Overview of Program

Overview

The program is a world-class ABIM-accredited fellowship in Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care Medicine that requires completion of three years to be board-eligible in both subspecialties.

The first year follows a traditional clinical track that enables trainees to learn the requisite skills for the diagnosis and treatment of both common and rare diseases of the lung through rotations on the Pulmonary Consult and Pulmonary Acute Care Clinic (PACC) services at both Boston Medical Center (BMC) and the Veteran Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare system. During the physiology rotation at BMC, trainees will gain exposure to management of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), pulmonary hypertension, and pleural disease and will be develop skills in right heart catheterization, chest thoracostomy, and advanced bronchoscopy (i.e., robotic bronchoscopy, endobronchial ultrasound). Lastly, trainees will acquire skills for the diagnosis and treatment of critically-ill patients through rotations on the two Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU Blue and MICU Red) teams at BMC.

In the second and third years, trainees spend the majority of their time carrying out a mentored research project and gaining additional subspeciality clinical expertise. Required clinical rotations during second and third include Anesthesia, Neurological Intensive Care Unit (Neuro ICU), and Surgical Intensive Care Unit (Surgical ICU) during which trainees will also gain exposure to airway intubation, cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), and bronchoscopy with endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) (2 months during the second and third year). Trainees will also participate in an external rotation on the Lung Transplantation service at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

In addition to required clinical rotations, there are a plethora of clinical electives available that can be used to personalize the schedule of third-year fellows interested in academic clinical careers. Trainees dedicated to research can choose to remain for a fourth year of protected research time to continue their mentored research project.