Health Services Research Fellowship

About the Fellowship

The Health Services Research Fellowship in the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine (DACCPM) is intended for fellows interested in pursuing a career as a physician-scientist with a focus on health services research. The program is designed with a rigorous academic foundation that provides the fellow practical experience in health services research, including:

• Bioinformatics
• Epidemiology
• Quality and safety
• Simulation

One-to-two fellows are accepted annually and have the opportunity to pursue formal coursework in epidemiology, statistics and other relevant topics. With the guidance of an experienced faculty member, fellows perform a year-long mentored research project that leads to presentations at national meetings and publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Curriculum

The goal of the curriculum is to equip fellows with the analytical and quantitative skills necessary to perform perioperative health services research. This is accomplished through a combination of formal coursework and mentored research training.

The formal coursework is tailored to the fellow’s research interest and may include courses at the Harvard School of Public Health or the Mass General Division of Clinical Research. Fellows will graduate with a solid background in biostatistics and epidemiology. With the guidance of our fellowship faculty, fellows will also select a primary research mentor and design a year-long research project. Research projects are focused on an aspect of perioperative health services research. Examples include:

• Evaluation of the incidence of perioperative medication errors and adverse drug events
• Evaluation of the impact of perioperative drug shortages on patient care
• Racial, ethnic and gender disparities in analgesic administration
• The effect of patient age on hospital length-of-stay
• The shape of the relationship between age and mortality in patients receiving Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for cardiogenic shock

The mentor and fellow meet on a weekly basis to review project progress and general career development. Fellows also meet regularly with fellowship faculty to discuss research progress, career development and preparations for subsequent research funding. Fellows typically continue on to pursue a career as a physician-scientist, with at least 75% protected research time, via awards such as the National Institutes of Health T-32 award.

Fellows can expect no more than one-to-two clinical days per week during the fellowship year. The remainder of their effort is dedicated to research.

Eligibility Requirements

The DACCPM at Mass General follows all minimum selection criteria as delineated in the Institutional Policy on Selection (PDF). As a prerequisite for entry, all applicants for the fellowship must be a graduate of one of the following:

• American Osteopathic Association-accredited medical school
• Medical school listed in the World Health Organization Directory of Medical Schools
• Liaison Committee on Medical Education-accredited medical school
• United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) completion requirement for clinical trainees

Also, applicants must have completed an anesthesia residency program accredited by one of the following:

• Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education
• Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada

How to Apply

The deadline for applications is February 1 for a start date of July 1. Please submit the following documents electronically:

• A current curriculum vitae
• A brief (one-to-two paragraph) personal statement describing your interest in the Health Services Research Fellowship and your plans after completion of the fellowship
• Three (3) letters of recommendation, with one letter being from your residency program director or chief of service. Letters should be sent directly from the letter writer’s email or assistant’s email

All documents should be sent electronically to hsrfellowship@partners.org to the attention of Karen Nanji, MD, MPH, fellowship director.