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Fellowship Program in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is Chicago’s largest university with over 25,000 graduate and undergraduate students and over 3,000 faculty members. The UIC Medical Center grew out of the College of Physicians and Surgeons that was founded in 1881. In 1913, the college became the university's College of Medicine at its current site on the west campus. UIC’s east campus was built in the latter half of the twentieth century. Today the medical school is the largest in the nation. More Illinois physicians have graduated from UIC than any other medical school; nearly 1 in 6 Illinois physicians were trained on the UIC campus. UIC has more medical alumni than any other American university. UIC ranks in the top 50 universities in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and has assumed a place among the nation’s top universities in many areas of research and clinical training.
Facilities
The Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellowship program at the  University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is carried out mainly at 3 institutions: UIC Medical Center, Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, and Mercy Hospital and Medical Center.
UIC Medical Center and the Jesse Brown VA are located in the West Side Medical District of the UIC campus. Mercy is located about 4 miles from the District on 2525 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago.
The university hospital is a tertiary care medical center that serves as the primary teaching hospital for the program. The section of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep and Allergy directs the combined medical-surgical intensive care unit. The section also provides consultative services to the cardiac intensive care unit, stem cell and solid organ transplantation unit, and the neurosurgical intensive care unit as well as to inpatients and outpatients on all adult services. The section runs several outpatient pulmonary, allergy, and sleep clinics on the UIC campus. The Center for Sleep and Ventilatory Disorders, which opened in 2007 and has modern monitoring equipment, is administered by the section which coordinates a multi-disciplined management of patients with sleep disorders. The pulmonary function laboratory and bronchoscopy suite are fully equipped to perform routine and specialized studies.
The Jesse Brown VA Medical Center serves as an integral part of the fellowship program. The new luxuriant state-of-the-art medical intensive care unit is under the direction of the section. The section also provides services to surgical intensive care patients as well as inpatient consultations and outpatient services. The pulmonary function laboratory and bronchoscopy suite are equipped to perform all routine and specialized tests.
Mercy Hospital and Medical Center is a large community teaching hospital that is an integral part of the training program. Fellows care for patients in a combined medical-surgical intensive care unit. The pulmonary function laboratory is equipped to perform routine and specialized studies. The program also provides inpatient pulmonary consultations.
A level-1 trauma rotation is also completed at Christ Hospital, another large teaching hospital. Other institutions are available for elective experiences.
Work at these institutions exposes fellows to a large variety of patient populations with an array of respiratory and critical care problems. UIC Medical Center is a tertiary-care center that serves patients with rare and complicated diseases as well as common respiratory problems. A large number of patients with lung cancer and obstructive lung disease are seen at the Jesse Brown VA, whereas immunocompromised patients and a relatively younger patient population are encountered at UIC. The Sleep and Ventilatory Disorders Center at UIC Medical Center provides for many referred patients with sleep disorders, including patients as young as 12.
The Faculty
Of the 29 faculty in the section, 17 are pulmonary and critical care attendings,  1 is an anesthesiologist-internist, 1 is an allergist-internist, 2 are pulmonary pathologists, and 8 are PhD faculty. Many faculty outside the section are also closely connected. The Center for Lung and Vascular Biology is directed by Dr. Asrar Malik (Chairman, Department of Pharmacology) and Dr. John Christman (Section Chief, Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep and Allergy). Dr. Usha Raj, (Chairman, Department of Pediatrics) is a pulmonary neonatologist and lung vascular biologist. There are additional close links to the School of Nursing and School of Public Health, as well as the departments of Bioengineering, Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Pathology, and all the divisions of the Department of Medicine. Together, the UIC faculty offers a diverse set of interests in medicine and research that ranges from basic to clinical translational research.
Description of the Program and Rotations
The Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine training programs are completely integrated. The three-year period is divided between pulmonary medicine, critical care medicine, and research, with mandatory rotations in sleep and trauma. There are 12 fellows in the program, four per year. For fellows interested in an academic career, one to two additional years are available, and recommended, for advanced research training in basic science or translational clinical science.
Pulmonary Consultations: Fellows plays a central role in the diagnosis and consultative management of patients. Each fellow performs more than 100 pulmonary consultations and 100 bronchoscopies during the clinical fellowship. During these rotations fellows participate in an array of physiologic evaluations. They develop expertise in performing and interpreting routine as well as specialized tests such as exercise testing, indirect calorimetry, and bronchial provocation.
