Advanced Fellowship in Cardiothoracic Critical Care

Advent Health Orlando | Orlando, Florida

One year | Non-ACGME-accredited

Advance your expertise in cardiothoracic transplantation, mechanical support, and cardiothoracic rescue. Advent Health Orlando invites graduating critical care fellows and practicing intensivists to apply for this immersive, one-year fellowship focused on complex cardiac and pulmonary disease. An individualized educational plan builds on your experience and supports your career goals.

Focused Clinical Training

• Heart and lung transplantation:
  Pretransplant stabilization, perioperative critical care, graft dysfunction, and postoperative complications.
• ECMO and ECPR:
  Patient selection, support configurations, supervised cannulation, circuit management, troubleshooting, and liberation from support.
• Cardiogenic shock and mechanical circulatory support:
  Multidisciplinary shock management, Impella, intra-aortic balloon pumps, and durable ventricular assist devices.
• TEE and bedside cardiovascular ultrasound:
  Supervised imaging and hemodynamic assessment to guide clinical decisions.
• Post-cardiotomy management and rescue:
  Ventricular failure, bleeding, tamponade, refractory respiratory failure, and cardiac arrest.

Tailored Training and Mentorship

Supervised CTICU practice is combined with focused electives, simulation, multidisciplinary conferences, and longitudinal faculty mentorship. Clinical responsibility increases with experience and demonstrated competence. Procedural training follows supervision and institutional credentialing requirements.

Fellows complete a mentored project in research, medical education, patient safety, or quality improvement, with opportunities to develop teaching and multidisciplinary leadership skills.

Serving Central Florida since 1908, Advent Health Orlando is a tertiary hospital recognized for advanced care, research, and transplantation. Its mission is to Extend the Healing Ministry of Christ, supporting whole-person health in mind, body, and spirit. Advent Health Orlando ranked No. 1 in the Orlando metropolitan area and No. 2 in Florida in the 2026–2027 U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals rankings.

Its Cardiology, Heart & Vascular Surgery program tied No. 50 nationally. The Advent Health Transplant Institute includes established heart transplant services and Central Florida’s first and only lung transplant program.

Physicians board-certified or board-eligible in critical care medicine, including graduating fellows seeking advanced training and practicing intensivists seeking to expand their expertise or transition toward transplantation and mechanical support. Qualified applicants from internal medicine, emergency medicine, anesthesiology, surgery, and neurology backgrounds are welcome.

Dr. Mehul Desai (Me) - Program Director Dr. David Convissar (David.) - Associate Program Director

Advent Health Orlando is an internationally renowned hospital that specializes in life-saving medical treatments, preventative care and pioneering research. Our healing network includes 30 hospitals and more than 100 extended service locations across the state of Florida. Everything we do is designed to fulfill our ultimate goal — to help people live a healthier, fuller life in mind, body and spirit.

Advent Health is a network of ten hospitals around the greater Orlando area, which total approximately 3,000 beds. Advent Health operates many hospitals across nine different states; 30 of which are in Florida. Our mission has remained the same and is to Extend the Healing Ministry of Christ.

Since 1908, Advent Health Orlando has cared for the Central Florida community as well as…