Franciscan Health Olympia Fields adds cardiovascular disease fellowship

The Franciscan Health Olympia Fields Graduate Medical Education (GME) program is now home to a three-year cardiovascular disease fellowship.

Three fellows are members of the inaugural class, which began July 1. The first fellows are all graduates of Franciscan Health Olympia Fields’ internal medicine residency program.

“We retained some of our best and brightest,” said Paul Johnson, designated institutional official for Franciscan Health Olympia Fields’ Graduate Medical Education program.

Johnson said having a fellowship program in a community-based location like Olympia Fields is an important achievement.

“It raises the profile of our hospital as an academic institution,” Johnson said. “We are an independent academic medical center. It distinguishes what we do from many other community hospitals in Chicagoland.”

Eligible applicants must complete three years of an internal medicine residency. Fellows become part of the hospital workforce, making them both learners and employees.

“It will be a key asset for us in training cardiologists to serve patients in south suburban Chicago,” Johnson said. “There is research showing residents and fellows end up in practice where they are trained.”

Elias Khazoum, DO, is one of the fellows in the inaugural class. When Dr. Khazoum completed his internal medicine residency at Franciscan Health Olympia Fields, he stayed on and became chief resident.

In that role, he helped facilitate the cardiovascular disease fellowship accreditation process.

“It’s a huge sense of pride and a very satisfying next step to take,” Dr. Khazoum said. “My personal passions are education and cardiology. It’s exciting going into a program just starting versus one that is established.”

Dr. Khazoum said there are multiple benefits of fellowship programs to physicians and patients alike.

“Any time you have an educational program in-house, it drives faculty members as well as the learners to stay up to date about literature and active care,” he said. “You’re forced to think a little more critically when explaining to a learner and patients can be reassured knowing that multiple clinicians are collaborating closely on their care and communicating thoughtfully with them.”

Cardiologist Omar Hamoui, MD, medical director of the Franciscan Health Olympia Fields Heart & Vascular Institute and program director of the cardiovascular disease fellowship, said the program is an exciting step in the hospital’s future.

“We are thrilled to add the cardiovascular disease fellowship to our GME offerings at Franciscan Health Olympia Fields,” Dr. Hamoui said. “The patients will benefit from the added academic scrutiny that we observe in training programs. The attendings and other providers, as well as the hospital at large, will hold themselves to a higher standard.”