Welcome to the Vascular Surgery Fellowship program

We invite you to explore our vascular surgery fellowship. The vascular surgery fellowship (5+2) program is two-year ACGME-accredited program that allows the fellows to be exposed to a variety of arterial and venous pathologies. The fellows will rotate through Hartford Hospital, UConn John Dempsey Hospital at UConn Health, and The Hospital of Central Connecticut. The ACGME accredited vascular surgery fellowship program was introduced at Hartford hospital in 1993. In collaboration with UConn School of Medicine, the program has grown over the years to a multi-institutional teaching program. The clinical sites have a long-standing history of providing medical education and training. At each institution, dedicated faculty will supervise the fellows to provide them the volume and complexity of both open and endovascular procedures to easily fulfill fellowship case requirements to graduate. The vast majority of our fellows complete their required case numbers by the end of their first year and graduate fellowship with well over 1000 cases. We have a large number of faculty from a diverse training backgrounds providing exposure not only all vascular procedures, but to virtually all techniques and approaches available.

The fellowship structure includes total of 3 clinical fellows and the program participates in the NRMP match with the cycle of 2 positions and 1 fellowship positions every alternate year. For the next academic year 2025, the program will be seeking to fulfil 2 fellowship positions. Hartford hospital is the primary teaching site for the fellowship program and with the complement of UConn John Dempsey Hospital at UConn Health and The Hospital of Central Connecticut, the trainees are exposed to a wide range and volume of vascular pathologies. In addition to clinical operative responsibilities the fellows will participate in outpatient clinics and the non-invasive vascular laboratory learning to interpret peripheral arterial, aortic, extracranial cerebrovascular and venous systems under the direction of board-certified vascular faculty. Fellows are required to complete the Registered Physician in Vascular Interpretation (RPVI) exam by the end of their training.

As an academic program, research and education are important components of the fellowship. As future vascular surgeons, fellows are expected to teach, supervise and lead the team of medical students, surgery residents and advanced practice providers on the vascular service. Vascular fellows are expected to initiate a research project that will continue throughout their training. Submission of research to regional or national meetings is expected. It is anticipated that the fellow present and/or publish one research project per year of training. If the research is accepted, travel to these meetings is funded by the division. Educational conferences which include a weekly mortality and morbidity conference, basic science conference, and a monthly journal club will be organized by the fellows.

Following successful completion of the training program and obtaining their RVPI our fellows are eligible for certification in Vascular Surgery by the American Board of Surgery. Our trainees have been competitive candidates for the professional position of their choice, including both private and academic practices.

Thank you for interest in our program.

Former Program Directors

David Drezner, M.D., Ph.D. (1993-2009)
Michael Dahn, M.D., Ph.D. (2009-2015)
Thomas Divinagracia, M.D., M.P.H. (2015-2023)