Pain Fellowship Reviews

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My interview experience at MD Anderson...

MD Anderson is a huge cancer center in the world-renowned Texas Medical Center in Houston. It is located in a nice area is easily accessible. No compensation for airfare/hotel. Traffic is not very heavy so possibly no problems getting here the morning of your interview.
The atmosphere is modern, clean, and cultured. Large marble fixtures, clean cobblestone walkways, all the works... Very impressive.
Started the interview day early, was greeted by program coordinator. Very professional. Was handed an itinerary. They were prepared to interview me and had done their research. The staff was very attentive and forthcoming.
I interviewed with the new Program Director, Dr. Hamid. Very nice and seemed sincere. I was able to interview with Dr. Ari, the past program director also. Dr. Burton was awesome. Speaking with him made me very excited about this program. Interviewed with about 8 faculty... A lot of interviews, but not at all stressful.
Lunch was very nice. In a restaurant in the medical center. A fellow took us to lunch and answered our questions. Seemed to like his choice alot and commented on performing alot of procedures there.
Conclusion: This program is procedure heavy (a big plus!). I think that you will do alot of floor work/consults here too. It is on the busier side, but will be great training though. The faculty are enthusiastic and friendly. Fellows seemed happy. The physical environment was impressive. Houston is hot, humid, and prone to floods. Being a typical Southern city, its a far cry from the cultural activities in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, etc... This program doesn't have a medical school that constantly rotates residents through the department, so its pretty much on the fellows to do the bulk of the scut(work). Dr. Hamid and Dr. Ari said that more nurses are being hired to help out, but I'm sure the fellows have to pick up alot of the gruntwork too at this huge cancer center. I think this program is a great training ground and recommend it.
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Calilove said:
This program doesn't have a medical school that constantly rotates residents through the department, so its pretty much on the fellows to do the bulk of the scut(work). Dr. Hamid and Dr. Ari said that more nurses are being hired to help out, but I'm sure the fellows have to pick up alot of the gruntwork too at this huge cancer center.
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I’d say it’s true that we do more inpatient consults than a lot of other places, but we also get a lot of procedures out of those consults, particularly vert/kypho. As for gruntwork, it’s nowhere close to the sort of devoid-of-educational-value stuff I did as an intern or resident. We have 5 midlevels (PA’s and APN’s) who handle 95% of the floor work. The fellows basically just see new consults and patients getting a procedure. The rest of the time is spent in clinic or the OR. Hope that helps clarify.
 
University of California - Irvine is a small university in Orange County. It is in a beautiful area and is clean inside/out. They are in the process of constructing a new center just in front of its current location.
The atmosphere is nice as mentioned and is about 30 minutes from L.A. Some areas are newly built, others have been around for a while. This includes the anesthesia offices. However, the people are very friendly here.
The interview morning started off with muffins, bagels, and juice. A powerpoint presentation by the interim program director was a nice change from the poor preparation during most pain fellowship interview days. He was forthcoming and seemed sincere. This program has 2 fellows. They recently hired some new attendings and are very busy now. The fellows work very hard here, but seem to be happy. One did comment that the days can be on the longer side here, but the call night was very easy. An anesthesia resident can cover most issues. The fellows do an adequate number of procedures here. They have a VA rotation that looks promising.
The interview day ended after lunch and tour, which showed off the flouro suites and clinics. These looked very nice.
In conclusion, this program is very small and can be busy at times. Faculty seem to be interested in research and are pretty active in that area. Call can be hit or miss, but sometimes you will need to come in from home. Being such a small fellowship can be stressful for only 2 fellows, but seems doable. The leadership seems to be in flux, an interim program director does not bode well for hiring new big-time staff to come in. That remains a huge drawback. The teaching staff consisted of attendings that had just completed their training pretty recently (within the last 5 years). Not to say the new ideas/concepts aren't good, but there is no substitute for experience. Experienced, published, well presented faculty can lend reputation to any pain fellowship. The fellowship at UC Irvine has a poor reputation because of deficiencies in this area. There is a possibility for improvement with the continued scientific research and enthusiasm of its young staff. The physical environment is nice and Orange County is fantastic to live in. However, this program will not lend the reputation or connections needed to easily attain interviews for jobs at the major medical centers in California or in other states. Also, having only two fellows can lead to too many problems with needed backup in case of family illness, etc. I could see that as a positive to doing alot of procedures, but a negative when it comes to on-call frequency and scutwork. For these reasons, I would not recommend this pain fellowship for those applicants with even a remote interest in an academic career...
 
