Welcome from the Fellowship Program Directors

Welcome to the newly established Jane & Leonard Korman Respiratory Institute and the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine. Thomas Jefferson University has always been recognized as an outstanding place to train in pulmonary, allergy and critical care medicine, and the fact that our trainees go on to top programs around the country and develop successful careers of their own highlight this fact. However, we are aiming much higher.  Our goal is not only to provide trainees with the skills and experiences needed to be successful in their careers, but also to nurture and inspire them to become leaders in patient care, education and research. 

Three events have set the stage for our renewed enterprise. First, the Jane & Leonard Korman Respiratory Institute was established through a partnership between Jefferson Health (Philadelphia) and National Jewish Health (Denver) to develop the top respiratory program in the region and beyond. Together with Mount Sinai in New York, this stellar academic triad is expected to revolutionize pulmonary and critical care medicine. Second, Thomas Jefferson University is in an impressive growth phase having acquired 13 hospitals and several practices in the past few years, thereby expanding opportunities for research and educational experiences.  Third, the division is expanding with new faculty and staff brought in to establish programs of excellence in lung cancer, asthma, pulmonary hypertension, interventional pulmonology, interstitial lung disease and sarcoidosis, COPD, sleep medicine, and more. With strong collaborators in Thoracic Surgery, Pathology, Radiology, Rheumatology, Cardiology and other outstanding programs, the Korman Respiratory Institute is set to deliver world-class patient care, while engaging in clinical trials and basic science research.  This new enterprise is supported by the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University that has a pro-education history as well as a large internal medicine resident pool and a robust simulation-training center.

This renewed energy in the division and our training programs is based on exciting developments including growth of medical critical care (e.g., from 8 MICU beds to 33 new state-of-the-art beds), growth of procedural aspects of the specialty, and ambulatory practice including sleep medicine and allergy/immunology. The patient population is tertiary with various organ transplants as well as an active emergency room. Opportunities for both clinical and translational research are strong including asthma, critical care, interstitial lung disease and pulmonary vascular disease. Trainees will not only rotate through well-run areas of patient care, but will be given opportunities to become members of specialized teams engaged in clinical work, quality improvement research, clinical trials and the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with our basic science team devoted to understanding respiratory biology in health and disease using complex in vitro and in vivo models of acute lung injury, pulmonary fibrosis, aging, tobacco-related lung disease, and more.

All the above within Philadelphia Center City, an outstanding major metro area that is lively with top notch educational and cultural institutions. The Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Fellowship may well be the best three years of your life.  You can count on it!

Frances Mae West, MD 

Fellowship Program Director 
Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary, Allergy & Critical Care Medicine
Jane and Leonard Korman Respiratory Institute