Starting a Research Career in Cardiology: Advice for Fellows in Training and Early-Career Cardiologists

Nino Isakadze; Francoise A Marvel; Yvonne Commodore-Mensah; Seth S Martin; Erin D Michos

doi:10.14797/mdcvj.1108

Starting a Research Career in Cardiology: Advice for Fellows in Training and Early-Career Cardiologists

Methodist Debakey Cardiovasc J. 2022 Jun 3;18(3):49-58. doi: 10.14797/mdcvj.1108. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Nino Isakadze¹, Francoise A Marvel¹, Yvonne Commodore-Mensah², Seth S Martin³, Erin D Michos¹

Affiliations

¹ Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, US.
² Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity and School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, US.
³ Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, and Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, US.

Abstract

Launching an academic career in cardiology can be challenging. Mentorship has long been considered a core component in the academic career advancement of trainees across different disciplines and career stages, including cardiovascular disease. But simply having a mentor may not be sufficient to embark on a successful academic journey in cardiology. In this paper, we share advice on starting a research career in cardiology from both the mentee and mentor viewpoints. These perspectives reflect academic career guidance models developed at the Johns Hopkins Center for Mobile Technologies to Achieve Equity in Cardiovascular Health, which is funded by an American Heart Association Strategic Focused Network grant, to emphasize training. Core principles include encouraging mentees to develop a unique professional identity cultivated by a diverse, collaborative, and effective mentorship and sponsorship team.

Keywords: academic cardiology career; mentorship; sponsorship.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Cardiologists*
Cardiology*
Humans
Mentors / education

Grants and funding

Drs. Isakadze, Commodore-Mensah, Martin, and Michos are funded by AHA Grants 20SFRN35380046, 20SFRN35490003, and 878924. In addition, Dr. Commodore-Mensah and Dr. Martin are funded by AHA Grant 882415, and Dr. Michos is supported by the Amato Fund in Women’s Cardiovascular Health.