Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship Program
About Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship Program
Welcome to the Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine at Lankenau Medical Center. Our fellowship program provides a unique opportunity for high-level training in pulmonary and critical care medicine. Our program is comprised of six fellows, with two fellowship positions offered per year. Our high faculty-to-trainee ratio offers our fellows a superior educational experience, while our broad range of patients provides exposure to all areas of pulmonary and critical care medicine. The philosophy of our division is to provide the highest level of care to our patients through the practice of thoughtful evidence-based medicine, while maintaining a strong personal connection to our patients and their families.
In addition to the close interaction with faculty in the Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, our fellows will also have the opportunity to interface directly with faculty and trainees in other subspecialties of internal medicine as well as with faculty from thoracic, cardiac, general, neurosurgery, emergency medicine, radiology, pathology, anesthesiology, and neurology.
Lankenau Medical Center is a 370-bed community-based academic medical center with a strong emphasis on education and research. At Lankenau, we pride ourselves on the respectful collaboration between physicians of different specialties and all members of the health care team, and we are committed to ensuring advanced medical education for our trainees as well as our faculty, which allow us to fulfill our mission of providing outstanding care to our patients.
Learn more about Diversity, Respect, Equity & Inclusion at Main Line Health
Application process
All applicants interested in training at Lankenau Medical Center in the Pulmonary Disease & Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Our program only accepts applications through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) system. We begin reviewing the applications in July and interview applicants September through October. The deadline for receiving your completed application is September 30. We participate in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP).
All applications must include:
- ERAS common application form
- Three letters of recommendation
- Personal statement
- Medical school dean’s letter and medical school transcripts
- USMLE scores step 1, 2, 3
- COMLEX scores level 1, 2, 3
- Board scores if applicable
- ECFMG certificate (if applicable)
Contact information
For additional questions or concerns, please contact:
Briana Tangney
Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship Program Coordinator
tangneyb@pulmonologyassociates.com
Pulmonology Associates
Lankenau Medical Center
100 East Lancaster Ave
MOB West Suite 230
Wynnewood, PA 19096
Phone: 610.642.3796
Research
Our division has an active clinical and basic science research program focusing on the study of lung cancer and the study of Mycobacterium avium complex pulmonary infection. In collaboration with the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, we have received grant funding for these and other projects. Our pulmonary & critical care faculty engage actively in various clinical research projects on COPD, pulmonary vascular disease, lung cancer, and critical care medicine. In addition, our sleep medicine faculty have ongoing research projects investigating various aspects of sleep medicine. We have a research nurse coordinator on our staff who works actively with the faculty and fellows in the organization of research projects and data collection.
Research program
Fellows are introduced to ongoing research activities during the first year of their training. During bimonthly research conferences, our faculty discuss ongoing research protocols and help fellows to explore ideas for new projects. Each fellow selects a research area and mentor(s) from among the faculty of the Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, Sleep Medicine, or the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research. With the assistance of their research mentor(s), fellows prepare and present a research proposal at the beginning of the first research year. Fellows receive guidance during their research training from their individual mentor(s) and from the fellowship program director. Fellows are strongly encouraged to apply for individual national fellowship research training awards from the National Institutes of Health or other agencies, and are guided in this process by their research mentor(s). Fellows are expected to discuss their research projects and data periodically at our bimonthly Divisional Research Conferences, to present their work at local and national scientific meetings, and ultimately to submit their results for publication in the peer-reviewed biomedical literature.
