The mission of the University of Florida’s Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine fellowship training program is to provide an outstanding educational experience in the clinical practice and research of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and to cultivate an environment through which our fellows go on to become accomplished physicians, scholars and leaders who optimize the health and wellbeing of patients and their families through safe, high-quality, innovative and compassionate patient care.
Primary Aim:
Provide an outstanding educational experience.
We have continuously invested in acquiring as well as creating expertise and technology to improve the educational opportunities of the fellows. We have hired 17 new full-time faculty in the last three years with expertise in various sub-specialties and expanded our clinical as well as research activity by establishing new programs.
The Program has achieved continuous improvement through the implementation of ideas brought forth by both the fellows and faculty through the monthly Fellow-PD meeting, the monthly faculty meeting as well as the annual program evaluations. We initiated new multi-disciplinary educational conferences like a monthly Clinico-Pathological Conference (CPC) and the weekly ILD Multi-Disciplinary Conference based on this process.
Secondary Aim:
Improve our research activity and throughout.
We initiated a new, two-week-long, combined Clinical & Translational as well as Basic Science Research Course for the fellows. We are taking steps to effectively implement our mentorship program. We have hired three new faculty who are NIH funded (RO1) [Drs. Mehrad, Avram & Jin] who have brought new skills and resources. We plan to apply for a T32 grant.
Improve fellows’ preparedness to perform life-saving procedures.
We are setting up training workshops for Cricothyroidotomy, Transvenous Pacemaker Placement and Sengstaken-Blakemore Tube Placements.
Improve stature of our training program.
We have set up a panel of three faculty to impart training to the fellows in order to win the CHEST Challenge.
We have developed and provide training in specialized clinical and research programs in:
- Interventional Pulmonology
- Lung Mass
- Lung Cancer Screening
- Lung Transplant
- Pulmonary Hypertension
- Interstitial Lung Disease
- Sarcoidosis
- Asthma
- COPD
- Sleep
- Lung Immunology (research)
- Cystic Fibrosis
- Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency
- Non CF- Bronchiectasis
From a Critical Care Medicine perspective, our fellows are trained to manage patients in:
- Medical ICU
- Neuro-ICU
- Neurosurgical ICU
- Surgical ICU
- Cardiothoracic ICU
Fellows are also trained to perform:
- Bronchial Thermoplasty
- Pleural Manometry
- Navigational Bronchoscopy
- Radial Endobronchial Ultrasound
- Critical Care Ultrasonography & Echocardiography
- hemodynamic TEE (hTEE)
- ECMO (Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation) and provide Critical Care using innovative robotic E-ICU technology.
In addition, all fellows spend about a third of their time at our institution performing research. Tools to perform research are provided through a comprehensive in-house research course and mentoring (both research as well as career) is provided through a formal mentoring process.
Research Curriculum & Plan
All fellows in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine (PCCM) fellowship training program are required to perform meaningful and tangible research under the guidance of mentors. Click below for details and to view sample structures for the curriculum and plan.
Mentorship Process
One of the many aspects of training that occur during fellowship is mentoring. There are a variety of possible mentors for PCCM fellows, such as research (basic or clinical) advisors, clinicians/faculty with mutual interest in a specific area of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, or faculty with a particular expertise – which may be outside of the field of PCCM
Conferences
Throughout the year, daily lectures are presented by the faculty as part of the Pulmonary Consult rotation at the VA Medical Center. The lectures cover a variety of PCCM topics.
Current PCCM Fellows
The Division of Pulmonary , Critical Care and Sleep Medicine has chosen the following Physicians for the PCCM Fellowship. We invite you to meet out 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year fellows in the program.