The Academy of Elite Doctors runs a long-form mentorship track for doctors and students who intend to end up in cardiology. It is not a course with a completion date. It is a supervised training relationship with Dr A M Thirugnanam, MD, MSICP, FSCAI, Ph.D., Senior Interventional Cardiologist, that begins wherever you are now and continues into your first years of independent practice.
The problem this track was built to solve
Selection into cardiology is decided by a sequence of small decisions taken years apart: which subjects to read properly in the pre-clinical years, when to start a research project so that it is published rather than merely started, which entrance route to commit to, and how a fellowship panel reads an application. Most candidates make those decisions with no senior guidance and discover the consequences too late to reverse them. Ability is rarely the limiting factor. Sequence is.
Who supervises the track
Dr A M Thirugnanam is a senior interventional cardiologist practising in Hyderabad, a Fellow of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, founder of the Academy of Elite Doctors, and the author of more than forty cardiology titles. Every mentoring call on this track is taken by him. Nothing is passed to junior faculty, which is the reason each intake is capped rather than open.
The five training stages
You enter at your current stage and progress through the remainder. Nothing resets and nothing expires. Each stage has prescribed reading drawn from the Academy reading list.
- Foundation. Anatomy, physiology and pharmacology taught as a cardiologist uses them rather than as an examiner lists them. Systematic ECG reading is established here, several years before it is usually acquired, together with the study method that carries the rest of the track.
- Clinical bridge. Bedside cardiology — murmurs, heart failure assessment, chest pain triage and the presentations that recur in every viva. Case discussion attendance begins, and a first research project is designed and started.
- Internship and route selection. The decisive year. The examination route is mapped, the curriculum vitae is restructured, the first project is submitted, and the choices made this year are checked against whether they keep cardiology open.
- Entrance and residency. Preparation for USMLE, PLAB, MRCP, NEET-PG or a national entrance, planned around clinical hours rather than in competition with them. Through residency the emphasis shifts to holding on to cardiology reasoning while ward work consumes the timetable.
- Entry into cardiology. Fellowship applications, personal statements, interview rehearsal, and candid advice on where training is actually worth doing. Supervision continues past selection into cath-lab reasoning, complex case discussion and early independent practice.
What the track includes
- A personal one-to-one mentoring call each month with Dr Thirugnanam.
- A live group masterclass each month, recorded and archived.
- A written study roadmap specific to your training year, revised as you progress.
- Full access to the complete Academy e-library of more than forty titles.
- ECG and case-based teaching drawn from current cath-lab practice.
- Examination strategy for USMLE, PLAB, MRCP, NEET-PG and DM or DNB.
- Research supervision from the initial question through to indexed publication.
- Curriculum vitae, personal statement and fellowship interview preparation.
- A private cohort of mentees spanning every training stage.
- Letters of recommendation for mentees who have earned them.
- Priority access to Academy CME programmes, workshops and live case transmissions.
- Continuing access — the relationship does not lapse.
Who each stage suits
The pre-clinical student who has already decided. Five or six years of compounding advantage rather than a scramble in the final year. The final-year student short of time. The remaining months are sequenced so that nothing is wasted on low-yield work. The intern choosing a route. The highest-stakes year, taken deliberately rather than by default. The internal medicine resident. Fellowship-grade research and an application read by someone who has sat on the selecting side. The international graduate. Cross-border applications where the rules are unwritten. The practising physician moving across. A structured bridge from current practice into cardiology.
Who it does not suit
This is not a shortcut and it is not a question bank. Places are limited and every application is read personally; applicants looking to purchase an outcome rather than complete the work are declined. Not all applications are accepted.
Fee
A single one-time fee covers the entire track — every stage, every session, the full e-library and all future material. Approximately US$2,500 for international applicants, billed in Indian rupees. There is no annual renewal, no per-stage charge and no additional module fee. Payment by card, PayPal or Razorpay.
Time commitment
Plan on four to six hours a month: one forty-five minute personal call, one live masterclass, and self-directed work from your roadmap. The track is designed to run alongside a full medical course or a clinical post, not to compete with one.
Applying
Send an outline of where you are in training and where you intend to be, through the Academy contact page. Applications are read personally and answered within three working days. Applying costs nothing and commits you to nothing; when an intake fills, applications carry to the next one.
If you are not ready to apply, the Academy course programme and the examination reading list are the sensible starting points. Mentees also contribute to the case library and take part in the Academy research programme.