Current & Past Research Projects
Fellowship QI Projects
- Optimization of post cardiac arrest care
- Minimizing ventilator time and sedation dosing in the ICU
- Increasing adherence to guideline of LDCT lung cancer screening
- Utilizing robotic navigational bronchoscopy to expedite time to diagnosis and surgical resection in early stage lung cancer
- Detecting the presence of aspiration in intubated ICU patients with VAP
Clinical Research
- I-SPY COVID: Testing novel drugs or drug combinations to treat COVID-19
- Sub-Phenotypes of ARDS using Rapid prospective Classification (SPARC):
- An Observational Study
- A phase 1/2 clinical trial of invariant natural killer T cell therapy in moderate-severe acute respiratory distress syndrome
- Screening from High Frequency Malignant Disease (SHIELD)
- Harbinger Health Collection of Blood and Tissue Samples from Cancer and Non-Cancer Subjects for Validation of a Novel Blood-Based Multi-Cancer Screening Test (CORE-HH: Cancer ORigin Epigenetics – Harbinger Health)
- Investigational LPA1 Antagonist Reduces Rate of Lung Function Decline in Progressive Pulmonary Fibrosis Cohort of Phase 2 Study
- Pulmonary Embolism – Thrombus Removal with Cather-Directed Therapy (The PE-TRACT Trial)
- FlowTriever for Acute Massive Pulmonary Embolism (FLAME)
- End-tidal CO2 in Patients with Pulmonary Embolism: Correlation with Risk Severity and Reduction in Clot Burden, Pulmonary Hypertension, and Right Ventricular Function in those Treated with Catheter-Directed Therapies Compared to Anticoagulation Alone
- Detection of Aspiration in Patients with Mycobacterium avium complex Pulmonary Infection
- A Structured Educational Program for Patients Regarding Measures to Reduce Environmental Exposure to Nontuberculous Mycobacteria- Impact on Disease Control and Recurrence
Conferences
Summer Core Conference Series (7:30 – 8:30 a.m. Tuesday & Thursday)
A pulmonary & critical care lecture series occurs during the first three months of the academic year. A 12-week course comprised of basic topics in pulmonary & critical care medicine are presented by faculty members of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, & Sleep Medicine and other physicians outside of our division.
Pulmonary & Critical Care Core Curriculum (7:30 – 8:30 a.m. Tuesday & Thursday)
Weekly didactic lectures by Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine faculty and fellows, as well as invited speakers, covering key clinical topics in pulmonary disease and critical care medicine.
- Core Conferences: 32 pulmonary/12 critical care
- Board Review: 2-4 per month
- Case conferences: 2 per month
- Journal club: 1 per month
- Pulmonary/Pathology/Radiology conference: 1 per month
- Multidisciplinary lung cancer conference: 1 per month
- Sleep conference: every other month
- Research conference: every other month
- Multidisciplinary hospital-wide conferences: Medicine Grand Rounds, Harmonious consultation, Morbidity & Mortality, Infectious disease, Multidisciplinary Fellow Conference, Research
Faculty and fellows
Learn more about the Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship Program's Faculty and Fellows.
Curriculum
Fellows will fulfill the required rotations in the medical intensive care unit, surgical and cardiothoracic intensive care unit, and pulmonary consultation service, as well as trauma, radiology/pathology, sleep and pulmonary function testing/pulmonary rehabilitation under the direct supervision of the Pulmonology Associates faculty. Elective rotations will be offered during the third year of fellowship. In addition, fellows will have a weekly outpatient continuity clinic during which they will follow a panel of patients throughout the three years of their fellowship. A total of nine months will be dedicated to research, during which time fellows will have the opportunity to develop a clinical research project with the supervision of our pulmonary & critical care faculty or work on a basic science research project under the mentorship of our faculty at the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research.
Pulmonary & Critical Care rotation schedule
Typical three-year training schedule
| Rotation | Year one | Year two | Year three | Total |
| MICU | 2 months | 2 months | 2 months | 6 months |
| CT/SICU | 2 months | 2 months | 2 months | 6 months |
| Consults | 3 months | 2 months | 1 month | 6 months |
| Trauma | 1 month | 1 month | ||
| PFT/Rehab/ Bronchoscopy | 1 month | 1 month | 1 month | 3 months |
| Sleep | 1 month | 1 month | Optional | 2 months |
| Pediatrics/Cystic Fibrosis | 1 month | 1 month | ||
| Elective | 2 months | 2 months | ||
| Research | 2 months | 3 months | 3 months | 8 months |
| Pulmonary Continuity Clinic |
1/2 day |
1/2 day |
1/2 day per week |
Pulmonary & Critical Care rotations
Pulmonary consult service: 6 months
The fellow will be responsible for inpatient pulmonary consultation, care, and follow-up on all patients during the assigned month at Lankenau Medical Center. The consult fellow will also have the opportunity to gain experience with inpatient procedures such as thoracentesis, chest tube insertion, and bronchoscopy. The consult team will often be made up of medical residents on elective rotation from Lankenau Medical Center and a medical student often from Thomas Jefferson University or Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Pulmonary attendings rotate on a weekly schedule and therefore the fellow will provide continuity of care but have the opportunity to interact and review care with several of our faculty. The consult service is active, often seeing between 4 to 10 new patients daily with 10 to 20 patients requiring follow-up daily. Over the course of the three-year fellowship, it is anticipated that the fellow will assume greater responsibility and independence.
