Interventional Pulmonology

Thank you for your interest in the Interventional Pulmonology fellowship at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center! We are a dedicated team of thoracic physicians proud to offer cutting-edge technology and a wealth of procedures and experience in interventional pulmonology and pleural disease. We work closely with the divisions of Thoracic Surgery, Oncology, Radiation Oncology and others to provide the best multidisciplinary care to lung cancer patients and those with benign conditions of the airway, lung and pleura.

We are proud of our pleural disease clinic and involvement in benign airway and lung disease diagnosis and management along with other experts in the field.

The fellow is expected to actively participate in the inpatient IP consultation service as well as all advanced procedures, and to help with instruction of basic bronchoscopy to the general pulmonology fellows.

Thank you for your interest! We look forward to sharing more information with you.

Sincerely,

Jennifer W. Toth, MD
Professor of Medicine and Surgery
Director, Interventional Pulmonology Section
Director, Interventional Pulmonology Fellowship
Director, Lung Cancer Screening and Nodule Program

Application Overview

All applications are received through the Association of Interventional Pulmonology Program Applicants.

Application deadline is Aug. 15; however, the application review process begins July 15, so applicants are encouraged to apply early.

More information is available through the American Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology or the Association of Interventional Pulmonology Program Directors.

Eligibility

Qualified candidates will be:

• U.S. citizens or permanent residents (no visas are sponsored)

• Board-eligible or board-certified in internal medicine

• Pennsylvania medical training license eligible

Interview Process

All interviews are by invitation only.

Candidates selected to interview will be contacted by the program coordinator and/or Thalamus. Thalamus is the scheduling service that the program uses to streamline interview scheduling; all interviews must be scheduled and managed through Thalamus. Applicants who encounter problems with Thalamus should .

The Interventional Pulmonology (IP) service at Penn State Health started in 2007 under the leadership of Dr. Jennifer Toth.

Since then, the service has been an active part of the multidisciplinary thoracic oncology program with thoracic surgery.

Currently, the service serves the central Pennsylvania area, performing more than 600 procedures per year with a state-of-the-art bronchoscopy/pleural suite with full anesthesia support. The service participates in several multicenter research studies in the field.

Interventional Pulmonology also collaborates often with other institutions in publication of procedural data and reports on efficacy and safety of treatments and procedures.

The Interventional Pulmonology Fellowship training focuses on the diagnosis and management of central airway obstruction, lung cancer, pleural diseases and specialized procedural training in various airway and pleural procedures. At the end of the 12-month training period, the fellow will:

• Have specific knowledge for the different types of procedures (indications, contraindications, specific population)

• Have the skills to perform advanced and complex airway/pleural procedures

• Lead a multidisciplinary team in the management of complex cases

• Develop research ideas and have at least one publication in the field

• Successfully pass the IP board examination

These procedures are offered in the 12-month Interventional Pulmonology Fellowship:

Airway Procedures

• Advanced bronchoscopy procedures and airway stenting/dilatation

  • Rigid bronchoscopy

  • Metallic, silicone stents and Montgomery T-tubes

  • Balloon tracheoplasty and bronchoplasty

  • Percutaneous tracheostomy

• Tumor destruction and control of central airway bleeding

  • Microdebrider

  • Electrocautery

  • Argon plasma coagulation

  • Cryotherapy

• Endobronchial therapy

  • Steroid injection

  • Endobronchial administration of mitomycin

• Advanced diagnostic bronchoscopy

  • Diagnostic modalities for diagnosis of early lung cancer

  • Radial EBUS: Assessment of airway invasion

  • Diagnostic modalities for diagnosis of peripheral lung lesions

  • Electronavigational bronchoscopy with percutaneous needle biopsy (Veran system)

  • Radial EBUS and fluoroscopy

  • Diagnostic modalities for lymph node sampling

  • Linear EBUS: Real-time sampling with transbronchial needle aspirate

  • Diagnostic modalities for interstitial lung disease

Pleural Procedures

• Chest ultrasound

• Ultrasound-guided thoracentesis

• Pleural manometry

• Ultrasound-guided chest tube placement

• Tunneled indwelling pleural catheters

• Thoracoscopy (rigid and semi-rigid), pleural biopsy and chemical pleurodesis

The Interventional Pulmonology service at Penn State includes a complex airway program and pleural service. Additional clinical support is provided by two dedicated nurse practitioners (thoracic surgery and IP), two nursing coordinators (malignant and benign disease) and rotating general pulmonology fellows, so the IP fellow in training can focus on learning advanced bronchoscopic and pleural procedures.

The program is associated with three specialty clinics: the thoracic oncology clinic, pleural clinic and lung cancer screening clinic. It is part of both the multidisciplinary thoracic oncology and ILD programs.

In addition, all procedures are performed in the state-of-the-art bronchoscopy suite located in the operating room with 24/7 access with full support of dedicated cardiothoracic anesthesia faculty.

The IP fellow will be encouraged to participate in original research as well as multicenter and multidisciplinary projects. Penn State has a longstanding history of multi-institution research collaboration within IP.

• Weekly Interventional Pulmonology Core Curriculum Lecture Series (every Thursday, 7:30 a.m.)

• Weekly Thoracic Surgery Core Curriculum (every Thursday at 4 p.m.)

• Weekly Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Conference (every Tuesday at noon)

• Morbidity and Mortality

• Journal Club

• Monthly Multidisciplinary Airway Conference, which alternates with Journal Club