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Are you guys interviewing for 2008 or 2009?I am CA-2 resident interested in pain fellowship.What's the deadline for applying for most of the universities???
 
let's reignite this thread. here's my review of mt sinai in new york. they take 3-4 fellows a year, and have 7 full time faculty. one is neuro and does mostly research - very big guy in pain research. one is pmr and has a niche in acupuncture, which fellows get some exposure to. the rest are anesthesia pain, and there's also a 3 man private practice they rotate with, all of whom used to be faculty here. services are divided into inpt acute, inpt chronic, and clinic/procedures. inpt services round and see consults, and acute is also responsible for thoracic epidurals for the or. there's an np on service who helps out a lot during the day. acute service is pretty robust - we handle all pceas, any pt who was a consult, and all peds pcas. fellows take call on a rotating sschedule a couple times a week, but you're only there till 10, at which point you hand off to the residents for overnight, and you get paid like you're moonlighting - $500 per call. on the subject, another ncie perk is that fellows can take attending ob call for $2000/24 hr. fellows come in on the weekends once a month and round sat/sun hand off to resident usually by 10 am.
procedures: there's a fluoro suite in the office, and somebodys doing procedures every day. probably 5-10 procedures/day scheduled, but they do get some noshows. once a wk or so there's sheduled procedures in pain procedure room in the ors - dedicated room staffed by anesthesia for sedation. they use this mostly for things like celiac plexus blocks, hypogatrics - slightly more invasive blocks and disc stuff. have been increasing the nmber of stims/pumps, working closely with neurosurg to grow this area of practice. overall, the numbers may be a little low, especially on discs/vertebroplasty, really getting better on pumps/stims, but the program is solid. may be too much inpt/scut for some people. attendings are all pretty good - there are 3 people especially who are young and very enthusiastic about making the program better. chance to work with the pp guys
 
olafa said:
Just curious what a pain fellow would be doing taking call for OB?:confused:
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Anesthesia-trained pain fellows taking OB anesthesia call, I would guess.
 
yes. obviously that option only exists for anesthesia-trained fellows, but we also have neuro and pmr folks here
 
im interested about doing a pain fellowship next year in usa
im finishing anesthesia in canada
is it extremely competitive for you guys to get a place??
is it paid??
waiting for answers!!
 
any info on the miami program or any of the florida programs?
thanks
 
Does anyone have any feedback on the pain fellowship at university of cincinnati. Any advice is helpful.
 
This is my review of the pain fellowship at Stanford University.

It is located in Palo Alto, which was a GREAT looking area with lots of great shops/restaurants. There is a very nice shopping mall right across the street from the main campus with alot of upscale stores.
The physical environment of the medical center is modern in appearance, with alot of areas newly built/state-of-the-art. Stanford's Pain Fellowship was awarded Center of Excellence status by the American Pain Society; one of six institutions in the United States. The medical center is adjacent to Stanford University's main campus which is as fantastic as you'd expect.

Upon my arrival, I met with the program coordinator, Bernadett Romo, and was introduced to all of the current fellows. Bernadett is very personable and makes you feel right at home. I was encouraged to ask the fellows anything about their experience so far. They had only been there a short time when I interviewed; but had only positive things to say about their fellowship when asked about breadth of clinical/procedural experience and call frequency. The fellows have their own cubicles with desktop computers. These are adjacent to the pain clinic. CA-1 residents rotate through the pain service also.

I interviewed with all of the current pain faculty, including Drs. Mackey and Gaeta, both awesome physicians that seemed larger than life with their history of involvement in research/medical advancement. They were so enthusiastic about this fellowship, its history and future. Dr. Mackey, the current chair, is awesome and is definitely about advancing pain knowledge through research. I was taken on a tour of the entire medical center by Dr. Gaeta, the immediate past chair. He was sooo easy to talk to, about medicine and life in general. The rest of the faculty were also very friendly and really down to earth.

Lunch was held at this very nice restaurant (i mean REALLY nice, i think filet mignon was on the menu) right on campus with one of the attendings. This was really laid back, and really a good time!

Summary: I almost hated for this interview day to end. My expectations for a top tier program like Stanford were really high and were all met during the interview. The physical environment was top notch, the interview was structured, the fellows were happy and well-trained, the attendings are intelligent and really cool people. The Pain Center is being recognized nationally (2008 Center of Excellence) for its achievements and truly lives up to what is expected. Stanford University's pain fellowship is one of the best in the country -definitely top tier.
 
