r/CardiologyFellowship

I am currently a PGY 5 cardiology fellow on a J1 visa in Illinois. I am planning on doing general cardiology and will need a J1 waiver. I am new to this process. How early should I start looking for jobs? Which states are easy to get in to? How competitive is west coast (CA, WA)?

I am a biomedical science student and I have been researching early cardiovascular risk detection in young adults. I came across research showing that combining certain biomarkers can predict risk years before any symptoms show up.

My question is — does anything like this actually exist as a clinical test right now? And if not, is this a gap that cardiologists actually see in practice or is early detection just not considered necessary for people in their 20s and 30s?

Genuinely curious about the clinical perspective on this.

Hi everyone,
I’m a junior doctor currently working in internal medicine, and I feel quite lost about which specialty path to choose.
I enjoy acute cases, emergency situations, differential diagnosis, and moments where you really have to think and make decisions under pressure. At the same time, I’m not sure that general internal medicine is the right final specialty for me.
Throughout medical school, I was mainly focused on plastic surgery. I did internships, research, and my thesis was related to breast reconstruction. For a long time, I thought plastic surgery was the goal. But realistically, it seems very difficult to get into, and I’m also realizing that I may not actually miss major surgery that much.
What I do love is aesthetics, smaller procedures, hands-on work, and outpatient-based medicine. I already have training in botulinum toxin, fillers, Sculptra, mesotherapy, lasers, and similar procedures. Aesthetic medicine is something I genuinely enjoy and could see myself doing long-term.
I’m also interested in oncology, palliative care, and complex patients. I like medicine that has depth, decision-making, a story behind the patient, and real meaning.
At the moment, I’m considering specialties such as:
Angiology — I like vascular medicine, ultrasound, varicose veins, thrombosis/embolism, and the possibility of smaller procedures.
Cardiology — I’m attracted to how complex, acute, dynamic, and intellectually demanding it is.
ENT — I like the idea of head and neck medicine, smaller procedures, outpatient work, and a possible overlap with aesthetics.
Dermatology/aesthetic medicine — it makes sense because of my interest in aesthetics, but I’m afraid I might miss acute medicine.
Oncology — because of the complexity, meaningful work, and long-term patient care.

I feel like I’m drawn to several different things at once: acute medicine, aesthetics, smaller procedures, oncology, outpatient work, and meaningful patient relationships. But I don’t want to end up in a specialty where I feel completely disconnected from myself.

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Which specialty would you recommend for someone who enjoys acute cases, aesthetics, smaller procedures, oncology, and complex decision-making, but does not necessarily want to pursue major surgery at all costs?

Thank you so much.

Hey everyone,

I'm a cardiology fellow and, like many of us, have been looking for ways to supplement my income without picking up overnight moonlighting shifts.

I recently stumbled onto an AI data training platform that specifically hires physicians to help train their models. I was highly skeptical at first and assumed it was a scam, but I have actually been doing it for a month now. They pay $100/hr for cardiology experts to code EKGs, write brief patient scenarios, and verify if the AI generated an accurate interpretation.

It basically pays out just like regular moonlighting but you do it from your couch whenever you have a random free hour and there is absolutely zero patient liability.

There are definitely some quirks (the onboarding is somewhat tedious, and they restrict how many you can do at first to manually audit your quality), but between the hourly pay and various bonuses, I made around $6K this past month just doing it during my downtime.

Has anyone else here tried this or similar platforms to make extra cash? If any other fellows are interested in the mechanics of how it works or what the actual EKG tasks look like, feel free to DM me. I have a referral link I can share if you want to try it, but I mostly just wanted to put this on the radar as a great alternative to extra hospital shifts.