Curriculum

Our ACGME-accredited fellowship includes outstanding multidisciplinary clinical training across the age spectrum in inpatient, outpatient, home and long-term care facilities.  Our goal is to train outstanding clinician-educators who will grow the field of palliative care through outstanding clinical work, teaching, scholarship and leadership.

Overview of Schedule and Activities

• Inpatient rotations at
  • Strong Memorial Hospital, the University of Rochester’s large academic teaching hospital with acute inpatient consultation services in addition to the Sussman Palliative Care Inpatient Unit, the only hospital-based, dedicated palliative care unit in the region (12 beds). Strong Memorial Hospital is the home of the Wilmot Cancer Center, multiple tertiary care ICUs and an LVAD and heart transplant program.
  • Highland Hospital, the University of Rochester’s community hospital, specializing in geriatrics and gynecologic oncology.
• Pediatric rotations at Golisano Children’s Hospital at Strong, the University of Rochester’s free-standing children’s hospital with robust NICU and cardiac surgery programs.
• Well-established outpatient palliative care clinic nested in the Wilmot Cancer Center and a geriatric-palliative care clinic at Highland Hospital
• Robust experiences with home hospice, free-standing hospice unit, and long-term settings.

Pediatric Track

• We offer a robust pediatric track option for pediatricians, Med-Peds or family physicians who are interested in receiving more pediatric palliative care training. In addition to our rich and high-volume adult palliative care experiences, the pediatric track includes approximately 14 weeks/yr of pediatric palliative care in inpatient and home settings, as well as additional elective opportunities, a pediatric-specific monthly seminar series, pediatric scholarly project, and mentoring.

Geriatric Track

• For applicants interested in doing both geriatrics and palliative care fellowships, we also offer the option of jointly interviewing for both fellowships (1 year each). In their palliative care year, geriatric track fellows spend more of their inpatient time at Highland Hospital, our excellent UR affiliated community hospital with a geriatric focus. They also spend at least half of their outpatient continuity experience in a geriatric-palliative care clinic. You must apply through ERAS for both UR fellowships simultaneously.

Our alumni are doing a variety of palliative care careers ranging from clinical inpatient, outpatient and homecare, academic palliative care (administration, teaching, research and fellowship directors), acting as medical directors for home hospice and palliative care programs, to leading large homecare organizations. 

For more information on our rotations:  Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Objectives

Class of 2021

Neha Sanyal, MD

Residency / Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Internal Medicine Residency
Hometown / Westerville, OH

I loved that self care was prioritized, encouraged and formally taught to us in both formal and informal ways so that we always remembered to take care of ourselves in order to take care of others. I have incorporated those self care skills so much into my everyday life and my medical practice that I now even teach them to my colleagues, friends, family and patients!

Meet our Current Fellows

I could not have had a better fellowship experience - I think it truly made me a better physician in so many ways and I can really see a difference in myself!”