Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Fellowship Program
Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship
The Fellowship program is designed to teach physicians who have successfully completed an Internal Medicine residency the subspecialties of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. The Fellowship program is accredited by the ACGME, for 9 Fellows (3 fellows/year). The program is supported by the VAMC and UHC, as well as NIH funded training grants.
Under the direction of ,Rana Hejal, M.D., the philosophy of the program is to produce excellent clinicians with a research focus to succeed as leaders in academic medicine. The program is designed according to the ACGME guidelines and is a three year program leading to board eligibility in both Pulmonary Medicine as well as Critical Care Medicine. The program has an 18 month clinical component and an 18 month research component. The first year of the program is clinical. The next 2 years have 9 months of dedicated research time with 3 months of clinical time scattered throughout the year. The clinical training is dedicated to acquiring all cognitive and physical skills necessary to be an excellent Pulmonary and Critical Care physician (Intensive Care Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine, arterial lines, central lines, endotracheal intubation, hemodynamic monitoring, pulmonary artery catheters, pulmonary function testing, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, bronchoscopy, pleural biopsy, transthoracic fine needle aspirate, closed-tube thoracostomy, thoracentesis, presentation and public speaking skills). Fellows take electives throughout their three years in the program including rotations in the CICU, SICU, Thoracic Surgery, Trauma, and Chest Radiology. The program encompasses both the VAMC and UHC. The entire Pulmonary and Critical Care faculty mentors the trainees during their clinical training. Bi-annual formal evaluation is given through the program director and Division director.
To determine the fellows research focus, during the first year of the fellowship all fellows meet frequently with Dr. Kern to understand their areas of interest, and obtain guidance in selecting a research mentor and lab. The fellows have the entire division, Department and campus to draw upon to get the best mentorship and training possible. Upon mutual agreement of the fellow, Dr. Kern, and the identified mentor, research training begins the second year of the fellowship. Fellows are required to write a research proposal for divisional review prior to initiation of their research time. In addition, the fellows are required to give yearly research conferences to the division to keep abreast of their research project. All fellows in a research path are required to write an American Lung Association Fellowship grant at the start of their third year as part of their training. Abstract presentation at a national meeting is required for completion of the program.
Upon completion of the fellowship a fourth research year is possible, and is decided on a case-by-case basis. The offer of a fourth year is dependent on success during the Fellow’s research program, growth during the research project, and dedication to an academic career.
In this training program, during the past two years our fellows have been successful in obtaining entry level funding through the American Heart Association, and the SmithKline Foundation. In addition, we have been successful in identifying those individuals that have an interest in academic medicine to retain in academic positions.
Applications are accepted online through ERAS. Interviews normally are done in late winter/early spring.
If you have questions about the fellowship program please contact ::
Rana Hejal, MD
Fellowship Program Director
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
University Hospitals of Cleveland
11100 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
Phone: (216) 983-0871
