The Interventional Pulmonary Advanced Practice Provider Fellowship is currently on hold. Please check back for updates. 

​The Section of Interventional Pulmonology (IP) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) is offering an Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Fellowship for new and experienced APPs who are interested in a 1-year specialty training experience with a focus on critical care.

The APP Fellowship is designed to provide the APP with the skills and knowledge needed to care for complex airway and pleural diseases. The IP medical fellowship at BIDMC started in 2000.  In August 2012, the BIDMC and MGH IP programs agreed to merge to create the Harvard Interventional Pulmonary Program. These two teaching institutions have a long-standing devotion to education and training the next generation of physicians and APP’s. In 2021, we introduced our first APP Fellowship focusing on training nurse practitioners and physician assistants specialized acute care skills.  

Target Learner:                 Advanced Practice Provider (New or experienced)
Duration:                              1 year
 
Requirements: 

• Prepared Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (NP) or Physician Assistant (PA) 
• Current MA state licensure 
• Valid prescriptive authority from both the MA DPH-DCP and Federal DEA 
• Nurse Practitioner – National Credentialing either American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) or American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) 
• Physician Assistant – National Credentialing National Commission on Certification of Physicians Assistants (NCCPA) 
• American Health Association – Basic Life Support  

• American Health Association – Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support 

 
Goals and Objectives for Training
 
The Harvard APP IP Fellowship is designed to provide the trainee with the necessary tools to collaborate with and strengthen a multidisciplinary Interventional Pulmonary program. 

• Within the first three months the APP fellow can expect to have completed a comprehensive orientation on how to manage pleural disease, complex airway, and multidisciplinary thoracic oncology clinic patients 
• During the second half of the fellowship the focus will shift to procedural related competencies, supported by our state-of-the-art simulation center
• The fellowship program has very close ties with Thoracic Surgery, Pulmonary Medicine, Critical Care, Oncology and Chest Radiology and so the multidisciplinary approach to patient care is emphasized. Observerships will be available through several departments depending on the Fellow’s interest  

• During the year, the APP fellow will participate on an investigator initiated (clinical/animal lab) industry sponsored trial. The expectation is that the APP fellow will gain understanding of how these trials are designed, implemented and actively participate in a current clinical trial

 
Teaching staff

Interventional Pulmonary at BIDMC: 

• Adnan Majid, MD, Director, IP 
• Jason Beattie, MD, Staff Physician
• Mihir Parikh, MD, Staff Physician 
• Chenchen Zhang, MD, Staff Physician
• Molly Trachtenberg, AGACNP-BC 
• Lauren Burke, FNP-C
• Rachel Willwerth, FNP-BC

 
 Educational Program – Basic Curriculum/Scope of the Program
 
Clinical Services: Inpatient, Outpatient and Operating Room Observership
 
1. Complex Airway Program: BIDMC serves as regional and national referral center for patients with malignant and benign airway disorders. The entire scope of endoscopic interventions including rigid bronchoscopy, photodynamic therapy, laser therapy, argon plasma coagulation, cryotherapy, stenting, etc. are offered.  

Evaluation of patients with:  

• Post-intubation and post-tracheostomy complications 
• Airway manifestations of systemic disease (Granulomatosis with polyangiitis, relapsing polychondritis, sarcoidosis, fibrosing mediastinitis, etc.)
• Chronic airway prosthesis (Airway stents, Montgomery t-tubes, tracheostomy tubes) 
• Tracheobronchomalacia 

 
2. Pleural Disease Program: At BIDMC nearly all medical patients with pleural diseases are evaluated and treated by the IP service at some point in time. We offer medical thoracoscopy, ultrasound guided thoracentesis with pleural manometry, tunneled pleural catheter, and chest tube placement as procedures for the management of pleural disorders.  

Evaluation and treatment of patients with: 

• Recurrent and symptomatic pleural effusions  
•  Complicated pleural effusions/empyema 
• Primary, secondary, and iatrogenic pneumothoraces  

3. Advanced Diagnostic Bronchoscopy: At BIDMC we perform navigational bronchoscopy including robotic and electromagnetic, narrow band imaging (NBI) and image guided TBNA through CT fluoroscopy or EBUS (radial or linear) on patients referred for challenging diagnostic or staging purposes.  
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• Evaluation of patients with thoracic malignancies and in a multidisciplinary fashion
• Procedure planning for diagnosis and staging of thoracic malignancies
• Diagnostic techniques for evaluation and treatment of patients with malignant airway obstruction and hemoptysis

 
4. Bronchial Thermoplasty Program: BIDMC is one of the few centers in New England performing bronchial thermoplasty for patients with severe, persistent asthma who remain symptomatic despite maximal medical treatment. 
 
5. COPD Clinic: As part of a multidisciplinary clinic along with Pulmonary Medicine, Thoracic Surgery and Thoracic Radiology the IP service at BIDMC is one of the few centers in New England performing endoscopic lung volume reduction and industry sponsored trials for patients with chronic bronchitis.    
 
Research Aspects: 
 
IP related and medical device development research is an important aspect of our program. Collaborations with many manufacturers and device developers exist. This means that several clinical trials are ongoing at any time. The opportunity will exist for the APP IP fellow to be actively involved in IP related research and present results in conferences and peer reviewed journals. 

A sample of current and newly added clinical trials include:                    

• Ablative techniques for chronic bronchitis
• Navigational guidance systems for diagnosis of lung nodules
• Tracheomalacia pathogenesis and treatment
• Basic and Advanced Pleural Procedures

 
Participant’s Supervisory:  
 
APP Fellows are always supervised by a staff member during all procedures.  
 
Procedural Requirement: 

• Chest Ultrasonography 
• Thoracentesis with pleural manometry 
• Chest Tube Insertion  
• Chest Tube Removal  
• Tunneled Pleural Catheter Insertion  
• Tunneled Pleural Catheter Removal 
• Bronchoscopy – Airway surveillance/Bronchial alveolar lavage  

• Tracheostomy management 

 
Didactic Components:

• Weekly Interventional Pulmonology Core curriculum lecture series
• Weekly Thoracic Surgery core curriculum
• Weekly Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology conference
• Every other week research conference
• Monthly multidisciplinary airway conference which alternates with pleural disease and journal club 
• Educational courses: 
  1. Introduction to Interventional Pulmonology: Yearly in December
  2. Introduction to Bronchoscopy and Pulmonary Procedures: Yearly in July
• Simulation Center – Monthly

• Morbidity and Mortality Rounds

 
Evaluation:
 
The program director will perform a formal evaluation of the clinical, educational, and research performance of the fellows monthly for the first 3 months followed by quarterly evaluation. In addition, the fellows’ performance will be continuously monitored and evaluated by all the staff members daily. 
 
Application Process:

• One position is offered every year
• Interested individuals should submit a CV with a personal statement and 2 letters of recommendation

• Interviews will be offered pending review of applications

Molly Trachtenberg, AGACNP-BC

Lauren Burke, FNP-C

Rachel Willwerth, FNP-BC