Fellowships

Welcome from the Fellowship Director

Elizabeth Cobbs

Greetings,

Thank you for your interest in our Geriatric Medicine Fellowship! Our one-year program is set in the nation’s capital and reflects the diverse communities and opportunities of the city around us. We provide experience and training in the world of geriatric medicine and hope to help you find the best career track for you.

We emphasize clinical excellence and exposure to the full range of healthcare models. We prize resiliency, self-care, team-work and fun!

Fellows become experts in transition management and interdisciplinary leadership. We work with faculty, fellows, residents and medical students in all specialty areas to care for our patients and their families. Welcome to the best year of your professional life, and we look forward to meeting you!

Elizabeth L. Cobbs MD, FACP, AGSF, FAAHPM


Geriatric Medicine Fellowship

The ACGME accredited George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences Geriatric Medicine Fellowship provides one-year training and experience in an unsurpassed range of clinical settings. It promotes physician leaders with particular expertise in teaching, quality improvement and interdisciplinary team-building. Training settings include geriatrics clinics, memory disorders clinic, home care programs, inpatient rehabilitation, acute care hospital, hospice, assisted living and skilled nursing facilities. Weekly core conferences, quality improvement projects and personal mentoring prepare fellows to be expert clinicians, master teachers and medical directors.

Locations

Fellows work and learn in basic and advanced settings, assuming increased levels of responsibility over the Fellowship year

  • Washington, DC, VA Medical Center: The VAMC has an in-depth program in Geriatrics, Extended Care, and Palliative Care.  Fellows have clinical rotations in the Geriatrics Clinic, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Consult Service, Community Living Center (nursing home care unit) and Inpatient Rehabilitation service, as well as Home Based Primary Care, Geropsychiatry, and ALS clinic. Seven geriatricians serve as primary faculty in collaboration with multiple interdisciplinary teams to provide a tremendous variety of clinical and academic exposure.
  • George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences: Fellows work in both inpatient and outpatient settings seeing a diverse patient population. Inpatient geriatrics and palliative medicine consultation service and continuity geriatrics clinic provide invaluable opportunities to hone skills in educational and interdisciplinary leadership. A Memory Disorders Clinic sharpens skills in diagnosis and treatment of dementia and other memory disorders. Wound Care Clinic trains fellows to become experts in wound management.
  • Home Visits: Fellows gain exposure to home care through the GW Medical Faculty Associates (MFA) Medical House Call Program and the Washington DC VA Home-Based Primary Care Program
  • Capital Caring Inpatient Hospice: Fellows spend two weeks in the inpatient hospice unit of the largest regional hospice organization and gain experience in acute symptom management and end-of life care.
  • Thomas Circle Residences: Fellows provide care to residents in a continuity nursing home and assisted living practice to learn how to help patients receive needed services in the most independent setting possible. 
Didactic and Interactive Teaching

Weekly web-based interactive conference topics include:

  • Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Medicine
  • Grand Rounds
  • Palliative Care topics
  • Evidence Based Medicine Conferences
  • Just In Time Journal Club
  • Ethics Topics
  • Geropsychiatry
  • Quality Improvement Projects
  • Morbidity and Mortality
  • Skill Building
  • Geriatric Medicine topics
  • Autopsy Conferences

Other regular conferences include:

  • Weekly lunch conference at GW
  • Brown Bag Board Reviews
  • Geriatric Syndromes Conference at the VAMC
  • GW Medicine Grand Rounds
  • VA Medicine Grand Rounds
  • Weekly Life Conference at VAMC

Integrative Medicine:

All Fellows will have exposure to Integrative Medicine. A special track for up to two Fellows will include extended participation in our established GW Center for Integrative Medicine.


Scholarly Work

While a research project is not required, faculty mentorship for scholarly work is abundant. All fellows are encouraged to develop at least one project for publication or presentation at the annual meeting of The American Geriatrics Society.

Quality Improvement Projects    

Fellows are mentored by faculty to participate in Quality Improvement Projects in collaboration with interdisciplinary teams throughout the year.  

