The Pulmonary Branch (PB) was formed in 2017 with a mandate to expand and enhance the clinical pulmonary program within the Division of Intramural Research, NHLBI. A primary focus is the pulmonary clinical fellowship program to enhance the academic environment within the DIR and to create a pipeline of clinician scientists to grow the pulmonary program. We have continued our partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center to support a joint NHLBI/UMMC research fellowship track and a combined pulmonary/critical care medicine clinical and research training program. All of the UMMC PCCM fellows are scheduled to spend 4 weeks on the NIH pulmonary consult service as one of their clinical rotations. A combined research and clinical training curriculum is jointly developed between NIH and UMMC. Fellowship applicants are recruited through a separate Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) number affiliated with the UMMC PCCM fellowship application (http://umm.edu/programs/pulmonary/professionals/pulmonary-fellowship/nih-nhlbi-track. We continue to participate in the ERAS match and currently have a full complement of 4 fellows, one in each of the 3 years of training and an extended research year fellow. A full complement of 4 pulmonary function technicians allows running of 4 full-time testing rooms for provision of physiologic pulmonary testing in support of NHLBI and other IC protocol patient needs within the NIH Clinical Center. Bronchoscopy capabilities including ultrasound guided and electromagnetic navigation directed biopsies and therapeutic interventions are provided through our consultation services. The pulmonary consultation service continued to provide expert consultations with support from a cadre of 2 nurse practitioners and 1 physician assistants. Capacity of this service has been enhanced by having clinical fellows on service for most of the year. Through a MOU with Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, pediatric and interventional pulmonary consultative support is provided by co-credentialed providers from Walter Reed.
