Fellowship Curriculum and Training


The eBay Clinical Fellowship in Pulmonary Vascular Disease is a post-doctoral fellowship devoted exclusively to clinical training in pulmonary vascular disease. 

Curriculum

Fellows receive formal didactic teaching throughout the fellowship. Informal, bedside teaching also routinely takes place on themes pertinent to patient care and by faculty specializing in basic science, translational research and clinical education. Additionally, fellows undergo extensive training in the cardiac catheterization laboratory with the goal to become certified in right heart catheterizations by the end of the fellowship.  Our bi-weekly Grand Rounds in Pulmonary Hypertension series exposes trainees to experts in the field from both within and outside of the Stanford Community. Fellows are also encouraged to attend multiple other Stanford-hosted lecture series as well as one formal national or international conference related to pulmonary vascular disease during their fellowship. Finally, eBay Fellows are actively mentored in the realm of clinical translational research and are with the expextation of producing research worthy of conference recognition and publication.

Clinical Responsibilities

The pulmonary hypertension service cares for a sizeable and rapidly growing population of patients with pulmonary vascular disease. eBay Fellow responsibilities related to the pulmonary hypertension practice include:

Participation in weekly pulmonary hypertension clinics. The clinics provide initial evaluation, education and continuing treatment of patients with pulmonary vascular disease. Patients are also frequently evaluated for inclusion in new and ongoing clinical trials.

Inpatient management of pulmonary hypertension patients. Key components of this include: right heart catheterization, initiation and maintenance of drug therapies, care of acutely ill patients on the inpatient pulmonary hypertension service and in the cardiac intensive care unit, coordination of transfer of our patients into Stanford University Medical Center from outside hospitals, serving as a daily consultant to patients with some form of pulmonary vascular disease admitted to other services, and the bridging of appropriate patient candidates to transplantation.

Teaching

eBay Fellows encounter teaching opportunities with fellows and residents in a number of disciplines, including Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Cardiology, Transplantation, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Rheumatology, Pediatrics and Internal Medicine. The eBay Fellow is responsible for the coordination of all clinical case conferences in pulmonary hypertension and is frequently asked to make presentations to housestaff and faculty. Fellows are expected to display superior communication skills in the care of patients as well as in formal and informal presentations and in their written work. They are expected to participate in selected educational activities of the Vera Moulton Wall Center, the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, the Division of Cardiology, the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, and the Department of Bioengineering.

Furthermore, fellows may be invited to present topics on a regional or national level at a conference or meeting. These opportunities are usually very valuable in the realms of experience and career development.

Research

Opportunities for both bench and clinical research are ample. The research component of the fellowship largely depends on the trainee’s interests and level of experience. Each eBay fellow is expected to pursue and complete at least one research project during his/her fellowship with the expectation that the completed project will be submitted for publication or presentation. eBay Fellows pursuing a combined clinical and research program will be expected to complete two years of training. Funding will be provided for the first year and fellows will then be expected to apply for grant funding for salary and project support for the second year of training. There are established research collaborations between the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, the Division of Pediatric Cardiology, the Division of Biomechanical Engineering, and the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery. Research which builds on these collaborations is strongly encouraged.

Our research programs are closely linked in terms of exchange of information, data, and knowledge and include four primary areas of focus: cell biology, experimental models of hypertensive pulmonary vascular disease, clinical investigation of pulmonary vascular disease, and the development of biomechanical models to simulate pulmonary vasculature and flow. Research opportunities, however, are not limited to this list. Individuals with advanced research training are particularly encouraged to pursue their own work in addressing questions relevant to pulmonary vascular disease. Additional grant funding may be available to support meritorious research projects initiated by the eBay fellow.


The Wall Center Team

The clinical fellowship program of the Vera Moulton Wall Center is a unique collaboration between the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, the Division of Pediatric Cardiology, the Lung/Heart-Lung Transplantation Program, the Children's Heart Center, the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and other designated services and programs at Stanford University Medical Center and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. More 

The Wall Center team functions as a close alliance between attending physicians, fellows, social workers, clinical managers, and adult and pediatric nurse practitioners. The nurse practitioners are the "front line" for outpatient referrals, follow-up, and administrative and financial issues. The clinical social workers provide psychosocial assessment and support of all patients and participate actively in patient education on a monthly basis.  Interacting with all members of the team, the fellow is an integral component and receives exposure to all aspects of care for pulmonary hypertension patients.  The PH program was one of the first programs to receive designation as a Center of Comprehensive Care (CCC) from the Pulmonary Hypertension Association.  A designation which goes only to centers which achieve the highest lefel of patient care compined with excellence and teaching and research.

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