Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship at Hackensack University Medical Center
Welcome Message from the Program Director
Welcome to Hackensack University Medical Center’s Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship.
Thank you for your interest in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellowship program here at Hackensack University Medical Center. We have a long history of training excellent practitioners as a site for rotating fellows.
Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) is a major 775 bed academic institution serving a large and diverse population. It is the tertiary referral center for an 18 hospital health care system. We have a strong academic foundation with our own Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, as well as medicine and surgery residencies and a growing list of fellowships. Our division has an amazing group of core faculty with a strong commitment to education and dedication to the success of our fellows.
We have an opportunity to train fellows at the highest level in both pulmonary and critical care medicine. Some highlights of our critical care program include an advanced airway training course. This course is essential as all intubations of critically ill patients are performed by our intensivists. We also have a comprehensive training program using our state of the art simulation lab with emphasis on leading codes, RRTs, and managing various dynamic clinical challenges. We also provide a comprehensive advanced ultrasound and echo course which is followed by ongoing feedback on image acquisition and interpretation of studies performed by our fellows. Additionally, we continue to advance our ECMO program. All vvECMO cases are now being managed in our MICU, which is another great learning opportunity for our fellows.
The pulmonary experience is equally robust. Our fellow’s continuity clinic, where fellows are exposed to an extremely diverse population, has cases ranging from the extremely rare pathologies to your typical pulmonary cases. We have a very dynamic advanced bronchoscopic program with a host of diagnostic and interventional capabilities. Since the John Theurer Cancer Center is on site, we also specialize in managing complex lung cancer cases as well as a broad exposure to other malignancies or the treatments that cause pulmonary disease. These cases are uniquely challenging with a broad consideration made to establish a comprehensive differential diagnosis.
Coupled with an excellent academic foundation and a large tertiary care center, we offer a very broad training environment as well as a strong commitment to research with an impressively growing list of publications. Overall our program offers a broad, well rounded and comprehensive experience to train world class fellows. Best wishes and good luck on your journey,
Keith Brenner, M.D.
Pulmonary Section Chief
Fellowship Program Director, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Program Overview
Program Mission:
It is the mission of the Hackensack University Medical Center Pulmonary Critical Care Fellowship Program to educate physicians to have a compassionate, cognitive, scholarly, relationship-oriented approach to the care of patients. The fellows and faculty are committed to expanding the knowledge and practice of the discipline of Pulmonology and Critical Care. Furthermore they are committed to bringing that innovative understanding to the bedside in a humanistic manner. Our fellows are prepared to serve and learn from the engagement of underrepresented minority populations among students, faculty, staff, and the community. The fellowship creates an environment that fosters life-long learning and innovation in the service of patients.Program Aim:
At the completion of your fellowship training, fellows should:
- Possess the medical knowledge and clinical skills to independently provide competent care to patients with medical conditions commonly encountered by pulmonologists in outpatient and inpatient settings.
- Possess the medical knowledge and clinical skills to independently provide competent care to patients in the critical care setting.
- Demonstrate a commitment to excellence in patient care that includes advocating for their patients’ needs, helping their patients navigate through the health care system and coordinating their patients care among multiple disciplines.