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Welcome from the Fellowship Director

Karen Blackstone

Greetings,

Thank you for your interest in our Palliative Medicine Fellowship. Our one-year program, set in the heart of our nation’s capital city, aims to provide fellows the experience to enable them to:

  • be proficient with patient care as consultants and independent providers of hospice and palliative care;
  • communicate effectively with patients, families, staff and colleagues;
  • understand the knowledge base of hospice and palliative care;
  • develop effective habits of practice-based and system-based learning;
  • communicate effectively with patients, families, staff and colleagues;
  • be proficient in interdisciplinary leadership, quality improvement, scholarship and safety;
  • be proficient in self-care and resiliency building of one’s self and team.

Our program strengths are the expert and enthusiastic teaching faculty and interdisciplinary care teams, and the supportive training sites that offer experiences in hospital-based, ambulatory care, home care, hospice, and video-telemedicine care for a diverse community of patients and their caregivers.

I look forward to meeting you!

Karen Blackstone, MD, FAAHPM


Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship 

The ACGME accredited George Washington University Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship is a one year program that offers experience learning from expert faculty in varied clinical settings and prepares fellows as physician leaders, master teachers and quality improvement experts.

Fellowship Training Partners

Fellows work and learn with expert faculty across a variety of health care systems and in diverse clinical settings, including:

The George Washington University Hospital: As part of an interdisciplinary hospital-based inpatient palliative medicine consultation team serving  a diverse, urban patient population.

Capital Caring: Expert symptom management experience in the Inpatient Palliative Units and community hospice care experiences with expert hospice and palliative medicine leaders.

Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center:  Inpatient and outpatient palliative medicine consultations with a focus on VA system of care, person-centered care, and the veteran experience.

National Institutes of Health: Unparalleled exposure to complementary and integrative interdisciplinary palliative medicine team in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

Children’s National Medical Center: Fellows gain pediatric palliative medicine exposure through a two-week rotation with the expert, interdisciplinary PANDA Palliative Care team in the care of infants, children, and young adults with serious illness (inpatient and outpatient consultative service).

Home Visits: GW Medical Faculty Associates (MFA) Medical House Call Program and the Washington DC VA Home-Based Primary Care Program provide experience in home-based care for seriously ill patients.

Continuity Clinic at Residences at Thomas Circle: providing primary care in collaboration with a community hospice team to residents in independent, assisted and skilled nursing levels of care.

Didactic and Interactive Teaching

Weekly web-based interactive conference topics include:

  • Fundamentals of Hospice/Palliative Medicine
  • Evidence-Based Medicine
  • Journal Club
  • Master Teacher Training
  • Quality Improvement
  • Board Review
  • Autopsy conferences

Other regularly scheduled conferences include:

  • GW palliative medicine interdisciplinary team meeting and conference
  • Department of Medicine Grand Rounds (VA and GW)
  • Life Conference (VA Weekly)

Scholarly Work

Faculty mentorship for scholarly work is abundant. All fellows develop at least one project for publication or presentation at the Annual Meeting of The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

Quality Improvement Projects

Fellows are mentored by faculty to participate in Quality Improvement Projects in collaboration with interdisciplinary teams throughout the year.

Eligibility Requirement

Must be board eligible or board certified physicians with backgrounds in family medicine, internal medicine, psychiatry, anesthesiology, neurology, physiatry, and emergency medicine. J1 visas sponsored only.

Application Information

Applications are only accepted through the Electronic Residency Applications Service (ERAS).


The candidate must register for both ERAS and the National Residency Match Program (NRMP). A candidate who has not registered with the NRMP cannot be considered during the ranking process. It is very important to remember to register.

Requirements for GW Fellowships

Fellowship applicants must have completed three years in an ACGME-Accredited Internal Medicine Residency, and be board-certified or board-eligible.

Required Documents for Complete myERAS Application

  • myERAS application
  • Curriculum Vitae (CV)
  • Personal Statement
  • Three Letters of Recommendation (one from the program director)
  • USMLE / COMLEX Scores (must have passed Steps I-III prior to start of fellowship year)
  • Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE)
  • ECFMG Status Report for International Medical Graduates (must have certification)
  • Licensing Information and Board-Eligibility/Certifications (if applicable)
  • Citizenship Status

International Medical Graduates

We can only consider applicants with J1 visas. Please see our GME Visa policy.

IMGs must have completed an ACGME-accredited residency program.

Graduates of International Medical Schools must also be certified by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG).


For more information, please visit the GW Graduate Medical Education website.