Visiting Clinical Observers
The CCM Department accepts foreign medical graduates as visiting observers. No clinical duties are involved as US law prohibits foreigners lacking license to practice medicine in this country from participation in direct patient care. During 2007 there were 21 foreign visitors from 12 different countries. These visitors varied from medical students to post graduate professors, representing primary specialties such as internal medicine, anesthesiology, general practice, surgery, pediatrics, pulmonary medicine, obstetrics and gynecology. In addition to participating in daily CCM educational programs including lectures, workshops, journal club sessions, grand rounds and simulation training at the Peter M. Winter Institute for Simulation, Education and Research (WISER), they observe rounds in various ICUs of their choice.
A simulator based CCM course is offered to any physician visiting the UPMC Critical Care Medicine department who would like to sharpen their skills for the management of critically ill patients. The program will be held in the WISER simulator center and will address practical approaches to respiratory distress, cardiovascular instability, and critical arrhythmias. After brief didactic sessions, participants will have the opportunity to re-enforce their learning through simulated scenarios. Emphasis will be placed on running these scenarios and practicing the process of being an effective team leader while taking care of “the patient”. There will also be some time devoted to procedures such as intubation and central line placement. The course will involve four to five hours of time, which can be covered in a single half-day or divided into two shorter sessions. The days of the course will be arranged based on the schedules of the instructor and participants. Cost = $200 per person
Egyptian Medical Student visiting CCM
 Ahmed is a senior medical student from University of Alexandria, Egypt, visiting our CCM department as a visiting observer. He chose to observe management of postoperative transplant patients at UPMC as it is one of the premiere transplant centers in the world. He will be observing rounds in the cardiac thoracic and Transplant ICU for one month starting June 1, 2009. He will receive his M.B.B.Ch at the end of 2009 and he is planning to do research after that in USA. His future plan is to apply for American Internal Medicine residency for a career in Interventional Cardiology.
Peruvian Internist/ICU Physician Visiting CCM Department
 Dr. Jorge Candiotti is a 1985 graduate of Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, Peru. After his internal medicine residency, he has been an attending physician in different hospitals in Peru, particularly serving in the ICU of the National Hospital in Lima for many years. In 1992, he obtained an MS Degree in Tropical Medical Science in Antwerpen, Belgium and then another MS Degree in Biomedical and Health Informatics in 2002 at the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. Candiotti has many publications especially on tropical medicine topics. He has emigrated to the US with his family of five. Dr. Candiotti wants to continue his medical profession and is considering a medical residency in the US.
Indian Physician with Special Interest in CCM
 Dr. Sonia Brar was born in India. She graduated in 2003 from St. Petersburg State I.P. Pavlov Medical University in the Russian Federation. She has worked in various Indian hospitals and obtained board certification by the Medical Council of India. Her family members now live in the US. She has taken and passed the USMLE Steps 1 and 2 and is now applying for a medical residency in the US. She will be observing in our ICUs during the month of June.
Indian Physician Observer in CCM
 Dr. Chaitanya Chandrala is a 2008 graduate of Guntur Medical College in India. He is interested in observing our management of critically ill patients in the ICUs and participating in our lectures and discussions in CCM. He is scheduled to rotate through the CTICU, Transplant ICU, Trauma ICU, Neurovascular ICU and the ICUs at MWH. He wants to specialize in cardiology and related research. He will remain with relatives in Philadelphia until he has taken all USMLEs. He is interested in obtaining an internal medicine residency in the US.
Turkish Pediatric Intensivist Visiting Our Pediatric CCM Division
 Dr. Ogdur Dursun graduated in 1998 from the Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Medical School in Turkey. He completed his pediatric residency at Akdeniz University in Antalya, Turkey, in 2003 then followed with a 3-year fellowship in pediatric intensive care at the same institution. Since 2007 he serves as an assistant professor of pediatrics at Akdeniz University. He has significant research experience and has published six articles with two more in press. He has published 24 abstracts on his research with presentations at various meetings in Turkey. Dr. Dursun has received a stipend from his university to serve as a visiting scholar in the University of Pittsburgh Department of Critical Care Medicine from March 1, 2009 through April 30, 2010. He will be involved in research in the pediatric CCM division with Dr. Ann Thompson as his mentor. He is also invited to attend all educational activities.
Japanese Cardiologist/ICU Director Visiting UPMC
 Akiko Mano received her MD and PhD from Kyoto University in Japan. She has been board certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiology. Currently, Dr. Mano is the GICU Director of a 10-bed unit at the Tokushima University Hospital on the Island of Shikoku. Dr. Mano has been invited by Dr. Kormos, Professor of Surgery and Director of the Artificial Heart Program at Pitt. She will be an observer in cardiac surgery, hosted by Dr. Erin Sullivan in the Department Anesthesiology, and join on rounds in the CT ICU. Dr. Mano will be visiting for this one week only then returns to Japan on February 21.
Spanish ICM Resident -- Observer in CCM Department
 Dr. Fernando Iglesias is a graduate of the University of Oviedo in Spain. He is currently in his senior year of their primary specialty of Intensive Care Medicine at the Central University Hospital of Asturias in Oviedo. This is a 1,300-bed hospital with several ICUs. The ICM program requires experiences abroad. Dr. Juan Carlos Puyana of our Department invited Dr. Iglesias to be an observer in our ICUs at UPMC. Dr. Iglesias attended the annual SCCM Congress in Nashville, TN, this month and decided to spend the rest of February in CCM at UPMC. Thus he will return to Spain at the end of this month.
Libyan Physician Visiting our CCM Department
 Dr. Yousef Al-Ahwel received his M.B.B.Ch degree in 2005 from the Garyounis University in Libya. After two years of internal medicine residency at Tripoli Medical Center in Libya, he moved to the US where he is currently enrolled at Kaplan. He states that it is his dream to become an intensivist. He will be an observer in our CCM program during February - March 2009.
Dr. Carolina Giraldo – Visitor from Colombia
 Dr. Carolina Giraldo is a medical physician graduated from Universidad Tecnológica in Pereira, Colombia. She is currently in her last year of residency in Anesthesiology at Universidad del Valle in Cali Colombia and will graduate in July 2009.
Dr. Carolina is making her elective rotation as an observer in the CCM Department at UPMC during January through March 2009. She wants to learn about critical care medicine so that she may apply it in the anesthesia field when she returns to Colombia. She will be rotating as an observer through CTICU, Transplants ICU, Trauma ICU (6F-6G), Neurotrauma ICU (4G), Neurovascular ICU (4F) and Magee ICU and Units 6F. She plans to do the fellowship in critical care when she returns to Colombia in the second semester of this year.
Previous Vistors (2008)(2007)(2006)(2005-2004)(2003-2002) |
