Medical College of Wisconsin Fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine

The Medical College of Wisconsin's Palliative Care Program is a nationally recognized leader in palliative medicine. Our one-year, adult clinical fellowship program is one of the first ACGME-accredited fellowships in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. We train physicians to become skilled clinician-educators in preparation for a career in academic palliative medicine or community practice in hospice or palliative care.

Fellows work as part of interdisciplinary teams in a variety of settings – inpatient consultation services, an inpatient palliative care unit, a continuity palliative care outpatient clinic, an inpatient hospice unit, home hospice visits, ample electives – to gain a solid foundation in providing comprehensive care for the seriously ill. Candidates with an interest in academic medicine will be provided additional training and mentoring in medical education. We have accepted and successfully trained fellows from a wide variety of specialties including internal medicine, family medicine, vascular and interventional radiology, neurology, surgery, pediatrics, and anesthesiology.

Program Director's Welcome

Sean Marks, MD Thank you for your interest in our Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Please explore our website and learn more about our fellowship in hospice and palliative medicine.

Our Palliative Care Program was founded in 1993 by Dr. David E. Weissman and is a nationally respected program with a proud tradition of innovation. As a former graduate, I can assure you that our fellowship offers a comprehensive educational experience that will make you well prepared for a career in academic or non-academic Hospice or Palliative Medicine. We have a 100% pass rate among our board eligible graduates on the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Board exams. Graduates from our program have gone on to have varied and successful careers, becoming medical directors of academic Palliative Care Programs, clinician educators at major academic medical centers, and leaders of community-based palliative care and hospice programs.

Beyond teaching the needed clinical skills to become astute hospice and palliative care clinicians, our fellowship places extra emphasis on training fellows to become effective educators and leaders. We are fortunate that our medical education efforts are focused on character, competence, and caring. MCW also hosts a regional Great Lakes CME conference in dilemmas in palliative care. I along with several other faculty in our program are editors of an internationally accessed peer-review website on Palliative Medicine related topics called Fast Facts and Concepts. Additionally, we have several faculty engaged in meaningful clinical research. Hence, our fellows have plenty of opportunities to collaborate with leaders in the field in meaningful scholarship and clinical education and complete fellowship with a very full CV.

Our fellows train under the supervision of clinical faculty from a multitude of specialties including Neurology, Internal Medicine, Geriatrics, Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics, and Psychology. This allows our fellows to benefit from a broad training perspective. We also offer a wide variety of clinical experiences. This includes a well-established palliative medicine consult service at Froedtert Hospital that is fully integrated into the hospital system; clinical rotations at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center which includes a dedicated palliative care unit; an outpatient continuity Palliative Medicine clinic; a rotation at a free standing hospice facility called the Aurora VNA Zilber Family Hospice; and a month long home hospice rotation.

Here is a link which goes over benefits, conditions, and terms of employment if you were to pursue a fellowship with us.

GME Benefits, Conditions & Terms of Employment

We look forward to hearing from you and hope that you seriously consider our program!

Thank you,

Sean Marks, MD
Associate Professor and Fellowship Director
Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship
Medical College of Wisconsin

Message From The Director

Why become a fellow at MCW?

As a major academic medical center, and the largest research institution in the Milwaukee metro area, the Medical College of Wisconsin is a distinguished leader in the advanced training of physicians, researchers, pharmacists and health professionals. Together with its top-tier partner institutions, the Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals (MCWAH) puts you at the forefront of advancement that’s improving the vitality of society.

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Reasons to live in Milwaukee

Milwaukee is a one-of-a-kind city with a vibrant and diverse culture, this charming, yet metropolitan must-see is just 90 minutes north of Chicago and nestled on the coast of Lake Michigan. Whether you’re catching a show at Summerfest, the world’s largest music festival, immersing yourself in the old world charm of the Historic Third Ward or taking in the sights and sounds of one of the many cafés, beer gardens or restaurants that line the city’s riverbank and shoreline, Milwaukee never disappoints. Find out why MCW residents and fellows take pride in calling Milwaukee home.

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Program Details

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Accomplishments/Activities of Recent Fellows

2022-2023
Academic Palliative Care Clinician at MCW; Academic Palliative Care Clinician at University of Virginia

2021-2022
Hospitalist at Peace Health in Vancouver Washington

2020-2021
Academic palliative care clinician at MCW

2019-2020
Academic palliative care clinician developing palliative care programs in community hospitals at Northwestern in Chicago, Illinois

2018-2019
Academic clinician in geriatrics and palliative medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

2017-2018
Program Director of Palliative Care Program at Aurora-Based Community Hospital in Southeastern Wisconsin

2016-2017
Academic clinician in Palliative Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin

2015-2016
Academic clinician in Palliative Medicine and Emergency Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin

2014-2015
Academic clinician in neurology and palliative medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center
Academic clinician in pediatric palliative care and pediatric critical care at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin

Educational Programs

Quality Improvement
All fellows participate in a quality improvement project during their fellowship along with palliative care fellows and geriatric fellows. Our palliative care team has three faculty with extra training in QI and geriatrics has two faculty with dedicated QI training as well. There is a year-long educational arc in quality improvement and patient safety that is incorporated into the fellows' orientation, didactics, and experiential learning. Hence there are plenty of opportunities to get excellent mentorship in QI and Patient Safety during their fellowship year. Fellows will also lead a division-wide QI conference at the end of the year along with other HPM fellows and geriatric fellows.

