Fellowship Education

Core Clinical Rotations

Diverse Clinical Experiences

Our three hospital system exposes fellows to a diverse patient population within different clinical environments. There is also the opportunity to participate in palliative care rotations at other safety net hospitals within Los Angeles, including Olive View-UCLA Medical Center and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

In addition to three core clinical inpatient sites for Palliative Care Service rotations, all fellows participate in a weekly interdisciplinary clinic at the West Los Angeles VA or at UCLA Santa Monica. Additional unique outpatient clinical experiences are available during the outpatient elective block, which can include embedded neuro-palliative clinics, exposure to scrambler therapy, as well as palliative psychiatry, cardiology, and oncology subspecialty clinics.

Didactic Series

Our program teaches fellows key topics in hospice and palliative care through a weekly formal didactic series that includes lectures, workshops, case reviews, and board review sessions. Presenters include interdisciplinary faculty and staff from within the UCLA and VA health systems, as well as guest lecturers from local and national institutions. Faculty members have expertise in Palliative Care, Hospice Care, Geriatrics, Cardiology, Hematology and Oncology, Neurology, Radiation Oncology, Interventional Pain, Ethics, Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and more.

Fellow Process Group

Fellows meet in a bi-weekly process group, facilitated by a psychologist outside of our palliative care department. This group helps to generate a strong sense of community each year and promotes sustainable palliative care practice through reflection and shared experiences with colleagues.

Journal Club

Fellows and faculty members are asked to critically review and discuss seminal historical and current articles relevant to Hospice and Palliative Care.

Research Opportunities

Fellows are required to engage in a scholarly project during their fellowship year. Scholarly projects may be related to quality improvement, education development, community outreach, or research. Our faculty are interested in a variety of research areas, and fellows are paired with a mentor throughout the year to support them with their academic work.

We also offer additional options for training:

• 2-year Advanced Fellowships in Research and/or Quality Improvement
• 2-year Geriatric and Palliative Medicine Fellowship
• Advanced degrees in collaboration with the UCLA STAR Program

Neuropalliative Care Fellowship Track

We are pleased to offer a specialized track in Neuropalliative Care, within our one year ACGME-accredited fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. This fellowship is designed for physicians who have completed or are completing a neurology residency and are seeking advanced training at the intersection of neurology and palliative medicine.

Fellows will receive comprehensive training in general hospice and palliative care, while developing expertise in the care of patients with serious neurologic illness. These include—but are not limited to—motor neuron diseases, high-grade primary brain tumors, and progressive neurodegenerative disorders.

The fellowship curriculum includes:

• A neuropalliative continuity clinic focused on longitudinal care for patients with complex neurologic conditions;
• Elective experiences tailored to the fellow’s interests within neuropalliative care, including opportunities in neuro-oncology, ALS clinics, movement disorders, and radiation-oncology;
• A scholarly project exploring a topic within the growing field of neuropalliative care, with mentorship from leaders in the field.

Graduates of this fellowship will be well-prepared to lead and innovate at the nexus of neurology and palliative medicine, improving quality of life for patients and families facing life-limiting neurologic disease.

Conferences

We encourage all our fellows to attend the AAHPM Annual Assembly. Fellows are excused from clinical duties to be able to attend this event.

Page last updated: 03/24