Critical Care Medicine Rotation: Fellows spend at least one year in the intensive care units, where they serve as the "junior attendings." They are involved in all diagnostic and therapeutic procedures performed by the critical care team. The fellows develop proficiency in the ventilator management of critically ill patients and procedures, such as placing right heart catheters, central lines, and chest tubes, using ultrasound, and performing bronchoscopies on ventilated and critically ill patients. The fellows lead a team of house officers that include internal medicine and emergency medicine interns, second- and third-year anesthesia residents and second- and third-year internal medicine residents. The fellows have considerable teaching responsibilities for residents and students rotating through the ICU as well as giving lectures, research seminars, and journal clubs to the whole division.
Sleep and Ventilatory Disorders Center: The Center for Sleep and Ventilatory Disorders is a unit of the section. It specializes in both adult and pediatric sleep disorders. Fellows refer patients to the center from their outpatient clinics or during their rotations in inpatient consultation services, and they are expected to review the polysomnograms with the center specialists. Fellows generally spend one month per year on a sleep rotation seeing outpatients with sleep disorders as well as interpreting polysomnograms. Fellows may carry on research at the closely allied Center for Narcolepsy, Sleep and Health Research. The sleep fellows are also involved in the interpretation of a high throughput sleep apnea screening program that is based at the Jesse Brown VA.
The Trauma Rotation: This occurs in the second year at Advocate Christ Hospital Trauma Center. It gives fellows an opportunity to carry out a number of invasive procedures and manage acute trauma events. Electives in other areas are available in a variety of fields related to Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine including Anesthesiology, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Allergy, and Occupational Medicine.
Outpatient Services: UIC Medical Center and the Jesse Brown VA have weekly pulmonary clinics. Fellows are assigned to a half-day clinic per week at one of these institutions. Although all fellows have a university clinic, some may alternate weeks with the VA clinic. Their activities are supervised by teaching attendings. Fellows are expected to discharge their inpatients to their clinics for longitudinal care. TB Clinic: Fellows may also attend a half-day clinic at a Chicago Department of Health Tuberculosis Clinic for additional exposure to the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis in adults and children under the supervision of Dr. William Clapp.
Research: The fellows are expected to join a research group early in their training, develop a research project under the supervision of a faculty member, and complete their project before the end of their training. Ideally each fellow should have one year of research time during the three-year program. Fellows are encouraged to have 1-2 additional years of training, if they are planning on an academic career. The section holds an active physician scientist T32 training grant from the National Institutes of Health that supports an integrated program in either basic or clinical translational research.
Conferences
Disease-Oriented Clinical Conference: These are designed to cover the diseases specified within the curriculum over a three-year period. Lectures are given by multi-disciplinary faculty.
Case Conference: Diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to pulmonary, critical care and sleep patients are discussed in detail along with the relevant literature on a weekly basis.
Principles of Practical Pulmonology Conference: This weekly conference is a core series of basic procedures and skills followed by basic physiology and topics not related to a specific disease.
Medical-Surgical Case Conference: This weekly conference discusses potential surgical patients among pulmonologists, oncologists, thoracic surgeons, and pathologists.
Pulmonary and Critical Care Research Conference: This weekly conference is held from September through May and covers all aspects of research. Emphasis is on basic and clinical translational work in progress.
Clinical and Translational Research Methods Intensive Summer Course: This is a week-long course held in July and covers the fundamentals of carrying out clinical research.
Biology and Pharmacology of the Lung Graduate Course: This course is held during the fall semester and covers the physiologic basis of normal and diseased lung states.
Other Conferences
The Department of Medicine holds many weekly conferences that fellows should try to attend. These include Medical Grand Rounds, the Morbidity and Mortality Conference, the Ethics Conference, and the Autopsy Conference.
The Pulmonary and Critical Care fellows are also strongly encouraged to join professional societies and attend national meetings. Every fellow is encouraged to attend at least one national conference annually.
There are many outstanding regular research conferences that fellows are encouraged to attend as well if they are interested in a particular area.
Amenities
Chicago is a world-class city with much to offer in many areas, including outstanding museums, cultural events, dining, night life, and professional sports. It is home to many corporations and has ethnic accommodations for almost everyone. The Medical Center is just three miles from the Loop and is easily accessible by car or public transportation. City and suburban commuting is convenient because UIC is borders the Kennedy, Dan Ryan, and Eisenhower Expressways and is close to the Stevenson Expressway. There is regular shuttle bus service within the campus and to the train stations serving the suburban areas. Visiting and Living in Chicago
The esprit is high among the fellows. Opportunities for graduates are excellent. The Chicago Illini Union, located in the medical complex houses athletic facilities, including a gymnasium, a running track, racquetball courts, and an Olympic-sized pool for the students and staff.
For additional information please contact:
Dean Schraufnagel, MD
Director, Fellowship Program
Section of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep & Allergy
Department of Medicine (MC 719)
University of Illinois at Chicago
840 South Wood Street
Chicago, Illinois 60612-7323
(312) 996-8039
schrauf@uic.edu
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