Visiting Clinical and Research Observer Program

International Physicians/Researchers/Students

International physicians are considered for visiting experiences on an individual basis.  Interested physicians/researchers/ students should submit requests and detailed information including an updated curriculum vitae, travel plans and duration of visit, source of support and educational goals.  Information should be sent to ccmvisitors@upmc.edu 
PLEASE DO NOT CALL

Department of Critical Care Medicine
Guidelines for Admission Requirements
For Clinical and Research Observer Program

The Department of Critical Care Medicine (CCM) welcomes outside visitors who wish to observe our clinical/academic/educational/research environs. This document outlines requirements for the following:

PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS

Clinical Visitor/Observer - Practitioners/trainees in foreign countries who want to observe management of critically ill patients in the ICU from one week to two months maximum. No visitors accepted the month of July. Often an observership is a prelude to seeking future training in the U.S. However, being invited as a clinical or research observer with CCM does not guarantee a training or employment position with this Department.

Most foreign internationals are permitted to enter the USA with a B1/2 tourist VISA for visits of 90 days or less. However, restrictions could be applicable, thus each case is reviewed individually. Assistance will be offered to apply for a J-1 document if it is required and visitors will be informed of needed paperwork. English language fluency will be determined by a phone interview. A formal invitation letter with firm, non-negotiable dates will be provided prior to the visit.  Upon request at departure, a letter indicating dates of visit and educational activities participated in will be provided.  Recommendation letters for ACGME application will not be provided.

No funds are available to support visitors.  This visit does not guarantee a training or employment position in the future with the Department of CCM.  All visitor/observer agreements state clearly that visitors/observers cannot provide direct patient care or conduct research.  Violation of such agreement automatically terminates visit.  Failure to report to assigned ICU for two consecutive days will result in termination of visit.  Ms. Woodson must be informed of absences.

Please submit the following documents to the above noted email address

1. Letter of intent:  Please include the following in your letter:
1. dates that you are available for the visit.  Provide several options as slots fill quickly
2. length of visit
3. include all names of people traveling with you and relationship
4. purpose of visit; i.e., gain experience for ACGME application, residency elective; recommended
5. area of interest; i.e., anesthesiology, trauma surgery
6. level of education
7. financial support
8. how you found out about our Visitor Program
9. VISA status
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Letter of recommendation from medical school, residency director or supervisor at your current institution
4. Documentation indicating that you do not have tuberculosis. Test results should be dated within 10 months of visit. If you are a false positive, e.g., BCG vaccination, please include your report of a clear chest x-ray.
5. Copy of face page of passport

Unpaid Researcher – This group is comprised of visiting scholars and academic health sciences fellows who want to observe lab work of a particular researcher in the CCM Department, have an interest in critical care medicine, or may want to spend some time doing research for their particular goals.  All unpaid researchers must receive prior acceptance by their identified researcher before they can be accepted into this program.  That approval needs to be made in writing, defining the scope of the unpaid researcher’s activities and expected goals of the activity.  You will not serve in any work-related capacity and will have no responsibilities except to your own learning. You will obtain required research certifications and will be listed on relevant experimental protocols as required by the University of Pitt policy but will act only as an observer. You will not function in any capacity that would normally constitute a paid position.  

Most foreign internationals in this category require a J-1 visa.
Please submit the following documents to the above noted email address

1. Letter of intent including:
1. dates that you are available for the visit
2. length of visit
3. research interest(s)
4. level of education
5. financial support
6. how you find out about our program
7. VISA status
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Letter of recommendation from medical school, residency director or supervisor at your current institution
4. Documentation indicating that you do not have tuberculosis.  Test results should be dated within 10 months of visit.  If you are a false positive, e.g., BCG vaccination, please include your report of a clear chest x-ray.
5. Copy of face page of passport
1. indicated if you are traveling alone or with others and specify others
2. financial support letter from the sponsor – must be translated in English and all currency in American dollars.  Minimum monthly   amount is $16,050/year for applicant and $3,260/annual for each dependent.

Paid Research Associate – This category is comprised of post doctoral associate (maximum stay four years), visiting research associate (maximum stay one year) and research associate (no specified time limit).  The Principal Investigator for the project paying the research associate should contact Ms. Karen Bongiorni to confirm the availability of funding when first contemplating hiring.  When funding is confirmed, Ms. Nys should be involved immediately to begin the hiring process. These researchers become research associate members of the CCM Department, are listed in the annual report under their specific laboratory group, and receive all the benefits of a paid employee of the University of Pittsburgh for the duration of their funded work.

