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Flagship Programs

Peripheral Vascular

Carlos Mena, MD

Led by Carlos Mena, MD, Director of the Cardiac catheterization laboratory and Vascular Medicine Program, Yale Interventional Cardiology is among the country’s premier programs in the treatment of non-cardiac vascular diseases. This aligns with our global model of, “head to toe” care for the vascular patient. The interventional cardiology team at Yale treats a broad variety of vascular disorders with emphasis in primary and secondary prevention measures. The peripheral vascular team utilizes state-of-the-art technologies and is active in the development new supporting platforms for PAD including drug eluting balloons to reduce restenosis, new generation stent and atherectomy platforms for lower extremity disease, endovascular carotid stenting, and microvascular stenting for erectile dysfunction. The Peripheral Vascular Program accepts four fellows yearly into a Yale Non-ACGME accredited Advanced Peripheral Vascular Interventions Fellowship (three clinical and one research).

Advanced therapies offered in the Peripheral Vascular Program:

  • CLI
  • Carotid
  • Renal denervation
  • Claudication
  • Imaging in PAD
  • Structure Exercise Program
  • Outcomes in PAD
Research pathway is an additional one-year training program after the clinical pathway is completed. This two-year pathway is available through a NIH funded T32 training grant focused on providing training in multi-modality molecular and translational cardiovascular research and imaging guided interventions. Highly qualified fellows with either an MD and/or a PhD who aspire to have academic careers as independent investigators within the field of cardiovascular disease are encouraged to apply.

There are four primary research focuses in the post-doctoral training:
  • Cardiovascular molecular imaging
  • Cardiovascular imaging technologies and analyses
  • Imaging guided interventions
  • Translational cardiovascular research
Applicants will have full access to unique resources available through Yale Translational Research Imaging Center (Y-TRIC), including small and large animal surgical suites, digital fluoroscopic interventional suite with conebeam CT capability, 3D ultrasound, intracardiac ultrasound, hybrid SPECT/64-slice CT, microSPECT/CT, microCT, and a dedicated lower extremity high-resolution high-sensitivity SPECT imaging system, as well as other institutional resources such as PET/CT and MRI.

Participation will be aimed at ongoing NIH funded projects directed at development, validation and application of imaging guided assessment of cardiovascular pathophysiology and interventions. These include targeted molecular assessment of myocardial ischemic injury, angiogenesis, arteriogenesis, post–infarction atrial and ventricular remodeling, and peripheral artery disease. This translational research employs multi-modality 3–D imaging in both patients and a wide range of small and large animal models including models of ischemic heart disease, chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity, pressure overload, peripheral arterial disease, and heart failure.