About the Program

This one-year fellowship training program is aimed at providing a comprehensive exposure to all aspects of advanced diagnostic, therapeutic, and palliative procedures in pulmonary medicine. At this time, we are able to offer only one position per year.

Our philosophy is to instill a deep understanding of the pathophysiology and the decision making that underpins the procedures for lung cancer diagnosis and staging, management of benign and malignant complex airway disease, and pleural disease. There will be formal didactics as well as opportunities to attend clinical presentations and educational conferences.

The fellow’s training will occur at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and the adjoining James Cancer Hospital. The James is a world class twenty-one story Comprehensive Cancer Center that integrates Interventional Pulmonary (IP) in the care of its patients. This provides our fellows with unsurpassed clinical exposure and state-of-the-art resources to practice IP.

Hear from a former Interventional Pulmonology fellow about her experience at Ohio State

Clinical and Procedural Training

Clinical training will involve patient evaluation of presenting complaints, assessment, and formulation of treatment plan and patient follow-up. The fellow will also be afforded the opportunity to care for patients seen in our Interventional Pulmonary Clinic.

We treat a high volume of patients with benign and malignant airway, lung, and pleural diseases. The fellow will be trained in a vast array of interventional pulmonary procedures used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. All four IP faculty are experienced educators who are board certified in IP and trained at top IP centers across the country. Their broad experiences enrich the trainings of our fellows.  At the start of each academic year, there will be an opportunity for hands-on simulation training for some of the complex procedures used such as rigid bronchoscopy.

Curriculum

Scholarly Activity
 
The fellow will be given one day per week to formulate and work on scholarly pursuits. The fellow is expected to participate in a scholarly activity project and to present a research abstract or slide presentation at a national meeting. The fellow will receive a monetary allowance to help offset the expenditures (i.e. registration, travel, room, etc.) associated with this presentation. The fellow is expected to submit at least one manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal prior to completing fellowship training. 
 
Curriculum
 

  1. Advanced diagnostic and therapeutic flexible bronchoscopy
    1. Electromagnetic navigational bronchoscopy
    2. Cone beam CT
    3. Robotic Bronchscopy
    4. Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) – TBNA
    5. Narrow band imaging
    6. Auto fluorescence bronchoscopy
  2. Therapeutic Bronchoscopy
    1. Rigid bronchoscopy
    2. Complex airway management
    3. Management of benign and malignant airway obstructions
    4. Micro endoscopy (cellvizio)
    5. Nd-Yag laser
    6. Spray cryotherapy (TruFreeze)
    7. Argon plasma coagulation
    8. Electrocautery
    9. Photodynamic Therapy
    10. Contract cryotherapy
    11. Endobronchial brachytherapy
    12. Balloon bronchoplasty
    13. Metallic and silicone airway stent placement (flexible and rigid)
    14. Bronchial thermoplasty
    15. Endobronchial valve placement
    16. Foreign body retrieval (with rigid or flexible bronchoscopes)
    17. Interpretative skills and use of 3D CT images in airway management
  3. Percutaneous tracheostomy and management of chronic tracheostomies
      >Pleural Procedures (Medical Thoracoscopy) for pleural biopsy and pleurodesis
    1. Management of benign and malignant pleural diseases
    2. Indwelling tunneled pleural catheter placement
    3. Use of pleural manometry
    4. Thoracic ultrasound in managing pleural disease

Didactics: formal lectures, journal club and conferences

Formal didactics will occur at least once per month. Other learning opportunities include case conferences (including literature review), IP research conferences, IP Journal Club, and a joint journal club with the Pulmonary-Critical Care Medicine Fellowship program.

The fellow is expected to participate and attend in the weekly Multidisciplinary Tumor Board Conference. This conference is well attended by thoracic surgery, interventional radiology, oncology, radiation oncology, pathology and interventional pulmonary.