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I started applying now and planning to finish submitting applications by the end of June.Am I too late in applying ???
 
Can anyone post an updated review for Texas Tech as there hasn't been one since 2004. Also does anyone have any information on Case Westerns program?
 
Buckeye Anes said:
Can anyone post an updated review for Texas Tech as there hasn't been one since 2004. Also does anyone have any information on Case Westerns program?
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It is a really good program. Unfortunately, if you didn't apply early its too late. Interviews will be given mid July and all candidates have been chosen.
 
Hi i wanted to know if any one has any info about the pain fellowship at university of kentucky, and info would be appreciated
thanks
 
Does anyone have any current info on the UCLA anesthesia dept. pain fellowship?

Thanks!
 
Hi;
Does any one has information about Pain fellowship at CCF, Ohio and their interview process. thanks
 
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mid|ine said:
The UCLA program is very good from what I hear. They interview and fill VERY early.
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Thanks for the info. What is the deal with having both Anesthesia and PMR pain fellowships? Are they both ACGME approved? I thought having 2 fellowships under one institution was out of style these days.
 
To be clear I was referring to the Anesthesia program, I dont know anything about the PMR program. I believe the PMR program is technically not at UCLA.
 
blocks said:
Thanks for the info. What is the deal with having both Anesthesia and PMR pain fellowships? Are they both ACGME approved? I thought having 2 fellowships under one institution was out of style these days.
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The PM&R program is through the greater Los Angeles VA hospital. We spend time at UCLA - mostly under the department of orthopedic surgery. We also have Dr. Prager(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Prager_(doctor), who was the director of the UCLA pain center before he went pseudo-private practice (although he still maintains a clinic at UCLA). We get our Anesthesia exposure through the VA anesthesiologists. We are ACGME accredited as is the Anesthesia pain fellowship at UCLA.
 
UCLA sounds like a powerhouse program with 2 great pain fellowships. A unique situation, thanks for the info guys.
 
Does anyone have any information on the pain fellowship at UTSW?
 
Does anybody have any opinion about the pain medicine fellowship at UPMC (University of pittsburgh)? Thanks
 
It is true that U. Pitt takes a diverse group of fellows including neuro,PMNR,Psy, and does not favor anesthesiology residents. However, this is not a bad thing. I am an anesthesiology resident myself and agree with this philosophy. They take 9 fellows a year and may only take a few anesthesiology residents.
 
powermd said:
Solid fellowship, definitely worth applying and interviewing at. I'm pretty sure they prefer 'Texans or other southerners.
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Thanks I was beginning to wonder if I could get any info on a program outside of california here.
 
Speaking of California programs....:cool:

I am applying this coming year and from what I can gather here Stanford and UCLA are 2 of the strongest. Anyone familiar with either or both programs would like to compare and contrast strengths and weaknesses? Didactics, interventional procedures, job opportunities in CA and the west after training there?

Just thought I would throw it out and see if anyone has the knowledge:idea:
 
Does anyone have any information on the quality of this PMR based pain fellowship program? I have heard various opinions in regards to the amount of procedural experience the fellow gets.....
 
Hi,

I am new to this forum; this is my first time to any forum.

Could anyone please give me some information about the UPENN and Emory pain fellowships; which one of these two fellowships do you guys think is better?


Thanks.
 
How is University of Michigan Pain program ?
 
The Miami program is not very good but possibly improving. Do your due diligence. You can do much better. USF in Tampa was a great place last i checked.

T
 
The following is my take on some of the fellowship programs I interviewed at

Texas Tech - Great program! Lots of procedures, big names, etc. People are very friendly and seem easy to get along with. Will see some of everything here. New clinic is amazing.
Drawbacks - Lubbock Texas, Not overly interdisciplinary

UTSW - MALIGNANT, be careful here! They actually handed out a 30 question multiple choice test at the beginning of the interview. One of the attendings actually made the comment that he wished they would do away with the interview process and go just by the numbers. Makes you wonder what they look for here.

Wake Forrest - Great program. True private practice setting with fellows. Lots of clinical research and bread and butter procedures. Very friendly attendings and staff. Head of program very well known nationally.
Drawbacks - Not at all interdisciplinary, Not a lot of advanced interventional procedures as it is a private practice group.

