University of California San Diego Regional Anesthesia Fellowship Program

Thank you for your interest in our program.  The UCSD Regional Anesthesia Fellowship emphasizes expert training in state-of-the-art regional anesthesia techniques and multi-modal strategies for acute pain management.  We constantly strive to keep our curriculum fresh and provide our fellows with the most comprehensive and advanced training program available.
At UCSD, our fellows practice regional anesthesia in a block room setting in order to gain necessary repetition and a high volume of procedures.  The block room model allows our fellows to see “the big picture” by learning strategies to optimize patient flow, increase procedural efficiency and system performance, and establish patient rapport for effective follow-up.  We believe that these are essential skills that our fellows will need to set up their own regional anesthesia programs after graduation. 

In addition to clinical training, our fellows have the opportunity to participate in our productive clinical research program.  Since our research initiative is designed to parallel our patient care practice, fellows’ involvement in research can range from simply performing the research-related procedures to heading up their own projects as principal investigators. 
We recently added a new pediatric regional anesthesia and pain management rotation in collaboration with Anesthesia Services Medical Group at Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego.  This is an amazing opportunity for us to provide our fellows with 3-4 months of pediatric regional anesthesia training experience and ensure that our fellowship graduates will be the next experts in regional anesthesia for adults and children. 

We are very fortunate to practice the best specialty in one of the best places to live in the United States.  Our Division is a diverse, yet close-knit, group of regional anesthesia and acute pain experts from private practice and academic backgrounds.  Our monthly Division meetings and journal clubs are lively and enjoyable events, to say the least; it’s amazing that we actually get so much work done!  We recognize that the decision to pursue regional anesthesia fellowship training is often challenging, but we are committed to making this fellowship the best experience of your career. 

We hope that you will consider applying to our program and look forward to hearing from you.
-Ed Mariano


UCSD Regional Anesthesia Fellowship Fact Sheet  

•  Edward R. Mariano, MD, MAS (Fellowship Director)
•  Brian M. Ilfeld, MD, MS (Fellowship co-Director, Clinical Research)
•  Tony L. Yaksh, PhD (Fellowship co-Director, Laboratory Research)
Additional Key Faculty: NavParkash Sandhu, MS, MD; Benjamin Atwater, MD, PhD; Rick Bellars, MD; Vanessa Loland, MD; Michael Bishop, MD; Preetham Suresh, MD; and Nick Kormylo, MD

Positions: 3-4 annually

One-Year Fellowship: Clinical and didactic training in regional anesthesia and analgesia.

Two-Year Fellowship: In addition to clinical and didactic training in regional anesthesia, fellows will participate in the NIH-sponsored K30 program and graduate with a Masters of Advanced Studies degree in Clinical Research. Fellows will also have an opportunity to perform clinical and laboratory research under the mentorship of Brian Ilfeld, MD, MS, and Tony Yaksh, PhD, as well as initiate pilot studies for an NIH grant via the K08 or K23 Career Development Award mechanism. The two-year fellowship will prepare graduates for an academic career practicing/teaching regional anesthesia as well as designing and implementing extramurally-funded, high-quality clinical and/or laboratory research related to regional anesthesia.

Fellowship Structure: Regional Anesthesia Fellows at UCSDevaluate patients, perform regional anesthesia procedures in a regional anesthesia induction area (aka “block room”) and follow patients postoperatively. Fellows spend one day per week in the OR either supervising residents or providing direct patient care as staff anesthesiologists.  All other clinical time is spent either directly administering or teaching residents how to perform regional blocks or caring for patients as part of the Acute Pain Service. Nonclinical time depends on the level of research commitment and can range from an average of 1 to 3 days/week (>1 nonclinical day reserved for fellows with established research projects as the primary investigator and subject to approval by the fellowship director).

Clinical Experience:  Fellows should expect to master basic single-injection and continuous peripheral nerve block techniques employing ultrasound-guidance and electrical stimulation as well as advanced ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia procedures and paravertebral blocks. In addition, fellows will gain experience managing continuous perineural infusions for inpatients and outpatients as well adjunct analgesic medications. Fellows will learn to apply regional anesthesia techniques in a variety of surgical settings including trauma, elective outpatient and more invasive orthopedics, vascular surgery, abdominal and pelvic procedures, head and neck surgery, and plastic/reconstructive surgery for adult and pediatric patients.

The fellowship structure is very flexible, with time allocated to the inpatient and ambulatory center block rooms, Acute Pain Service, OR, and nonclinical pursuits, depending upon the level of interest in each area. Fellows will spend dedicated time in the anatomy lab dissecting cadavers early in the fellowship year to gain a strong anatomical basis for regional anesthesia procedures. Fellows will also have the opportunity to participate on pediatric international medical missions to learn practical applications of regional anesthesia procedures for children under the direction of Dr. Mariano. Fellows also have the option of pursue elective training in related chronic pain diagnosis and treatment/procedures (e.g. fluoroscopic guidance techniques) from Dr. Mark Wallace, Director of the UCSD Pain Fellowship.
Clinical Sites:  UCSD Medical Center, Hillcrest (San Diego, CA); UCSD Medical Center, Thornton (La Jolla, CA); Rady Children’s Hospital (San Diego, CA)

Salary, Year 1: approximately $ 50,000
Salary, Year 2: approximately $ 151,000 plus call and clinical incentives (~$40,000)
Application Materials: Please submit an updated CV, 2 letters of recommendation (program director and preferably mentor), a recent picture, and a brief personal statement outlining interest in fellowship and the specialty of regional anesthesia (600-word maximum).

Application deadline: We will begin accepting applications April 1st of the year preceding scheduled enrollment (e.g. April 1, 2008, for the 2009-10 academic year).  We review completed applications and offer interviews on an ongoing basis until September 1st of the year preceding enrollment.


Contact person:
Edward R. Mariano, MD, MAS
Director, UCSD Regional Anesthesia Fellowship Program
Email: ermariano@ucsd.edu

Fellowship coordinator:
Bertha Englund
200 West Arbor Drive
San Diego, CA  92103-8770
Office:  619-543-5742
Fax:  619-543-5424
Email:  benglund@ucsd.edu

This fellowship is supported, in part, by NIH grant 5T32NS007407-09 (P.I.: Tony Yaksh, PhD)