Curriculum

Year 1

The focus of the first year is on gaining the knowledge and skills needed to perform as a team leader in the ICU, on the Pulmonary Consult service, and as primary pulmonologist to patients in the ambulatory setting.

A unique feature of our program is early, substantive exposure to subspecialty areas of pulmonary medicine (including Sleep Disorders, Interventional Pulmonology, Interstitial Lung Disease, Pulmonary Hypertension, and Severe Asthma); first year fellows rotate one-on-one with faculty subspecialists. This exposure facilitates the transition to the research component of the fellowship.

By the end of their first year, fellows are expected to have identified a research mentor and to have formulated a plan for scholarship, which will be the focus of the second year.

Year 2

During the second year, fellows enjoy nine months of protected research time. As a T32 NIH training grant recipient for more than 30 years, our PCCM division is committed to providing the time, tools, and mentoring required to launch a research career.

Fellows maintain their clinical acumen by:

• Rotating as senior fellow on the Consult service
• Directing the fully-staffed nighttime ICU team
• Continuing to progress in their procedural skills by participating in more complex procedures with our IP faculty
• Maintaining their ambulatory continuity clinic.

All second year fellows present their work at national meetings during this year. There is also opportunity to pursue further training in areas of education, administration, or research at one of the University’s graduate schools, starting during this year of training.

Year 3

Third year of fellowship is a hybrid of clinical work and scholarship. Fellows jump back into the ICU, serving as “pre-Attending” by running rounds, supervising residents, and conducting family meetings, all under the supervision of a Faculty intensivist. They also “pre-attend” on Pulmonary Consults and hone their procedural expertise with our IP faculty, participating in advanced interventional techniques such as endobronchial balloon dilation, ablative therapies (cryotherapy and argon plasma), airway stenting, and endobronchial valve placement.

Ample opportunity is available to rotate on electives, such as anesthesia (including participation in the Difficult Airway Response Team), cystic fibrosis and ECMO.

Finally, third year fellows wrap up their scholarly projects with the goal of publishing in a peer-reviewed journal and, for many, of applying for funding for future research. Fellows who are interested in research-based career paths can choose to continue on for a fourth year, where they are junior faculty clinically yet have considerable protected time for research.

Class of 2022

Lijo Illiparamabil, MD

Residency / Stony Brook University Hospital
Hometown / Alleppy, India

URMC was the place that really put all that together. Because it is the regional academic center, we see a lot of complex and diverse disease, but we also see people from a lot of different backgrounds and have the privilege of learning their stories. On top that after meeting people I met on my interview day I knew I would have great mentors not only clinically but from a research stand point.

Meet our Fellows

One of the greatest assets to being here is that there is so much opportunity to sculpt my future. Whether I choose to be a researcher, a clinician, or someone in between, I know that the program and the people here will support me and help me grow in that direction.”