The following documents should be submitted to ccmvisitors@upmc.edu

1. provide a letter of intent
2. two letters of recommendation from current program director or employment supervisor
3. curriculum vitae

Paid Positions: Hired through the University of Pitt

1. new appointment offer letter; applicant to sign in agreement of offer
2. copy of signed social security card
3. complete drug free workplace certification form
4. Updated curriculum vitae
5. passport face page with I-94 attached and DS2019 Form and VISA page from passport
6. I-9 form to be completed upon arrival
7. certificate of English language fluency
8. mandatory attendance: University of Pitt Benefit Orientation to obtain any applicable benefits

Externs/Interns – This category generally represents college level/graduate level students who may need to spend time assisting with a research project or want to learn more about critical care medicine in general. They are expected to participate in educational and research conferences.
Paid positions must be hired through University of Pitt AllTemps. 

The following documents should be submitted to ccmvisitors@upmc.edu

1. resume
2. letter of intent
3. two written references from either employer/s or professional affiliate/s

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.

Dr. Tshibungu Lukoji - Visitor from Swaziland
Dr. Tshibungu Lukoji is currently the Head of the Department of Internal Medicine, Chairperson of the Quality Assurance Committee, and Supervisor of the TB Clinic and Diabetic Hypertension Clinic at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital in Manzini, Swaziland.  He is also Chairperson of the Steering Committee for the accreditation of RFM Hospital by COHSASA (Council of Health Service Accreditation of the Southern Africa region). Dr. Lukoji obtained his Doctorate in Medicine, Surgery and Obstetrics in 1993 and Specialist in Internal Medicine in 2001 at the University of Kinshasa. His hospital is working on a plan to open an advanced high care unit by next year, hence his interest to learn about Pitt CCM, with a focus on cardiothoracic and kidney transplant.

Visiting Observer from Barcelona, Spain
Dr. Hollmann D. Aya B. l received his Medical Degree in 2004 from the University of Barcelona (Spain).  He is a fellow in his fifth year of Intensive Care Medicine training at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona. In addition, he is pursuing a PhD in Medicine at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, studying long-term care ICU patients.  Dr. Aya is particularly interested in donation and organ transplantation. He has been accepted as a member of the European Society Organ Transplantation and attended the European Transplantation Fellowship Workshop 2009 in Edinburgh. He will observe in the TICU and CTICU for two months. Following his observership, he will return to Barcelona to finish his final ICM training year.

Visiting Observer from Bangladesh
Dr. Najib Mohammad is currently working as Senior Registrar at the Department of Critical Care Medicine, King Khaled University Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  Dr. Mohammad received his MBBS from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh (1979) and FCPS (Surgery) from Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dhaka (1988).  He obtained the European Diploma in Intensive Care Medicine (EDIC) from the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) in 2001.  To further expand his knowledge of ICUs, Dr. Mohammed has visited several hospitals viz. Erasme University Hospital (Brussels), Royal Brompton Hospital (London), Sant 'Eugenio Hospital (Rome), King's College Hospital (London), National University Hospital (Singapore), Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore) and National University Hospital (Singapore).  During October 2009, Dr. Mohammed is visiting the Department of Critical Care Medicine, UPMC, to learn more about the CRRT, Liver ICU, MARS, ECMO, etc.

Spanish Visitor During the Autumn Season
Dr. Borja Fernandez Miret is completing his fifth year of Intensive Care Medicine at the University Hospital Marques de Valdecilla in Santander, Spain. He graduated medical school from the University Of Navarra in Spain in 2004.
Dr. Fernandez’ chairman, Dr. Quesada met Dr. Puyana during a recent visit to Spain and recommended that Borja observe rounds in our ICUs.  Dr. Fernandez interests include but are not limited to severe and penetrating trauma, ED admission including initial assessment and management; lung transplantation and mechanical ventilation techniques in lung injury including ECMO.

CCM Attracts Visitor From China
Haibo Li, MD, director of the ICU-A at the 2nd affiliated hospital of Harbin Medical Univeersity in China,was invited to observe rounds in the ICU from August to October 2009 to become more familiar with the US medical and health system. Dr. Li received his Anesthesiology MD degree in 1996 at the Harbin Medical University, China. From Oct 2003 to now, he has been working in the ICU as a director. Dr. Li is a man of many talents, including but not limited to 4th dan amateur GO(WEIQI) in China.

