Graduate Medical Education

The National Capital Consortium offers subspecialty, fellowship training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The fellowship is a three-year program open to Army, Navy, and Air Force Medical Corps officers who have completed a residency in Internal Medicine. The program is accredited by the ACGME and is approved for up to 5 fellows per year.

The program is organized to provide a comprehensive exposure to pulmonary medicine and multidisciplinary critical care. Fellows are exposed to all aspects of Pulmonary Medicine across a wide range of patient demographics. Highlighted areas include asthma, deployment related dyspnea, cystic fibrosis, sarcoidosis, and evaluation and staging of lung cancer. Through rotations at area centers, fellows also develop expertise in pulmonary hypertension, tuberculosis, and evaluation and care of lung transplant candidates and recipients. The NCC PCCM Program houses an active interventional pulmonology practice. Fellows typically graduate with well over 100 bronchoscopies, including training in endobronchial ultrasound. Interventional procedures including peripheral radial ultrasound and electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy are utilized regularly in the PCCM Department. We offer endobronchial recanalization therapy using laser, electocautery, brachytherapy and stenting. We routinely perform rigid bronchscopy and offer both silicone and metal stenting procedures for benign and malignant diseases. Patients with pleural disorders also have access to the latest technology in indwelling catheters, chest tubes, and pleuroscopy. Fellows also do several rotations on the sleep disorders service.

The critical care experience occurs both at WRNMMC and at various centers throughout the area, allowing for broad exposure to multidisciplinary critical care. This includes rotations in both the WRNMMC Medical and Surgical ICU caring for military beneficiaries and wounded warriors. These rotations are supplemented with rotations through the NIH ICU, Washington Hospital Center Surgical ICU, Maryland Shock Trauma ICU, Suburban hospital ICU, and Fairfax hospital or Johns Hopkins neuro ICU, providing exposure to a diverse group of patients, diseases, and healthcare settings. Ample opportunities for elective rotations also exist.

One half-day a week is reserved for academic conferences, including journal clubs, board review sessions, review of pathology slides, and updates in important pulmonary and critical care topics. The highlight of the academic curriculum is the weekly clinical-radiology management conference. The academic calendar is augmented by one-on-one teaching sessions and case supervision with attending physicians. The program's faculty is comprised of highly qualified, board certified pulmonary and critical care specialists with varied areas of interest. Fellows participate in scholarly activity, and are allotted protected time for research. All fellows present research or case reports at a national meeting at least once during their fellowship.