Mission

The current NCC PCCM Fellowship program aims to provide an outstanding clinical and educational experience in pulmonary disease, multidisciplinary critical care, and sleep medicine, with additional training in research and academic medicine. Our mission is to produce clinical and academic leaders in our field with the goal of optimizing care for DOD beneficiaries.

Vision

Our goal is to develop you as a Physician and an Officer to best fit your career goals. If you are interested in Clinical Practice, Operational Medicine, Teaching/Academic Leadership, Command Leadership, Advanced Bronchoscopy or Research we will set you up with the mentors and connections in the Maryland/Virginia/D.C. area to achieve your long term career goals.

Aims

• The NCC Pulmonary and Critical Care fellowship aims to educate and mentor military physicians who will treat conditions of the respiratory system, especially of the lungs for military personnel, veterans and their dependents in an empathetic, intelligent and efficacious manner.
• Prepare physicians to practice in an operational environment with specific focus on low resource and trauma medicine.
• Create academic, clinical and operational leaders through an intensive career development curriculum.
• Foster cooperation with civilian counterparts with an integrated academic and clinical regional curriculum.

Our program participates in combined regional academics with our eight fellowship partners (to include John’s Hopkins, National Institute of Health, Georgetown University, University of Maryland and more).

New Fellows

1st Month

Combined academics with the fellows from other programs to include ventilation lab, ultrasound simulation, intubation and chest tube practice to ensure that all fellows start their training with a baseline clinical and procedural skill level.

2nd Month

An “Introduction to Walter Reed” block consisting of two hours of introductory lectures and two hours of Pulmonary Clinic with one-on-one with staff to familiarize you with the program's operations while allowing a half day of protected study time for Internal Medicine Boards in August.

3rd Month and Beyond

Transition to weekly academics with 1-2 lectures given by a regional expert to all fellows in the D.C. area in addition to a traditional case based lecture series.

13 four week blocks a year with a focus on Pulmonary for the first two years including sitting for Pulmonary boards in Year 3.

• Advanced Lung Disease/Transplant: Inova Fairfax
• Interventional Pulmonary: Georgetown, Inova Fairfax
• Pulmonary Consults (Zebras): National Institute of Health
• Cardiac ICU: Inova Fairfax, Washington Hospital Center
• Trauma Airway Month: Baltimore Shock Trauma
• ECMO: Inova Fairfax, Washington Hospital Center
• Burn Center: Inova Fairfax
• Academic Teaching: Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences
• Executive Leadership: Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
• Research: Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

Inpatient (ICU) months consist of six 12 hour shifts a week which may day or night. There are 4-5 weekend calls/year outside of ICU rotations. As fellows serve in a supervisory role and don’t write clinical notes, inpatient call becomes very predictable shift work.

We have a Quarterly Officer Development Lecture series where we discuss clinical topics such as low-resource medicine or field trauma response exercises but also discuss non-clinical topics such as how to Set-up/Lead a Bronchoscopy suite or ICU. We also have an Executive Medicine Rotation for those interested in command leadership opportunities. Currently, Core Faculty include Walter Reed’s Medical Director for Healthcare Operations, Deputy Director for Medical Services, Chief of Medicine and Assistant Chief of Medicine.

• 1st Year Fellow:
  • July Summer Education Block (combined fellowship training as mentioned above)
  • August Clinical Introduction to Walter Reed
  • January Winter Education Block
• LEAD 2.0

We have a two floor simulation center at Walter Reed with access to a Ventilator Lab, Bronchoscopy and advanced Bronchoscopy simulators, Point of Care Ultrasound and Echocardiogram Simulations, and all Chest tube and Line set ups. We participate in monthly simulated patient scenarios for Point of Care Ultrasound practice with two American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography Board Certified Ultrasound Pulmonologists. We also participate in quarterly simulated complex clinical scenarios to include battlefield trauma.

We have a Quarterly Officer Development Lecture series where we discuss clinical topics such as low-resource medicine or field trauma response exercises but also discuss non-clinical topics such as how to Set-up/Lead a Bronchoscopy suite or ICU. We also have an Executive Medicine Rotation for those interested in command leadership opportunities. Currently, Core Faculty include Walter Reed’s Medical Director for Healthcare Operations, Deputy Director for Medical Services, Chief of Medicine and Assistant Chief of Medicine.

