The Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy at University Hospitals Case Medical Center has been offering a two-year, ACGME-accredited fellowship program since 1991. Five full-time board-certified/eligible vascular surgeons are dedicated to training fellows as they pursue their board certification in vascular surgery. One fellow is appointed annually, so there are two fellows on the Vascular Surgery service at any given time.

Our fellowship is structured to incorporate both clinical and academic responsibilities in both years of training. The emphasis in the first year is academic, with dedicated research time one day a week, abstract and manuscript writing, critical appraisal of literature during conference, national meeting/conference attendance, and instruction in vascular laboratory studies. Clinical responsibilities include daily inpatient/outpatient care, open and endovascular surgery, and a shared call schedule with the senior fellow.

During the second year of training, the senior fellow's responsibilities are more clinical in nature. These include leading the Vascular Surgery service, comprised of a PGY-3, PGY-1 and a clinical nurse, in conjunction with instruction from the five vascular staff members on daily patient management. The senior fellow also runs a twice-weekly conference, which includes interesting angiographic cases, journal club, morbidity and mortality conference, and resident tutorials. All fellows are required to sit for the Vascular Surgery In-Training Exam (VSITE) annually. Fellows perform home-call and have the support of an in-house surgical resident night float team (PGY-5, PGY-2 and two PGY-1).

Fellows operate and provide care at UH Case Medical Center for most of their training, with the exception of the first-year fellows' spending one operative day at University Hospitals Richmond Medical Center, A Campus of UH Regional Hospitals. UH Case Medical Center is a 1,032-bed academic medical center and tertiary-care hospital, ranked by U.S.News & World Report as one of America's best hospitals in six medical and surgical specialties.

Fellows perform open abdominal and lower extremity bypass for occlusive disease, open thoracoabdominal repairs for aneurysms, carotid revascularization, hemodialysis access and venous surgery. Also taught: carotid stenting, endograft repair of thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysm, peripheral vascular angioplasty and stenting of renal, mesenteric and lower extremity arteries, thrombolysis and venous ablation.

Our Fellows

1991-1993

R.R. Rao, MD

1994-1996

Robert J. Pitsch, MD

1995-1997

David J. Minion, MD

1996-1998

John O. Miller, MD

1997-1999

Jeffrey M. Mendeloff, MD

1998-2000

James H. Rothstein, MD

1999-2001

Gilles Pinault, MD

2000-2002

Hans A. Brings, MD

2001-2003

Nishan Dadian, MD

2002-2004

Gilberto C. Russo, MD

2003-2005

Virginia Wong, MD

2004-2006

Paul J. Corcoran, MD

2006-2008

Mirza S. Baig, MD

2006-2007

Rajdeep Sandhu

2007-2009

Dennis L. Hsu, MD

2008-2010

Justin Boccardo, MD

2009-2011

Gurjeet Kaleka, MD

Research Opportunities

All vascular surgeons at UH Case Medical Center hold faculty positions at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and maintain academic practices. Research performed within the division is fellow-oriented and provides ample opportunities for presentations at national meetings as well as manuscript submissions for publication.

Our current clinical trials include the following:

  • Atrium iCAST Iliac Stent Pivotal Study
  • Cardiovascular Outcomes in Renal Atherosclerotic Lesions (CORAL)
  • CVRx® Rheos Pivotal Trial – Carotid Baroreceptor Stimulator

Our basic science efforts include these:

  • Smartgraft® – wireless flow and volume-sensing PTFE bypass graft
  • H-DGT – flow-sensing catheter