From the Program Director
Welcome to the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship! We hope this site will give you a sense of what makes our program special.
We are one of the few rural academic medical centers in the country. We are uniquely located in northern New England and care for roughly 2 million patients living in New Hampshire and Vermont. It is not unusual for patients to travel more than 50 miles to seek medical care at Dartmouth. Our Case Mix Index, a measure of the acuity of illness in patients, is equivalent to academic urban tertiary care centers.
Our program provides a very broad clinical exposure. In addition to our general pulmonary care, we are very proud of our multidisciplinary programs in pulmonary vascular disease, interstitial lung disease, pleural disease and thoracic oncology. Fellows spend a majority of time caring for critically ill patients in the medical ICU, but also care for patients in the surgical, cardiovascular and neurologic ICUs. They also have an opportunity to rotate in the cardiovascular ICU with one of our cardiac intensivists. With only 2 fellows per year, there are countless opportunities for fellows to work individually with faculty on research projects or to gain additional experience in an area of specific clinical interest.
In addition to traditional bedside teaching, fellows have an opportunity to participate in classroom teaching with preclinical medical students. Our fellows serve as small group leaders in the respiratory medicine course for Dartmouth medical students. This not only provides our fellows an opportunity to hone their small group teaching skills, it also provides a strong incentive to hone their understanding of respiratory physiology and pathophysiology, which are integral to the practice of pulmonary and critical care medicine.
Fellows can also take advantage of The Dartmouth Institute earning a tuition-free MPH though the Leadership and Preventative Medicine Residency. This is a great opportunity for individuals interested in quality improvement and the systems through which we deliver care.
The Upper Connecticut River Valley, known locally as the Upper Valley, is a unique place to live and it's one of the things that attracts many people to the area and then entices them to stay. There's an abundance of recreational opportunities, and despite the relatively rural location, there are many cultural opportunities either through Dartmouth College or other local organizations.
Our program will help you build your career through outstanding clinical experiences, research opportunities and academic mentorship. We're thrilled that you're considering us for the next stage of your training! Please explore our website and see what we have to offer.
Sincerely,
Jeff Stewart
Program Director, Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
From the Section Chief
My journey to Dartmouth has been a long one. I applied here for internship and knew immediately this is where I wanted to practice medicine. It took me 27 years to get here, but I finally made it.
It is a rare gift to be able to practice state-of-the-art medicine in proximity to such a wonderfully rich outdoors environment. Though the setting is certainly conductive to an active and nature-filled lifestyle, it is my colleagues in pulmonary and critical care medicine, as well as throughout the medical center that make Dartmouth such a special place. We have an outstanding and diverse faculty with interest ranging from bench research, COPD, pulmonary vascular disease, interstitial lung disease, medical education, clinical informatics, thoracic oncology and interventional pulmonology.
Our collaboration with the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College and the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice enables us to capitalize on the expertise and perspective of those who have different training and experiences, including basic scientists and policy makers. Our fellowship is tailored to provide outstanding clinical and research training with enough time to attend the many conferences offered in our section as well as throughout the medical system.
As section chief my, top priority is to ensure the success of our faculty and fellows. We wish you all the best during your fellowship application process and your future career in pulmonary and critical care medicine.
Sincerely,
David Feller-Kopman
Section Chief, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
Click below to learn about Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and graduate medical education.