ICM Resident Visiting from Panama
Dr. Julio César Sandoval Almengor
Internal Medicine/Critical Care Medicine
SCCM, ESICM, ACP, ATLS, ACLS.
Latinamerican Association of Thorax
Dr. Julio Cesar Sandoval Almengor received his medical degree in 2001 from University of Panama.  He completed Internal Medicine at “Complejo Hospitalario Metropolitano” Social Security in Panama and was the residency chief. He is currently in his third year of Residency in Intensive Care Medicine at ABC Medical Center in Mexico D.F. and will graduate in February 2010.  He started on UPMC Critical Care Unit on Sept 1 observing in the Transplant Unit (Liver) and Trauma (Neuro and General).  His main interest is in hemodynamic monitoring of these complex patients. Upon his return home he will join the medical faculty at Oncology National Institute in Panama.  He is member of Society Critical Care Medicine, European Society Intensive Care Medicine Latin-American Thoracic Society, and Trainer of ACLS and ATLS course.

Jose Rodriguez, MD
Visiting from Colombia
Dr. Rodriguez is currently a last year neurosurgical resident from Bogota at the central military hospital.
He has a great interest in neurointensive care including neurotrauma and neurovascular critical care. He is scheduled to observe in these units from September 1 – December 15, 2009, in order to acquire valuable knowledge to complete his training as an integral neurosurgeon in order to provide the best surgical and postoperative care in the future.

Ernesto Garcia, MD
Visiting from Spain
Dr. Ernesto García Vicente is a 1998 graduate of Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain). After a family medicine residency in the Miguel Servet Hospital from Zaragoza, he started in 2005 the intensive care medicine training period in the Santa Barbara Hospital, Soria (Spain), and he is currently in his last year of residency. Actually finishing his PhD, he is researching the relationship between myocardial infarction and depression, having published more than 40 articles, 9 of them indexed in Medline, being a member of the Spanish electronic journal of intensive care medicine editorial board. Dr. García Vicente was invited by Dr. Puyana to visit the University of Pittsburgh Department of Critical Care Medicine from September 1, 2009 through November 24, 2009. His main interest is Trauma, although he would desire to observe other ICUs.

Nan Lui, MD
Chinese critical care physician visiting CCM
Dr. Nan Liu received her MD from Peking Union Medical College(PUMC) in Beijing. After three years of internal medicine residency at Peking University People's Hospital (1998-2001), she completed critical care medicine training (2001-2004), and then served as an attending in ICU of cardiac surgery department (2004-2009) at Cardiovascular Institute and Fuwai Hospital of PUMC. She has special interest in critical care medicine. She has published seven  articles on perioperative complications in cardiac surgery in prominent Chinese journals. This year she transfer to Anzhen hospital and received a financial support from her hospital to visit UPMC for one year, she want to gain some experience from our department.

Colombian Physician Observer at UPMC-CCM (August 2009)

Dr. Juan Carlos Mejia graduated medical school in 2005 at the Universidad Libre at Cali, Colombia. He has worked during the past two years as a physician in the Critical Care Unit at Fundacion Valle del Lili at Cali in Colombia.  Dr. Mejia recently passed the USMLE exams and plans to apply for an internal medicine residency in the US, showing special interest in CCM.  He was invited by Dr. Juan Carlos Puyana to visit the CCM Department as an observer during August 2009.  He will observe rounds in the Surgical ICU at UPMC-Presbyterian Hospital and the Medical/Surgical ICU at Magee Women’s Hospital.

CCM Attracts Visitor From South Korea

Dr. Seoung Wan Nam, a physician at the Yuseong Wellness Hospital in South Korea, was invited to observe rounds in the Surgical Trauma ICU during the month of June 2009 to become more familiar with the US medical and health system. Dr. Nam received his medical degree in 2005 at the Wonkwang University College of Medicine, South Korea. He completed USMLE Steps 1 and 2; and received his ECFMG Certification in 2008. Dr. Nam is interested in pursuing a medical residency in the United States. He has been actively involved as a volunteer physician providing free clinical services as well as many prior philanthropic endeavors. Dr. Nam is a man of many talents, including but not limited to 4th level black belt in Korea Taekwondo and pop music band guitarist.

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.

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