5 Great Cardiology Careers - Master's in Public Health Degree Programs

5 Top Careers in Cardiology

- Interventional Cardiology
- Cardiac Imaging
- Cardiac Transplantation
- Congenital Heart Disease Treatment
- Electrophysiology

Medical students may want to know about the cardiology careers available after they graduate from college and complete a residency. Whether you’re currently enrolled in medical school or just thinking about enrolling, it’s a good idea to know about the types of jobs waiting for you when you graduate. From heart disease treatment to cardiac imaging and testing, the career opportunities open to cardiologists are exciting and rewarding. Choosing the best career path simply takes time, patience and a little research. The following cardiologist jobs are some of the most prestigious and lucrative positions in the health care industry.

1. Interventional Cardiology

Interventional cardiologists focus on treating patients with heart disease caused by many factors, including old age, genetics, poor diet and lack of exercise. Interventional cardiology is a wide-ranging field that combines physiological examinations, blood tests, imaging, catheter implants and various other forms of heart disease treatment. To make interventional cardiology your clinical focus, you can specialize in this subject during medical school and then complete a cardiology residency in a hospital that provides this form of care. During your medical fellowship, you’ll be able to choose interventional cardiology as your specialty.

2. Cardiac Imaging

You can choose to become a cardiac radiologist during your fellowship after completing your residency. A radiologist specializes in using imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance, X-ray and ultrasound, to create visualizations of patients’ hearts for diagnosing diseases. A patient may visit a cardiac radiologist to learn about genetic heart conditions or heart diseases caused by other factors. Radiologists may diagnose and treat heart disease or simply provide imaging results for a general practitioner. The process of becoming a radiologist takes approximately 14 to 16 years from the beginning of pre-medical school to the completion of a fellowship.

3. Cardiac Transplantation

When a patient’s health doesn’t improve after all available treatments have been tried, a cardiologist may need to perform a heart transplant. Transplants involve replacing a diseased or defective heart with the healthy organ of a donor. The surgery typically results in a successful outcome for the patient. Follow-up care is required to ensure that the transplanted heart works as it should. Cardiac transplant specialists spend much of their time monitoring the recipients of donated hearts after surgery, according to the Mayo Clinic. Heart transplant patients can be children or adults. Some cardiologists specialize in performing these surgeries for children.

4. Congenital Heart Disease Treatment

Congenital heart defects are heart problems that occur when a child is in the womb, and some cardiologists specialize in treating congenital conditions. Congenital problems are the most common type of birth defect in newborn infants, so many cardiologists are needed specifically to treat congenital heart disease in children. Treatments for congenital heart defects have advanced greatly in recent years, and success rates for heart surgery on children is very good.

5. Electrophysiology

Electrophysiologists often refer to themselves as EPs to make their job title easier for their patients to say. Electrophysiology is the study of heart rhythms, and EPs are specialists in treating disorders related to the beating of the heart. This specialization requires a few additional years of training after completing a cardiology fellowship. It’s a very specialized career choice, and EPs are highly valued in the health care industry.

Health care occupations are some of the fastest-growing jobs in the economy, and cardiology is one of the top choices for doctors graduating from medical school. When it comes to specializing in one of the great cardiology careers available, it’s important to choose a field that truly interests you.