Maryland - Solid program. Lots of procedures. Great attendings. Will see a large variety of patients and cases here. Nice facilities. Will get good exposure to all disciplines of pain.
Drawbacks - Does not have the big name yet, however the new program director seems solid.

Loyola - Solid program. Good variety of cases and patients. The numbers aren't quite there yet but are growing. Attendings seem cool to work with. Somewhat interdisciplinary.
Drawbacks - Doesn't have the numbers quite yet but getting there.

Michigan - Dr Brummett(sp?) is awesome. Otherwise not too excited about this program. Not enough procedures for the number of fellows they have. Also they have to go to fricken toledo for one of their clinics. On the bright side for some PM&R is very well represented and has a strong presence in the department.

Case Western - Solid program. Should be called Cleveland Clinic junior as I believe 5 of the 8 attendings are from the clinic. Probably the strongest didactic program of any of the places I went with daily 6:45 conferences. Good variety of cases and patients. Good research available.
Drawbacks - Work out of 7 different sites spread all over cleveland, it is cleveland, and very little time for anything but work.

UVA - Very strong program. Great case and patient diversity. Several big names that are very nice and seem easy to get along with. Nice facilities. When on acute pain you only round on the chronic patients with acute issues (i.e. not an epidural service). Good research available. Overall friendly southern atmosphere.
Drawbacks - Depending on if you want to live in a college town I guess it's location could be a drawback.

Sorry no california programs.

As for USF - they lost their anesthesia residency about a year ago and the pain fellowship is now under the neurology department. A friend of mine went down there and said they seem to just be interested in a workhorse.

Hope this is in someway helpful and these were just my impressions.
 
Buckeye Anes said:
The following is my take on some of the fellowship programs I interviewed at

Texas Tech - Great program! Lots of procedures, big names, etc. People are very friendly and seem easy to get along with. Will see some of everything here. New clinic is amazing.
Drawbacks - Lubbock Texas, Not overly interdisciplinary

UTSW - MALIGNANT, be careful here! They actually handed out a 30 question multiple choice test at the beginning of the interview. One of the attendings actually made the comment that he wished they would do away with the interview process and go just by the numbers. Makes you wonder what they look for here.

Wake Forrest - Great program. True private practice setting with fellows. Lots of clinical research and bread and butter procedures. Very friendly attendings and staff. Head of program very well known nationally.
Drawbacks - Not at all interdisciplinary, Not a lot of advanced interventional procedures as it is a private practice group.

Maryland - Solid program. Lots of procedures. Great attendings. Will see a large variety of patients and cases here. Nice facilities. Will get good exposure to all disciplines of pain.
Drawbacks - Does not have the big name yet, however the new program director seems solid.

Loyola - Solid program. Good variety of cases and patients. The numbers aren't quite there yet but are growing. Attendings seem cool to work with. Somewhat interdisciplinary.
Drawbacks - Doesn't have the numbers quite yet but getting there.

Michigan - Dr Brummett(sp?) is awesome. Otherwise not too excited about this program. Not enough procedures for the number of fellows they have. Also they have to go to fricken toledo for one of their clinics. On the bright side for some PM&R is very well represented and has a strong presence in the department.

Case Western - Solid program. Should be called Cleveland Clinic junior as I believe 5 of the 8 attendings are from the clinic. Probably the strongest didactic program of any of the places I went with daily 6:45 conferences. Good variety of cases and patients. Good research available.
Drawbacks - Work out of 7 different sites spread all over cleveland, it is cleveland, and very little time for anything but work.

UVA - Very strong program. Great case and patient diversity. Several big names that are very nice and seem easy to get along with. Nice facilities. When on acute pain you only round on the chronic patients with acute issues (i.e. not an epidural service). Good research available. Overall friendly southern atmosphere.
Drawbacks - Depending on if you want to live in a college town I guess it's location could be a drawback.

Sorry no california programs.

As for USF - they lost their anesthesia residency about a year ago and the pain fellowship is now under the neurology department. A friend of mine went down there and said they seem to just be interested in a workhorse.

Hope this is in someway helpful and these were just my impressions.
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Great reviews, and thanks for such a list!
 
Wake Forrest - Great program. True private practice setting with fellows. Lots of clinical research and bread and butter procedures. Very friendly attendings and staff. Head of program very well known nationally.
Drawbacks - Not at all interdisciplinary, Not a lot of advanced interventional procedures as it is a private practice group.



