18 | MUSChealth.org/heart MUSC HEALTH HEART & VASCULAR CENTER The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) has been training leaders in cardiology for more than 50 years. Dr. Jessica L. Atkins, an advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology specialist, is among an elite group of graduates who benefited from that training. Now her patients and her colleagues at MUSC Health’s Heart & Vascular Center are benefiting, too. After completing MUSC’s general cardiology fellowship in 2021, Dr. Atkins continued her professional trajectory with the Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiology Transplantation Fellowship program. She was among 500 of the brightest and most promising physicians in the country who applied for the fellowship, and, ultimately, Atkins joined just six other doctors as a fellow. “I had amazing mentors who were – and remain – dedicated to teaching,” said Dr. Atkins, who completed the fellowship in 2022. “We took care of patients with complex cases. Even today, other alums from the fellowship program and I have great mentors within the MUSC faculty.” MUSC Health’s Heart & Vascular Center offers more treatment options for congestive heart failure than any other program in South Carolina. In addition to an extensive surgical experience, Dr. Atkins participated in outpatient clinics and hospital rounds. Heart transplants and treatments, as well as cardiogenic shock – which requires interventions such as mechanical heart pumps – sparked her interests and skills the most, she said. Today, Dr. Atkins specializes in structural heart failure therapies, most notably treatments for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), an inherited condition that causes the heart muscle to thicken. The FROM FELLOW TO VALUED TEAM MEMBER Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Fellowship Program Dr. Jessica Atkins left with Charlee Porcelli right “We took care of patients with complex cases. Even today, other alums from the fellowship program and I have great mentors within the MUSC faculty.”
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