The fellow is expected to participate in the monthly Multidisciplinary Airway Conference. This conference is well attended by the following disciplines: thoracic surgery, interventional radiology, oncology, radiation oncology, pathology, and interventional pulmonary.

The fellow is also expected to participate in the bimonthly Multidisciplinary Airway Conference. This conference is well attended by thoracic surgery, ENT, and interventional pulmonary.

Our Faculty

Nicholas Pastis, MD – Clinical Professor and Program Director

Dr. Pastis trained in Interventional Pulmonology at the Medical University of South Carolina and spent the majority of his career in medical education serving as a fellowship program director and in national leadership positions on pulmonary procedure work groups. His research has focused on novel training techniques and device development for pulmonary procedures.

Christian Ghattas, MD – Assistant Professor and Associate Program Director

Dr. Ghattas trained in Interventional Pulmonology at the Harvard combined IP program (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital). His clinical focus is on minimally invasive methods of diagnosing and staging lung cancer, central airway obstruction, and pleural disease. He has a particular interest to treat patients with benign diseases that could benefit from therapeutic bronchoscopy for COPD, severe asthma, and post lung transplant. He also has a passion in medical education and training.

Alberto Revelo, MD – Assistant Professor Clinical

Dr. Revelo is originally from San Salvador, El Salvador. He received his MD degree from UEES in 2009. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency and his Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship at New York Medical College, before finally completing his one-year fellowship in Interventional Pulmonology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) before settling in Ohio in 2018. His focus is on novel methods for minimally invasive diagnosis and therapeutics in lung cancer using advanced imaging and robotic technology. He also focuses on multi-modality management of malignant central airway obstruction and on developing drug eluting airway stents. He works in collaboration with the College of Engineering and serves as mentor for biomedical engineer students. He leads a Thoracic Pathology conference given to pulmonary fellows and faculty at OSUMC.

Jasleen Pannu, MD – Assistant Professor

Dr. Pannu is an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and the Director of Interventional Pulmonary Translational Research at Ohio State University Medical Center (OSUMC). She is passionate about the early diagnosis of lung cancer and overcoming disparities in lung cancer care. Her current area of focus is developing a comprehensive lung nodule program at the James/OSUMC. She completed her Interventional Pulmonary Fellowship training at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in June 2018. She aims to build a high-quality research and quality improvement core at OSUMC in the evolving field of Interventional Pulmonology (IP).

Prerequisites
  • MD or DO
  • Eligible for an Ohio training certificate or permanent medical license
  • Hold U.S. citizenship or permanent residency
  • Successful completion of a pulmonary and critical care fellowship in an ACGME-accredited program prior to the start of the Interventional Pulmonology Fellowship
  • Demonstrate competency in basic pulmonary and critical care procedures, including basic bronchoscopy, airway management and thoracentesis. Any additional experience in advanced bronchoscopic or pleural procedures will be looked upon favorably
  • Candidates in practice with advanced training are also encouraged to apply

Application Documents

The following is a list of the required documents necessary to complete the application for our Interventional Pulmonology Fellowship.

  1. Curriculum vitae
  2. Personal statement
  3. Procedure log (a summary of procedures is preferred)
  4. USMLE scores
  5. Three letters of recommendation (one from the director of your pulmonary and critical care fellowship program)
  6. Recent color photo of the candidate (2x2)

Candidate may be invited for an interview at The Ohio State University beginning in September 2021 for the position that starts in July 2022.

Apply now

We will use the National Residency Match Program (NRMP)to facilitate matching of individuals applying for the fellowship. Please refer to the NRMP website to register and for additional information about the IP match dates and deadlines.

Nicholas Pastis, MD
Program Director, Interventional Pulmonary Fellowship Program
Professor of Medicine
Nicholas.Pastis@osumc.edu

Tina Olsson
Interventional Pulmonology Fellowship Coordinator
Christina.Olsson@osumc.edu
614-247-7701