Fellowship Program Director: Amisha Barochia, MBBS, MHS, ATSF
Fellowship Associate Program Director: Sadia Sarzynski, MD, MHS
Fellowship Program Coordinator: Kathy Arnold
Overview
The Critical Care Medicine Department offers two-to-four year ACGME-accredited fellowships in Critical Care Medicine. Fellowship tracks can be tailored to provide eligibility in dual subspecialties, such as critical care combined with pulmonary medicine or infectious diseases. Applicants must have completed a residency in internal medicine, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, or surgery. Physicians with additional advanced training, particularly in infectious diseases, cardiology, nephrology, or pulmonary disease, are also encouraged to apply. The program provides comprehensive clinical training in the management of critically ill patients across a wide range of care settings. Fellows develop advanced clinical judgement and critical thinking skills applicable to any patients with single or multisystem organ failure, while also cultivating leadership and scholarly expertise through structured training and mentorship in research. The NIH Clinical Center is a unique environment that bridges cutting-edge medical research and direct patient care. This environment provides unparalleled opportunities for collaboration with world-renowned physicians and scientists, enabling fellows to contribute meaningful advances to critical care medicine and biomedical diversity.
Program Structure
The first year of the fellowship is dedicated entirely to clinical training. Fellows spend part of the year in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the NIH Clinical Center, with the remainder of their clinical time in ICUs at affiliated regional teaching hospitals, including University of Maryland Medical Center and Medstar Washington Hospital Center . Within the NIH Clinical Center ICU, critical care physicians maintain primary responsibility for patient care, while working in close collaboration with referring physicians and a wide range of consultative services to provide comprehensive, multidisciplinary intensive care.
For fellows pursuing dual board eligibility, a second year of training in the relevant subspecialty may be arranged either at the NIH or through a partnering university program. Participating fellows have dual boarded in a variety of subspecialties including Pulmonary Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Cardiovascular Medicine, Hematology/Oncology, and Nephrology.
The research phase of the fellowship typically begins in the second year and includes participation in active research programs spanning basic science laboratories, genomics and proteomics facilities, clinical trials, and medical education research. Fellows are encouraged to leverage these resources to design and conduct research relevant to critical care medicine. Full-time research activities commence at the beginning of the second year for fellows interested in the critical care subspecialty alone. For fellows pursuing dual training, full-time research activities usually commence at the beginning of the third year.
Additional Information
Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program
Application Information
The program participates in ERAS. Applications must include a CV and three letters of recommendation. The deadline for submission of completed applications is September 1st of the year prior to the beginning of the program.