C. Baublis, BSN, RN, organizer |
| Presurgical Case Review | Weekly 5 p.m. Wednesday Virtual/Teams | CT Surgery Faculty Deborah M. McGlinn, organizer |
| Cardiac Surgery Monthly M&M | Monthly 6 a.m., 3rd Wednesday | CT Faculty and Fellows Katsuhide Maeda, MD, PhD |
| Surgical Case Conference | Weekly 7:30 a.m. Thursday Hybrid: Teams/8NW106 | CT Faculty, Cath, Cardiology Amanda C. Thaler, organizer |
| CHOP/HUP M&M Conference | Weekly 7:30 a.m. Thursdays 1st & 2nd Thursday: PCAM Board Room, CC Level/Perelman 3rd Thursday: PCAM South Tower, 15th Floor, Conference Room A&B | HUP Cardiac Surgery Lori Carroll, organizer |
| Cardiac Pathology Conference | Weekly 4:30 p.m. Thursday Cardiology Conference Room, Main CR-08-8NW106 | Lindsay S. Rogers, MD Celena Green, organizer |
| Heart Valve Program Clinical Case Review Meeting | Monthly Noon, 2nd Thursday 4:30 p.m., 4th Thursday Teams/Main-CR-08-8592 | Jonathan M. Chen, MD Sara E. Baumgarten |
| Heart Transplant Conference | Weekly 7:30 a.m. Friday Virtual/Teams | CT Surgery Faculty Madelaine C. Baublis, BSN, RN, organizer |
| Lung Transplant Conference | Weekly 8 a.m. Friday Virtual/Teams | CT Surgery Faculty, Lung Transplant Team Maureen Krady, BSN, RN, organizer |
| CT Surgery AM Patient Rounds | 6 a.m.; Monday-Friday CICU TRC | CT Surgery Fellows and PAs |
| CICU Daily Sign-out (Weekdays) | 7 a.m.; Monday-Friday Virtual/Teams/ Main-CR-06-6S60 | Michael P. Goldsmith, MD |
| CICU Daily Sign-out (Weekends) | 7:30 a.m.; Saturday/Sunday Virtual/Teams/ Main-CR-06-6S60 | Michael P. Goldsmith, MD |
Salary and benefits
Salary will be provided at a PGY8 level or above as determined by the Office of Graduate Medical Education (GME).
All benefits for the advanced fellowship are commensurate set forth by the CHOP GME offices. The package includes medical, dental, vision benefits, vacation/meeting time and a professional expense account.
The fellow is supported and encouraged to attend at least one major cardiac surgery conference per year.
Learn more about benefits for residents and fellows.
How to apply
CHOP is participating in the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association (TSDA) Congenital Cardiac Surgery Fellowship Match for the fellowship year starting July 2027.
Visit the TSDA Congenital Cardiac Surgery Fellowship Match webpage to get details about:
- How to apply
- Match rules and regulations
- Application deadlines, interview timelines and match dates
Fellowship resources
View our Congenital Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship Annual Report.
Current and past ACGME fellows
Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellows Yasuyuki Kobayashi, MD, PhD, (left) and Jordan Secor, MD (right). 2025-2027: Jordan Secor, MD & Yasuyuki Kobayashi, MD, PhD – current fellows
- 2023-2025: Paul J. Devlin, MD, MSc – Assistant Professor of Surgery, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
- 2022-2023: Garrett Coyan, MD – Assistant Professor of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University
- 2021-2022: Tracy Geoffrion, MD, MPH – Associate Professor of Surgery, Duke University School of Medicine
- 2020-2021: Constantine Mavroudis, MD, MSc, MTR – Assistant Professor of Surgery, Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin
- 2020-2021: Andrew Goldstone, MD, PhD – Assistant Professor of Surgery, Columbia University Medical Center, Director, Section of Pediatric and Adult Congenital Cardiac Surgery
Contact information
Program Coordinator
Deborah H. McGlinn; Email: McGlinn@chop.edu
215-590-2708
Other requirements
To carry out its mission, it is of critical importance for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to keep our patients, families and workforce safe and healthy and to support the health of our global community. In keeping with this, CHOP has mandated all workforce members (including trainees) on site at any CHOP location for any portion of their time be vaccinated for COVID-19. This mandate also applies to workforce members or trainees providing patient care at non-CHOP locations. CHOP also requires all workforce members and trainees who work in patient care buildings or who provide patient care are required to receive an annual influenza vaccine. Candidates other than those in positions with regularly scheduled hours in New Jersey, must attest to not using tobacco products. Employees may request exemptions to any CHOP vaccine requirement for religious and medical reasons.
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, national or ethnic origin, disability, protected veteran status or any other protected category. CHOP is a VEVRAA Federal Contractor seeking priority referrals for protected veterans.
CHOP is committed to building an inclusive culture where employees feel a sense of belonging, connection, and community within their workplace. We are a team dedicated to fostering an environment that allows for all to be their authentic selves. We are focused on attracting, cultivating, and retaining diverse talent who can help us deliver on our mission to be a world leader in the advancement of healthcare for children.
We strongly encourage all candidates of diverse backgrounds and lived experiences to apply.