LECOM Health and Allegheny Health Network Introduce New Pulmonary/Critical Care Physician Training Program for Western Pennsylvania.
LECOM Health, through its teaching hospital Millcreek Community Hospital (MCH), and Allegheny Health Network are working together to prepare new physicians to meet the critical care needs of patients with severe respiratory and related illnesses.
MCH recently received approval for an accredited fellowship program in Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine from the American College of Osteopathic Internists and the American Osteopathic Association. The program is being operated in conjunction with two teaching hospitals within the Allegheny Health Network, Saint Vincent Hospital and Allegheny General Hospital.
This expands the joint post-graduate medical education programs between MCH and St. Vincent. MCH Internal Medicine residents currently train with attending physicians at both hospitals. These are the first of a number of joint physician training programs that the two health systems are anticipating for their teaching hospitals as they work together to prepare and keep physicians in western Pennsylvania.
Respiratory diseases, including lung infections, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are leading causes of illness, hospitalization, disability and death in the United States and across the globe. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute estimates nearly 250,000 Americans die each year from a severe respiratory illness and millions more are admitted to hospital critical care programs.
The new LECOM Health Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship is a three-year program for physicians who have completed an AOA-accredited Internal Medicine Residency. Fellows will rotate at all three hospitals throughout their training. Pulmonary medicine focuses on the causes, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases affecting the lungs and related organs. Critical Care medicine involves the diagnosis, management and prevention of complications in patients who are severely ill and who usually require intensive monitoring and/or organ system support.
The program leaders for the Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship Program are MCH pulmonologist and Program Director Gary Esper, DO; St. Vincent pulmonologist and Assistant Director Jorge Mercado, MD; Allegheny General Pulmonologist and Fellowship Director Anil Singh, MD; and St. Vincent Pulmonolgist Stephen Kovacs, DO.
Millcreek Community Hospital has 97 post-graduate physicians enhancing patient care in regional hospitals, physician offices and clinics, while furthering their education as residents and fellows.
MCH residencies include: Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, ENT, Ophthalmology, Orthopedic Surgery, Pharmacy, Podiatry and Psychiatry. MCH fellowships include: Gastroenterology, Geriatrics, Integrative Medicine, OMM, Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Sports Medicine.