Ten physicians have recently been matched with the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine for cardiovascular fellowships that will prepare them for academic and clinical careers in cardiology next year.
IU School of Medicine internal residents Aaron Chum, MD, Adedoyin Johnson, MD, PhD and Shubham Upadhyay, MD, were among those selected to complete their cardiovascular fellowships within the Department of Medicine.
IU Cardiovascular Disease Fellow Jacob N. Sama, MD, will join the Advanced Heart Failure & Transplant Cardiology Fellowship Program in 2025.
“Our next class of cardiovascular fellows will bring both clinical and research experience, as well as leadership qualities,” said Deepak Bhakta, MD, fellowship director for the Cardiovascular Disease Program at IU School of Medicine. “A few have served as chief resident during their respective residencies and have presented research at high profile conferences.”
The Division of Cardiovascular Medicine placed matched fellows in following programs:
Advanced Heart Failure & Transplant Cardiology
Jacob N. Sama, MD. Sama completed his residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and will complete his cardiovascular disease fellowship at IU School of Medicine in June 2025. From 2020-2022, Sama served as assistant professor at University of Maryland Medical Center-Midtown Campus, where he supervised teams consisting of one resident, two interns and two medical students. Prior to that experience he served as a clinical instructor on the Advanced Heart Failure Service at University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, Md. Sama received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology
Awaneesh Kumar, MD. Kumar completed his residency in internal medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a cardiovascular disease fellowship at Garden City Hospital in Garden City, Mich. Kumar completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the former Krannert Institute of Cardiology, where his clinical research consisted of utilization and data analysis collected through a novel device capable of measuring skin sympathetic nerve activity, including tilt table testing, cardiac arrest, exercise stress testing, atrial fibrillation cardioversion and atrial fibrillation ablation procedures. He received his medical degree from American University of Antigua College of Medicine.
Varun Vanka, MBBS. Vanka completed his residency in internal medicine at University of Illinois College of Medicine – St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria, Ill, where he currently serves as chief resident and internal medicine fellow. He is currently responsible for the academic, educational and administrative aspects of the house staff, including creating the master schedule and call schedule and preparations for the cardiology boot camp and morning and noon conferences. Vanka received his MBBS degree from Great Eastern Medical School and Hospital in India.
General Cardiology
Aaron Chum, MD. Chum will complete his internal medicine residency at IU School of Medicine in June 2025. As a resident research assistant, he has collaborated with Stephen G. Sawada, MD and Harvey Feigenbaum, MD on stress echocardiography projects. He gave an oral presentation on their coronary artery disease research at the American Society of Echocardiography in June 2023 and presented an abstract at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting in April 2024. Chum received his medical degree from Ohio State University College of Medicine and is a past recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Research Fellowship, a $10,000 research grant awarded to 15 incoming freshmen at Johns Hopkins University.
Janki Hitchins, MD, MS. Hitchins currently serves as an internal resident at University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. She received her medical degree from University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and master’s degree in physiology from Indiana University Indianapolis. Hitchins is a recipient of the STARR38 Research Fellowship, also known as the Stimulating Access to Research in Residency program funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Adedoyin Johnson, MD, PhD. Johnson is currently completing her residency in internal medicine at IU School of Medicine. She earned her medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine and her doctoral degree in biomedical science from Tulane University in New Orleans, La. She has contributed to cardiovascular health equity research, including her own manuscript and posters for the American Heart Association annual meeting. Johnson was a DeBakey Scholars Program award recipient at Tulane University.
Palwinder S. Sodhi, MD. Sodhi currently serves as chief resident for the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Program at William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison, Wis. He also serves as a researcher for University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, in Madison, Wisc., where he and his collaborated submitted a manuscript related to cardioversion and heart failure research. Sodhi completed his internal medicine residency at University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics in Madison, Wisc. as chief resident and his medical degree from Creighton University School of Medicine in Phoenix, Ariz. He is a recipient of a Diversity Enhancement Scholarship and Medical Dean’s Scholarship at Creighton University.
Shubham Upadhyay, MD. Upadhyay completed his internal medicine residency at Indiana University and received his medical degree from the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C. At the conclusion of his residency, Upadhyay presented Grand Rounds on the burden of ischemia cardiomyopathy in the United States and the need to evaluate chest pain due to ischemia. He also contributed to research projects, including one that evaluated safety outcomes in patients undergoing orbital and rotational atherectomy, a minimally invasive procedure that removes plaque from the arteries.
Interventional Cardiology
Anurag Deepak Gaddam, MBBS. Gaddam currently is completing a fellowship in cardiovascular disease at Tulane University Medical Center in New Orleans, La., where he serves as primary operator in patients undergoing diagnostic cardiac catheterization. He completed his first residency in internal medicine at Baton Rouge General Medicine, in Baton Rouge, LA, and his second residency in internal medicine at New York Medical College/Metropolitan Hospital Center in New York, NY, as chief resident. Gaddam completed his medical degree and an internship at the 1,012 bed Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Secunderabad, India.
Awfa Zain-Abdeen, MBChB. Zain-Abdeen is currently completing a cardiovascular disease fellowship at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago. Previously, he served as chief resident in internal medicine at Good Samaritan Hospital, TriHealth in Cincinnati, Ohio. Zain-Abdeen has contributed to research published in several leading journals, including the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Circulation and American Heart Journal.
The IU School of Medicine offers five tracks of cardiovascular fellowships, including Adult Congenital Heart Disease, Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant, Cardiovascular Disease, Electrophysiology and Interventional Cardiology. Fellows who have completed programs at IU School of Medicine have advanced in their careers with leadership roles at Duke University, University of Michigan, Massachusetts General Hospital and private practices around the world. Questions about these fellowship programs may be directed to the fellowship coordinator.
