Interventional Pulmonology Fellowship Program

Rotations:  

July TBD: Orientation (if outside applicant)  

July TBD: Procedural Simulation/Familiarization  

Key Workshops:  

Interventional Pulmonary Bootcamp July 10-11  

August 1-September 30: Interventional Pulmonology  

October 1-15: General Thoracic Surgery  

Oct 16-January 31: Interventional Pulmonology  

February 1-15: Thoracic Surgery  

February 16-June 15: Interventional Pulmonology  

June 16-30: Out-process   

Daily Schedule:

During the course of this one-year fellowship trainees will become familiar with the indications, alternatives, complications, and performance of the following procedures:  

• Advanced bronchoscopy (diagnostic and therapeutic):   
  • Rigid bronchoscopy  
  • Endobronchial ultrasound (radial and convex probe)  
  • Navigational bronchoscopy

• Endobronchial ablative therapies:
  • Laser  
  • Electrocautery  
  • Argon plasma coagulation  
  • Cryotherapy  

• Airway stents silicone, (silastic/metallic/dynamic Y/hybrid)  
• Balloon tracheobronchoplasty  
• Bronchial thermoplasty  
• Procedures for pleural disease:
  • Thoracic ultrasound  
  • Thoracentesis  
  • Tube thoracoscopy/pleural catheter, nontunneled  
  • Tunneled pleural catheter  
  • Medical thoracoscopy with or without pleural biopsy

While the one-year Interventional Pulmonology fellowship program does not allow a substantial research commitment from the IP fellow, some scholarly work and academic production is expected and should consist at a minimum of one presentation at an international conference and one manuscript submission to a peer-reviewed journal.

In addition, the IP fellows will be expected to actively participate in the numerous IP-related industry- and investigator-initiated trials.   

Weekly IP case conference: A case conference every Wednesday, during which educationally relevant cases will be presented by the IP fellow to the IP faculty and other interested faculty and fellows from the division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care. Pulmonary and Critical Care fellows will be invited as well. Three to four cases will be presented over an hour with review of the relevant literature and discussed by the IP fellow.  

Thoracic tumor board: Every Tuesday at noon 

Weekly IP core curriculum conference (30 minutes): This conference will be organized by the IP faculty and will be designed to cover the IP core curriculum during the duration of the IP fellowship. 

Pulmonary Grand Rounds: This Monday noon conference is a showcase for completed research by the faculty. The conference also features speakers from other divisions and departments within the University and guest speakers from outside Vanderbilt. The one-hour meeting typically includes presentation of research results, discussions of experimental design and methods, and suggestions from the audience for future studies.  

Journal Club: This regularly scheduled Wednesday morning meeting of fellows and faculty is designed to review new and or controversial scientific findings and to teach trainees methods for evaluating scientific literature. Discussions follow a brief organized presentation of the paper for discussion. 

Pulmonary Fellows' Case Conference: In this weekly Thursday afternoon conference, the fellows present the most interesting and difficult recent cases as unknowns, after which the faculty and fellows discuss differential diagnosis, diagnostic approach, and treatment options. This conference is very popular among the housestaff and practitioners from the community, as well as among the faculty and fellows.

Applicants for the Interventional Pulmonology Fellowship program must have completed a three-year training program in pulmonary and critical care medicine and be eligible or certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine.  

All applications must be received through the AIPPD application System. This ensures consistency of documentation and makes review even and fair.  

Applicants must come from ACGME-certified, U.S. pulmonary and critical care fellowship programs.  

Applicants are invited to interview based on review of the following criteria:  

• Letters of recommendation  
• Research experience (including publications)  
• Personal statement  
• Additional degrees (including PhD and MPH degrees)  
• USMLE/COMLEX scores 
• Awards and honors (including selection for chief residency, AOA)  

Applications are reviewed by both the program director and the assistant program director to determine whether to invite an applicant for an interview. In cases of uncertainty, the division director is asked to provide guidance.  

Applicants who complete the interview process are evaluated in writing by all faculty with whom they interview and scored using a standard system applied to all interviewees.  Fellows who have worked with or helped entertain applicants are invited to submit comments.  

At the completion of the interview season, interview scores are averaged, and applicants are discussed at a faculty wide ranking session. A final scoring from all faculty who participate in the ranking session is used to rank applicants for the match.  

The final rank list may be modified by the program director and division director based on the availability of additional data, such as outside faculty phone recommendations and priorities/needs of the program/division. The final rank list is submitted to the National Resident Match Program in accordance with their policies.  

Contact us:  

Michael Beasley 
Fellowship Program Coordinator
michael.t.beasley@vumc.org 

Matthew Aboudara, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine

Sameer Avasarala, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

James Katsis, MD, Assistant Professor at Rush University Medical Center  

Robert Lentz, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

See Wei Low, MBBS, Assistant Professor of Medicine, The Cleveland Clinic

Jasleen K. Pannu, MBBS, Assistant Professor of Medicine, The Ohio State University