We partner our Research Efforts with Inova Fairfax’s Advanced Lung Disease clinic and with the National Institute of Health Sciences. There are four full Professors of Medicine and six Associate Professors of Medicine on the core faculty staff at Walter Reed. Although many fellows have had numerous publications upon graduation, requirements for graduation is one abstract presented at a National Conference, such as American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) or American Thoracic Society (ATS).

There is ample opportunity for quality improvement projects at Walter Reed both in the clinical and academic settings. Currently, the Chief Fellows have an ongoing Internal Medicine Rotation curriculum which they are using for all visiting GME.

We have a Quarterly Officer Development Lecture series where we discuss clinical topics such as low-resource medicine or field trauma response exercises but also discuss non-clinical topics such as how to Set-up/Lead a Bronchoscopy suite or ICU. We also have an Executive Medicine Rotation for those interested in command leadership opportunities. Currently, Core Faculty include Walter Reed’s Medical Director for Healthcare Operations, Deputy Director for Medical Services, Chief of Medicine and Assistant Chief of Medicine.

• Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
• Alexander T. August Military Medical Center (Previously Fort Belvoir Community Hospital)
• Johns Hopkins Healthcare Center
• National Institute of Health Sciences
• University of Maryland
• Baltimore Shock Trauma
• Georgetown University Medical Center
• Inova Fairfax
• Forrest Glenn Joint Pathology Center
• Washington Hospital Center
• Suburban Medical Center

Medical Students

Medical students can rotate though the MICU, Inpatient consults service, and outpatient clinics as part of their sub-I rotations or as part of their core curriculum blocks. Medical students are given a comprehensive experience with patient encounters, bedside education, participating in our academic sessions, and informal didactics from one of our twelve academic faculty. Medical students are encouraged to participate in patient care and are often given opportunities to learn advanced pulmonary procedures to include bronchoscopy, chest tubes, vascular access, and thoracentesis. To schedule a rotation, contact dha.bethesda.Walter-Reed-Med-Ctr.mbx.gmerequests@health.mil.

Residents

Residents rotate through the medical ICU as part of their core rotations and can rotate through the inpatient and outpatient service as an elective. On the inpatient service, residents assist with the busy inpatient service and often perform pulmonary specific procedures to include thoracentesis, chest tube, intrapleural catheters, and bronchoscopy. Residents are considered an integral part of the inpatient service and are exposed to a wide variety of pulmonary diseases, procedures, and education. On the outpatient side, residents perform the initial evaluation of new consults under the guidance of a fellow and faculty.

Be yourself! Before interviewing for any position you should reflect on your career and life goals and decide what you want from a clinical and military perspective.

Program graduates take the American Board of Medicine Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine exams. This exam is offered annually. To become fully board certified, applicants are eligible to take board certification exam 3 months following graduation. To be eligible to take specialty board exams, graduates must complete all pre-requisites required by the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine by September 30th. To read more about general requirements please refer to the official website.

Fellows have the opportunity to formally teach medical students, residents and Physician and Nursing staff. Our fellows participate in the USUHS medical school pre-clinical teaching Cardio Pulmonary Renal block, to include helping with small groups, lectures and testing. Our fellows serve as procedural and ICU experts in training evolutions for incoming Interns, IM residents, deploying staff, and COVID training modules. Our fellows also serve as faculty for the Limited Resource and Fundamentals of Critical Care Science faculty courses.

There are four full Professors of Medicine and 6 Associate Professors of Medicine on the core faculty staff at Walter Reed. We have two faculty members who are board certified in Interventional Pulmonary, and two ARDMS POCUS Ultrasound certified faculty members. We have three faculty members certified in ECMO. Currently, Core Faculty include Walter Reed’s Medical Director for Healthcare Operations, Deputy Director for Medical Services, Chief of Medicine and Assistant Chief of Medicine.

We utilize a Formal Mentorship program pairing fellows with like minded mentors designed around four career tracks:

• Clinical/Interventional Pulmonary
• Academic Leadership/GME
• Command Leadership
• Operational

Weekly Pickleball tournament after academics, Quarterly Program Parties, Monthly Outside of Hospital Journal Club.