Cardiology meetings offer variety of opportunities

Fellows should approach national and international meetings differently based on their stage of career development.

One would think that everyone who goes to cardiology meetings has a common objective or goal: to keep up with the latest advances in the field.

However, that would be a naive way of approaching and conceptualizing these academic-professional conventions. Different people and organizations attend these meetings with different agendas in mind.

I can think of several reasons why a physician or employee of a medical company may be interested in participating in such an event. Perhaps the two most intuitive ones are the presentation of new research data and the need to stay up to speed with the latest scientific and clinical developments.

Juan Rivera

Physicians who are looking for a job may go to interview with a potential employer and usually approach these meetings as a kind of networking expedition. Other individuals fly into town just to give one or more device-related or pharmaceutical-sponsored talks to make some extra cash. Industry representatives mostly go to promote and sell their own products. And, of course, there is always the group who wants to leave town and relax for several days.

I believe that fellows should also approach these meetings differently based on their stage of career development.

First-year cardiology fellows

The first year of fellowship is typically a busy one due to a significant amount of clinical rotations and call nights. First-year fellows rarely have time to think about a research project and most of them have not even identified which area of cardiology interests them the most.

I suggest that these fellows view the academic meetings as a shopping opportunity. Their main focus should be to learn about the latest research and clinical developments within each cardiology subspecialty (heart failure, interventional, electrophysiology, imaging and prevention) and try to identify an area or topic that catches their attention.

To be a successful researcher and academician, it is very important to work on something that you feel passionate about. This first meeting could be the beginning of a lifetime affair with what could turn out to be your academic niche.

It is also important that first-year fellows relax a little bit when going to these meetings. You have worked hard, and you are entitled to have some fun.

Second-year fellows

The second year of fellowship is the time to get a research project started. Ideally, second-year fellows should be presenting their abstracts at national meetings. This gives you the opportunity to practice your public speaking skills, work on a journal publication and have some exposure that can enhance your research possibilities and secure your participation in other academic activities.

If you enjoy giving the presentation and talking about your research topic, you are probably headed in the right direction. Second-year fellows work almost as hard as first-year fellows; thus, they, too, deserve to have some fun at these meetings.

Third- and fourth-year fellows

These two years represent a transition period. Fellows aspiring to become full-time academicians are thinking about getting their own grant money and are shopping for the best academic job. Conversely, fellows wanting to go into practice may already be interviewing with several cardiology groups. These fellows should view national meetings as a networking opportunity. It is a good time to meet with several possible employers without the need to travel extensively.

These fellows, although they may have less free time during these meetings, should also try to have some fun.

The benefits of attending national or international cardiology meetings are many. Some of these benefits include learning more about the latest developments in our profession, presenting work to other people and possibly meeting individuals that are interested in research collaboration, meeting professionals outside your institution, learning more about industry-physician interactions, visiting a new city or country and leaving the work environment for a couple of days.

Every cardiology fellowship program should provide appropriate funding for fellows to be able to attend at least one meeting per year. This is an important element of our overall professional training.

Juan Rivera, MD, is a Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for Prevention of Heart Disease and a member of the Today in Cardiology Fellows Advisory Board. He also writes a cardiovascular prevention blog for Hispanics called Corazon Hispano. The blog can be viewed at: www.corazonhispano.blogspot.com.