|
The Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep and Allergy section at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) offers a full array of services for patients, referring physicians, and fellows. Situated in the heart of Chicago, the section provides excellent patient care, quality education, and an environment of inquiry with innovative basic and clinical research. Twenty-nine clinical and research faculty members are responsible for a broad range of activities.
The section directs the Medical Intensive Care Unit service at the University of Illinois Medical Center and the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center and also rotates at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center. The ICU services overseen by a multidisciplinary team that include an attending intensivist physician, a pulmonary and critical care fellow, critical care (CCRN) nurses, a doctor of pharmacy (PharmD), respiratory therapists (RRT), and social and chaplain services. The critical care team has primary responsibility for all aspects of patient care and conducts daily bedside rounds and extensive didactic teaching. Fellows, residents, and students working on these MICU rotations carry out technical procedures including ventilator management, cardiopulmonary monitoring, and placement of central lines under the supervision of the attending physician. Our section also staffs the Surgical Intensive Care Unit and consults on the Neuro and Cardiothoracic ICUs at the UIC Medical Center.
Both the UIC Medical Center and Jesse Brown hospitals support busy pulmonary inpatient consultation services and a robust outpatient practice in pulmonary and sleep medicine. Patients with a variety of respiratory and sleep-related illnesses come to UIC for an expert opinion and care in a variety of both common and unusual illnesses. Our section conducts several clinical studies in which patients can be involved. Areas of expertise and academic interest include: alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency, asthma, bronchiectasis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), interstitial lung disease, scleroderma-related lung disease, sleep apnea, tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases.
In addition to the experience and exposure to all forms of pulmonary disease, fellows and residents learn the performance and interpretation of physiologic pulmonary function tests including spirometry, static lung volumes, pulmonary exercise testing, and bronchial challenge testing. Under supervision of attending physicians, fellows see patients on the pulmonary consultation service and in the Ambulatory Care Clinic at UIC Medical Center and the Jesse Brown VA. A well-equipped and busy sleep lab provides service for patients and referring physicians, and learning opportunities for fellows. Pulmonary fellows also have an opportunity for extensive public health experience in the treatment of patients with latent and active tuberculosis in the city of Chicago tuberculosis clinics and at the ambulatory, inpatient pulmonary, critical care and sleep rotations. Clinical electives are available to fellows in a variety of fields and at other hospitals.
In addition to the clinic activity, fellows develop a supervised research program with one of the section's scientists in either basic science or clinical research. Research interests of the faculty include animal and cellular models of acute lung inflammation (e.g. ARDS and severe sepsis), molecular mechanisms of alveolar and airway inflammation, macrophage and neutrophil cellular biology, epidemiology of asthma and occupational lung disease, use of  nanoparticles for delivery of anti-neoplastic drugs, basic and clinical aspects of sleep-disordered breathing and sleep apnea, clinical trials in interstitial lung disease, ARDS and severe sepsis, pulmonary vascular disease, and asthma.
For fellows committed to pursuing an academic career, we encourage a fourth or fifth year of fellowship devoted exclusively to research. Fellows can obtain a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree during their fellowship. The section has a variety of teaching methods that are primarily focused on one-on-one, patient-centered activities and Conferences.
|