What specifically are you speaking of when you say "advanced interventional procedures"?:confused:
 
Dread said:
Wake Forrest - Great program. True private practice setting with fellows. Lots of clinical research and bread and butter procedures. Very friendly attendings and staff. Head of program very well known nationally.
Drawbacks - Not at all interdisciplinary, Not a lot of advanced interventional procedures as it is a private practice group.



What specifically are you speaking of when you say "advanced interventional procedures"?:confused:
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Sorry I guess that was kinda vague. I just meant they did not seem to do a whole lot of kypho/vertebroplasty or discs and they did not seem to do a lot of stims or pumps. Again this was just my impression and I did feel that this was a Very good program.
 
panetrain said:
Sounds like you've been to a lot of programs. Which program did you choose?
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I chose the University of Maryland for a combination of personal and professional reasons and couldn't be happier.
 
drcal said:
Does anybody have any opinion about the pain medicine fellowship at UPMC (University of pittsburgh)? Thanks
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UPMC takes 9 fellows (yes GAS, PM&R, IM, etc). When I interviewed there I got the impression that they really prided themselves on being diverse and multidisciplinary in principle and meeting ACGME requirements. Hotel and dinner with several fellows was complimentary. 2 morning interviews at the Pain center. Then lunch and 4 afternoon interviews. The fellows seemed happy and APS/call responsibilites seemed reasonable. Weekend call is Q9 wks. You rotate at several sites and work with multiple attendings. I didn't get a feel for the number or scope of procedures done. They do have both early and regular decision deadlines if offered a spot. From what I saw, Pittsburgh and the UPMC system were more that adequate.




JFD said:
Hi,

I am new to this forum; this is my first time to any forum.

Could anyone please give me some information about the UPENN and Emory pain fellowships; which one of these two fellowships do you guys think is better?


Thanks.
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UPenn takes 3 fellows. Dr. Ashburn came over as chair 1 year ago and has an impressive resume. 1 morning interview at HUP. Short cab ride over to newly refurbished Pain center that houses the clinic and OR. Tour, lunch with fellows, and 4 afternoon interviews. Fellows rotate between clinic, OR, electives, APS, palliative care. Home call every 3rd Thurs and weekend rounds every 3rd Sun on catheters. Daily didactics start ~7:30am. Lots of research opportunities. Nice steady flow of patients, not overly busy. Fellows report great exposure to procedures (incl. stims/pumps/IDET). Pretty popular area in Philly, you could even make due w/o a car.




Bonus Review:
Penn State Hershey - takes 3 fellows (current class 1 each of GAS, PM&R, IM). 4 interviews throughout the day with the various attendings (2 GAS & 2 Neuro trained). Main rotations thru Pain clinic that has a fluoro suite, interdisciplinary spine clinic, and dedicated OR day ~1x/wk depending on attending schedule. On-call every 3rd wk from home overnight plus weekend rounds on catheters. Structured weekly didactics and injection sessions on spine model. Very nice atmosphere, Hershey is about 90min from Philly & B-more.
 
Question: how much does name vs. quality of experience of fellowship factor in for private practice jobs? If I want to be in the western USA, should I be thinking MGH and Hopkins, or UCLA and Stanford? Is there a difference in opportunities between, between MGH and say Emory?

What if you are not that interested in doing a lot of research as a fellow and just want to be a very well trained physician? It's clear all programs will prepare you very well to be a quality private practice pain physician, but I would be interested in hearing the opinions of those out there in the real world.
 
blocks said:
It's clear all programs will prepare you very well to be a quality private practice pain physician ...
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Really? I have NOT found that to be the case.
 
ampaphb said:
Really? I have NOT found that to be the case.
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I guess I wasn't being clear. By all, I was speaking of good prgrams I cited like UCLA, Stanford, MGH, Hopkins, and Emory. Have you not found that to be the case? yes I do know that not all programs in the country prepare you for private practice.
 
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just a few thoughts.

I agree, not all pain fellowships are created equal. Look for opportunities to specialize in things that interest you: i.e., cancer pain, palliative care, vertebral procedures, stims, (yuck)pelvic or abdominal pain, etc... Emory gave up a lot of its interventions to the PMR department several years ago and now fellows vie to rotate through that department. not alot of stims were done 2 years ago and VERY little IT pumps or cancer pain, though there was a lot of promise that it could happen...

also important for fellowships: how well connected are your attendings in the world of private practice pain? this can help you get your first job.
also nice: are there more than 2 fellows... this can help when all are looking for positions, and helps with early networking.
 
Does anyone know anything about U of Washington's interview and fellowship?
 
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