Orientation
A dedicated series of one-on-one learning sessions are performed in the first two weeks of the fellowship to springboard fellowship learning. Topics include introduction to hospice and palliative medicine, prognostication, quality improvement, spiritual care and chaplaincy, developing appropriate boundaries in the care of the dying, roles of APPs in hospice and palliative medicine, and advance care planning and are led by various members of the inter-disciplinary team.

Fellow Lecture Series
Physician and other non-physician faculty lead weekly hour-long didactic lectures on key topics essential to the medical knowledge and board preparation of a palliative medicine fellow. Hematology/Oncology fellows, social work fellows, house-staff rotators, and psychology fellows are also invited to attend.

Journal Club
The Palliative Care Journal Club meets twice monthly to critically review recent research relevant to palliative care clinical practice. Palliative Care faculty, fellows, as well as medical student and resident rotators are invited to present interesting articles. This includes an educational curriculum on how to best critically appraise the palliative care literature.

American Academy of Hospice & Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) Annual Assembly
Attendance at the AAHPM Annual Assembly is an important educational asset to palliative care fellows and expenses to attend are covered in full by personal development and palliative care funds.

PalliTALK
Fellows are provided funding and protected time to attend a 3-day long regional communication skills building conference at Madison WI. The curriculum is designed especially for Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellows.

Training Sites

Froedtert Hospital
Froedtert Menomonee Falls Hospital
Fellows spend one month during their fellowship year rotating with the inpatient palliative care team at Froedtert Menomonee Falls, which is a community-based hospital that serves a more rural-based patient population. By doing so, fellows get dedicated exposure to the unique palliative care needs of rural patients and also more dedicated education on how to organize and set up a community-based palliative care program
Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center
Children's Wisconsin
Aurora VNA Zilber Family Hospice
Horizon Home Care & Hospice

Sample Schedule

Weekly
Interdisciplinary continuity clinic; home visits

July
Froedtert Palliative Care Inpatient Service *

August
Zablocki VA Palliative Care Inpatient Service *

September
Home Hospice with Horizon Home Care

October
Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center

November
Zilber Family Hospice (free standing hospice facility)

January
Froedtert Palliative Care Inpatient Service

February
Elective

March
Zablocki VA Palliative Care Consult Service

April
Pediatric Palliative Care at Children's Wisconsin – 2 weeks
Oncology Clinics – 2 weeks

May
Froedtert Palliative Care Inpatient Service

June
Zablocki VA Palliative Care Unit and Community Living Center Patient Care Visits

* Includes palliative care consultation service and inpatient unit

Application Process Forms and Information

We currently have funding for two HPM fellows per year.

Application Process

The MCW Hospice and Palliative Care Fellowship Program is part of the NRMP Match program. Please contact Julie Alexander, jualexander@mcw.edu, if interested.

Application Information for ERAS

US Medical Graduates (Please provide the following in your ERAS Application)

Common application form

USMLE Transcript (Steps 1, 2, and 3)

Complex scores (DO)
MSPE
At least three letters of recommendation (one has to be from your current program director)
Medical School Transcript
Personal Statement
CV

International Medical Graduates (Please provide the following in your ERAS Application)

Common application form
USMLE Transcript (Steps 1, 2, and 3)
MSPE
At least three letters of recommendation (one has to be from your current program director)
Medical School Transcript
ECFMG Status Report
Personal Statement
CV
J-1 visa candidates (visa has to be sponsored by the ECFMG)
Unfortunately, we do not accept H1b visas

Usual HPM Match Participation Timeline

ERAS Registration
Spring

NRMP Online Program Information Update
May

ERAS Opens
July

Interviews at MCW
Usually held from August-early October

NRMP Match Opens
July

NRMP Rank List Opens
September

Rank List Deadline
November

Match Day
December

Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals, Inc. Links

Great Lakes Regional CME Conference

The MCW Palliative Care program has developed and hosted the Great Lakes Regional CME Palliative Care Conference. It is now a two-day conference with over 200 attendees. It utilizes half-day workshops, networking opportunities, and didactic presentations from regional and national leaders in the field to help generalist and palliative care clinicians explore challenging topics in palliative care head on. It is also a wonderful event that brings together educators and leaders in the field. MCW Palliative Care fellows speak at this conference, most commonly as a co-presenter with another MCW faculty member. It gives our fellows great experience in giving formal presentations on a regional level.

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