Hypertension Fellowship Program

Our team offers considerable depth and breadth in both basic and clinical aspects of hypertension research. We are committed to ensure that applicants and individuals accepted to the fellowship program reflect the rich diversity of the community we serve here at UT Southwestern. Fellows are exposed to a wide range of state-of-the-art concepts and approaches in basic research, ranging from cell and molecular biology to integrative mouse physiology. Opportunities for involvement and training in clinical research span the gamut from human cardiovascular physiology to clinical trials to epidemiology and public health. With substantial funding from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, we have established a Clinical Cardiovascular Research Center that provides fellows with access to a large population database (The Dallas Heart Study).

After completion of the Fellowship Program, the trainees will be exceptionally well prepared for the scientific and clinical portions of the Hypertension Specialist National Qualifying Examination, which is offered every other year by the American Hypertension Specialist Certification Program and administered by the National Board of Medical Examiners. Fellows are encouraged to enroll in the American Society of Hypertension review course to prepare for this examination.

Fellowship Goals and Objectives

The purpose of Hypertension Fellowship Program at UT Southwestern is:

to have the fellow develop sufficient clinical expertise in clinical hypertension to become a clinical hypertension specialist.
to provide each fellow with a tailored exposure to either clinical or basic hypertension research.
to train fellows to become physician educators who will contribute to education and training of colleagues, residents, and physicians in the community in order to improve hypertension control rate overall.

Application Process
Fellowship positions are awarded on the basis of the following criteria:
- A consistent record of academic achievement and/or future academic potential
- A commitment to understanding of the process for career development in academic medicine
- Personal integrity and a commitment to humanistic values expected of compassionate physicians.
All applicants will be required to complete program application outlining their credentials, academic record, publications, any history of unlawful activity, previous lawsuits, or loss of hospital privileges or medical license. Qualified applicants will be interviewed by the Program Director, Program faculty, and other faculty in the Division of Cardiology. The Fellowship Program will not discriminate against any individual with regard to sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, disability, or any other applicable legally protected status. No more than three fellows will be selected for each academic year.

All trainees must be medical doctors who have already completed three years of training in a standard Internal Medicine Residency Training approved by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) or have completed an equivalent program in a foreign country. Candidates for the program must have demonstrated competence in general internal medicine.

The fellowship positions are funded by UT Southwestern Medical Center, Cardiology Division, Hypertension Program.

International Applicants

Recognizing that some of our most talented applicants are not permanent residents, we are committed to recruiting qualified international trainees. UT Southwestern accepts permanent residents or J-1 ECFMG sponsored visas. Unfortunately, the medical school does not sponsor H-1B visas.
Educational Experience
Educational Experience

Trainees will be exposed to and will be expected to learn the following topics, which are proposed by the American Society of Hypertension educational guidelines.
- Epidemiology of hypertension
- Prevention of hypertension
- Genetics of hypertension
- Pathophysiologic mechanisms of hypertension
- Diagnostic assessment
  - Ambulatory BP assessment
  - Central aortic pressure
  - Home BP monitoring
- Metabolic abnormalities and hypertension
- Hypertensive target organ damage
- Therapy of hypertension: Lifestyle modifications and non-pharmacologic therapies
- Treatment of hypertension: Overcoming barriers to control
- Therapy of hypertension: Features of antihypertensive drugs
- Clinical trials: Methods, results, and consequences
- Hypertension in special populations
- Approach to resistant hypertension
- Hypertensive crises
- Identifiable (secondary) causes of hypertension
  - Renal parenchymal diseases
  - Renovascular hypertension and ischemic nephropathy
  - Mineralocorticoid hypertension
  - Pheochromocytoma and catecholamine-secreting paraganglioma
  - Other hormonal causes
    - Thyroid: Hypo- and hyperthyroidism
    - Hyperparathyroidism and other hypercalcemic states
    - Acromegaly
  - Other
    - Drug-induced
    - Psychogenic
    - Sleep apnea
    - Coarctation
    - Neurovascular compression
Curriculum and Conferences
The fellow will be required to attend and present at the following conferences:
1. Hypertension Conference:
  
  A formal monthly presentation that spans both clinical and basic research topics in hypertension, at which each fellow will present once a year;
2. Preventive Cardiology Conference:
  
  A formal monthly presentation of clinical and basic research in preventive cardiology under direction of Amit Khera, M.D., Director of the Preventive Cardiology Section, to integrate hypertension control as a vital part of cardiovascular prevention;
3. Cardiology Grand Rounds:
  
  A formal weekly review of cardiovascular disease research and clinical studies performed by fellows and faculty in the Cardiology Division, at which the fellow will present once a year;
4. Moss Heart Center Integrative Cardiovascular Physiology Research Conference:
  
  A formal weekly review of cardiovascular physiology research and clinical studies performed by fellows and faculty in the Hypertension Program, at which the fellow will present twice a year. These meetings will provide opportunities for informal peer-review from other investigators who are not directly involved in the fellow’s research.
A complete curriculum document is provided to prospective trainees upon applying to the Fellowship Program, and all trainees upon starting the Fellowship. The curriculum document includes the overall goals and objectives of the Fellowship Program, competency-based goals by which the trainees will be evaluated, specific duty and responsibilities of the trainees, outlines of the educational activities and conferences, and the research goals and requirement.
Training Sites

Our fellows will be involved in every aspect of the outpatient evaluation of difficult hypertension in two state-of-the-art referral clinics, one at Parkland Memorial Hospital, which serves a large indigent multiethnic population, and the other at the James W. Aston Ambulatory Care Center, which is a regional referral center for secondary causes of hypertension.

In addition, our fellows also participate fully in in-patient consultation for hypertensive urgencies at Parkland Memorial Hospital, William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital, and Zale Lipshy Pavilion—William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.

William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital

Parkland Memorial Hospital

Zale Lipshy Pavilion – William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital
Program Faculty

The clinical faculty affiliated with the Hypertension Fellowship Program at UT Southwestern Medical Center consists of three hypertension specialists certified by the American Society of Hypertension. These are Wanpen Vongpatanasin, M.D., Director of the Hypertension Program, who also is a cardiologist and a Professor of Medicine with expertise in treatment of resistant hypertension and hypertension associated with autonomic dysfunction; Shawna Nesbitt, M.D., who is an expert in hypertension treatment trials and Professor of Medicine.

Wanpen Vongpatanasin, M.D.

Professor and Program Director

Norman and Audrey Kaplan Chair in Hypertension

Shawna Nesbitt, M.D.

Professor and Associate Dean, Minority Student Affairs

Angela Price, M.D.

Assistant Professor

We also have close collaborations with endocrinologists, nephrologists, renovascular surgeons, endocrine surgeons, and interventional radiologists—all of whom have special interests and expertise in hypertension. In two years, fellows gain proficiency in the evaluation and treatment of all secondary causes of hypertension, medically refractory hypertension, hypertensive urgencies, and indications and interpretation of 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.