Medical intensive care unit (ICU): 6 months
The fellow will be responsible for all patients assigned to our 32-bed medical intensive care unit service. The ICU team is made up of two upper year medical residents, four first year residents, and one medical student. Our ICU attending faculty rotates on a weekly basis and therefore the critical care fellow will provide continuity of care, while having the opportunity to interact with several members of our attending staff. The Medical ICU team currently admits 2 to 8 new patients daily and averages a census of 15 to 20 patients. This demanding rotation often will require the fellow to work from 7 a.m.–7 p.m. Fellows gain exposure to bedside procedures including placement of central and arterial lines, chest tubes, bronchoscopies, intubations, and point-of-care ultrasound. Fellows are not required to take in-house call at this time. Once weekly night call is shared among all the fellows. Over the course of the three-year fellowship it is anticipated that the fellow will assume greater responsibility and independence in the care of the critically ill patient.
Cardiothoracic surgery/surgical intensive care (CT/SICU): 6 months
In addition to caring for critical care patients with prolonged hospitalization and gaining exposure to ventilator weaning and tracheostomy care, the fellow will be assigned provide pulmonary & critical care consultation in the 16-bed Cardiothoracic & 13-bed surgical/trauma ICUs for two months each year. Fellows will also have the opportunity to observe thoracic surgical cases in the operating room with our thoracic surgical attendings. During this month, the fellow will gain additional experience performing intubations with the anesthesia department.
Pulmonary function lab/bronchoscopy/pulmonary rehabilitation: 3 months
The fellow will have one month each year assigned to this rotation. The fellow will be responsible for reading all pulmonary function tests performed during the month. A defined required exposure to exercise testing and airway reactivity testing will be met. A required reading list ensures adequate review of principles of pulmonary physiology. The fellow will also work with the interventional bronchoscopy team to gain more experience with advanced diagnostic and interventional bronchoscopy. Our robust lung cancer program performs over 900 bronchoscopies each year and provides our fellows with extensive training in procedures such as conventional bronchoscopy, EBUS, robotic navigational bronchoscopy, and interventional bronchoscopy.
Sleep rotation: 2-3 months
The fellow will have one month in the first two years devoted to sleep medicine. This experience will take place in the outpatient clinic where the fellow co-manages and assists the sleep medicine attendings in the care of patients with a variety of sleep disorders. Fellows will be expected to thoroughly understand sleep apnea equipment and how to monitor the effectiveness of treatment. Core lectures will be given during the bi-monthly sleep conferences. A required reading list ensures adequate review of principles of sleep apnea and sleep medicine.
Trauma: 1 month
During the first year of training the fellows will spend one month in the acute care surgical ICU at Lankenau Medical Center. The fellow will be assigned to the clinical care team and serve as a medical core resource for the trauma team. The goal of the rotation is to gain further experience in the care of the complex trauma patient with specific experience in utilizing various modes of mechanical ventilation.
Pediatrics/cystic fibrosis: 1 month
During the second fellowship year, a pediatric rotation will provide the fellow with a variety of pediatric experiences. Time will be spent at the multidisciplinary Cystic Fibrosis Clinic at Nemours AI Dupont Children’s Hospital. The afternoons will be organized as a series of outpatient clinic experiences in pediatric allergy, pediatric ENT, and cystic fibrosis. Fellows also have the option to spend time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Lankenau to gain exposure to high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) and high-frequency jet ventilation.