Fellowship Training in Sleep Medicine

The Sleep Medicine fellowship is an ACGME-accredited interdisciplinary program based in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine. We have a strong affiliation with the Sleep and Chronobiology Research Program and the clinical sleep medicine program in the Department of Psychiatry. We also collaborate with faculty in the Departments of Pediatrics, Neurology, Otolaryngology, Psychology, and Nursing.

The pre-requisite for entry into the program is completion of training in internal medicine, psychiatry, neurology, pediatrics or otolaryngology. Although we are based in a pulmonary medicine program, pulmonary fellowship training is not a requirement for entry into the sleep medicine program.

The mission of the Sleep Medicine Training program is to train academic physicians in Sleep Medicine. The fellowship period is one year. Fellows interested in additional research training may be accommodated depending on availability of funds. We will take 2 sleep medicine fellows for July, 2008.

Educational and training opportunities encompass all aspects of Sleep Medicine, including sleep disordered breathing, insomnia, parasomnias, circadian rhythm disorders, and the interactions between sleep and sleep disorders in medical and psychiatric illness. We encourage fellows to “customize” their training with elective experiences that will enhance their clinical skill development.

Training venues include outpatient clinics at the UPMC Sleep Medicine Center in the Comprehensive Lung Center and sleep disorder clinics at the Oakland VA Medical Center and the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Fellows also see inpatient consultations, and read sleep studies at each of the laboratories associated with the outpatient clinics. Elective training experiences can be set-up in other areas for interested fellows. Weekly didactic lectures and a multidisciplinary sleep medicine grand rounds/research conference complement the clinical training. The clinical training program is accredited by the ACGME and will lead to board eligibility in Sleep Medicine.

Research is expected of all trainees. Areas of current interest include:

• the role of intermittent hypoxia in sleep apnea and vascular disease risk
• sleep apnea, metabolic processes, and the pathogenesis of type II diabetes mellitus
• rodent models of sleep apnea and cardiovascular and endocrine dysregulation
• health service studies examining racial and ethnic disparities in sleep apnea
• relationship between obesity and sleep-disordered breathing
• role of psychological stress and sleep
• functional brain imaging of sleep and sleep disorders
• insomnia assessment and treatment
• sleep in post-traumatic stress disorder
• evaluation of novel methods in the diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea

To review the research activities of the Sleep Medicine Faculty, click here. Collaboration with the Department of Psychiatry's Sleep and Chronobiology Research Program, the Neuroscience Clinical and Translational Research Center, the Pittsburgh Mind - Body Center, the Obesity and Nutrition Research Center, and other UPMC research programs is also available.

Timeline

Completed applications and supporting letters should be at our office by November 1, 2007.  We will notify you about interviewing after receiving your application.

For further information, contact: