Department of Medicine

Medicine

Charles V. Sanders, MD
Head of the Department

Cardiology

Frank Smart, MDChief of the Section

The Cardiology Section is responsible for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease and for teaching cardiology to students, interns, residents, and fellows. Clinical rounds are conducted daily at ILSUPH for patients on the Cardiology Inpatient Service and in the Coronary Care Unit; consultations are available on other inpatients. Invasive cardiac studies and interventions are performed daily in the catheterization laboratory at ILSUPH. Cardiac clinics for adult outpatients are held twice weekly at ILSUPH. Clinical rounds are also conducted daily at Touro Infirmary with training in noninvasive cardiology to include EKGs, echocardiograms, holter monitors, and stress tests. Training in invasive cardiology includes diagnostic and interventional procedures and care of the inpatients. Similar services are provided at Ochsner Medical Center - Kenner.

Weekly conferences include the Cardiac Catheterization Conference, EKG-electrohysiology lectures, Echocardiography Conference, and Cardiology Grand Rounds. The Section also conducts a monthly Journal Club, student conferences, and resident lectures. An elective in clinical cardiology is open to senior students on each block, both at ILSUPH and Touro Infirmary. Research interests of the Section include the endothelium, cardiovascular connective tissue, lipoprotein chemistry, and various aspects of clinical cardiology. Special research interests are early coronary disease, hypertension, and cardiomyopathy.

Emergency Medicine

Keith W. Van Meter, MD
Chief of the Section

The Emergency Medicine Section sponsors a four-year residency program and is responsible for teaching students and house officers the recognition, evaluation, stabilization, and disposition of patients with emergency medical conditions. Three emergency-medicine, board-certified faculty members are physically present in the Emergency Department 24 hours a day to supervise, teach, and deliver patient care. The Section sponsors emergency medicine interest groups at LSUHSC and Tulane University, as well as a one-month senior elective with clinical and research options. Participation in the organization and management of pre-hospital care, including aeromedical services, is a major activity of the section. Toxicology, disaster planning, administrative responsibilities, and medico legalprinciples are taught in a special one-month rotation. Scheduled educational activities include six hours per week of conferences covering core curriculum topics as well as monthly Journal Club and M & M Conferences. Research in a variety of emergency medicine areas is carried out in the Section. Residents are required to participate in academic pursuits in order to complete the residency program.

The Section also sponsors a fellowship in hyperbaric medicine. This fellowship achieved its accreditation on July 1, 2008. It is a one-year program that focuses on all aspects of hyperbaric medicine, including wound care, diving medicine, administration, and research. Fellowship programs are also anticipated in Toxicology and Emergency Preparedness/ Disaster Management.

Endocrinology and Metabolism

Taniya DeSilva, MD
Acting Chief of the Section

The Endocrinology and Metabolism Section provides training in the diagnosis and management of patients with diabetes and general endocrinology conditions. These disease states include disorders of the pituitary, thyroid, gonads, adrenals, and parathyroid, as well as Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Metabolic bone disease is also a condition that is covered. The didactic program is divided into both clinical and lecture components. Clinical training is provided in three half-day clinics and daily consultation rounds on patients in the hospital. In addition to clinical rounds, there are weekly didactic conferences given by individual faculty in the section. A comprehensive list of articles relevant to each specific disease state are available on the section website and these topics are covered by the faculty during the rotation. The Section offers an active basic and/or clinical research program to all interested students, residents, and post-doctoral fellows. Clinical and research electives are offered year round to junior and senior students.

Gastroenterology

Daniel Raines, MD
 Chief of the Section

The Gastroenterology Section provides patient care in the field of digestive disease at both public and private institutions in the New Orleans area. This care is provided in several different settings, including outpatient endoscopy, inpatient consultations, and outpatient clinics. The section is active in fellowship training, with a total of six fellows training at any given time. Training activities are complemented by weekly educational conferences that include LSU faculty and fellows as well as physicians from other academic centers and the community. The LSU Interim Hospital serves as the primary training site for this program. This site is equipped with a state-of-the-art endoscopy unit that includes recently updated endoscopic equipment, esophageal and anorectal manometry, esophageal pH monitoring, capsule endoscopy and endoscopic ultrasound capabilities. The Section is active in research, with routine presentation of research findings in peer-reviewed publications and at national conferences.

General Internal Medicine

David Borne, MD
Chief of the Section

The General Internal Medicine Section is dedicated to excellence in the practice and teaching of internal medicine in the outpatient setting. Students learn the principles of preventive medicine and the basic management of common chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and heart disease with the residents and faculty in the ILSUPH Medicine Clinic. Outside the Health Sciences Center, students can do electives in internal medicine and spend a month with a practicing faculty internist of their choice anywhere in the State of Louisiana. Students have the opportunity to learn the practical applications of the principles of clinical medicine from an experienced clinician.

Geriatrics

Thomas Reske, MD
Acting Chief of the Section

Today, people over age 60 comprise 25 percent of the U.S. population, and this number is expected to rise dramatically in the next few decades. This elective course addresses skills needed to treat an increasing geriatric population. Students and fellows will develop interviewing skills through direct patient contact and gain an understanding of the patient’s illness across the adult lifespan through medical, sociological, and psychological contexts. The Section is dedicated to excellence in teaching while providing the best quality of care to seniors in the New Orleans Metro area through LSUHSC. The Section faculty includes board-certified, fellowship-trained geriatricians with expertise in nursing-home medicine, adult daycare, home care, geriatric inpatient and outpatient consultation, primary care, and palliative care. LSU geriatricians staff area public and private hospital consultation services, area LSU-affiliated nursing homes, an area hospice, and a primary-care clinic. Teaching of medical students, residents, and fellows occurs at these sites with faculty supervision. The Section also sponsors various clinical research projects, including that related to chronic anemia, osteoporosis/fall-risk health maintenance, and GI-related clinical states. Applicants for a Geriatric fellowship must have completed an accredited Internal Medicine or Family Medicine program. Background and experience in research are encouraged.

Hematology and Oncology

Agustin Garcia, MD
 Chief of the Section

The Hematology and Oncology Section, in collaboration with the hematology laboratory and blood bank of the Interim LSU Public Hospital at New Orleans, is responsible for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with conditions related to hematology and medical oncology. Patients are seen in consultation on all inpatient clinical services such as internal medicine, surgery, and gynecology. The section participates in the management of a wide variety of hematologic and neoplastic problems.

Three outpatient clinics are held weekly, supervised by Hematology/Oncology faculty. Several teaching conferences are held for students and house officers including the Fellowship Core Curriculum lectures, Tumor Board, bi-monthly Journal Club, Clinical Case Conference and Hematopathology Conference. Formal teaching is given to students in all four years. An elective is offered to seniors throughout the year. Post-graduate training is offered at all levels in both clinical hematology and medical oncology as well as in basic and translational research.

Hospital Medicine

John Amoss, MD
Chief of the Section

The Hospital Medicine Section is dedicated to excellence in the practice and teaching of internal medicine in the inpatient setting. In the hospital, students are assigned to faculty-led teams that care for patients with a variety of illnesses. Students will learn the basic diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to common inpatient diseases such as pneumonia, ischemic heart disease, heart failure, and obstructive lung disease. Students also evaluate patients with residents and faculty in the ILSUIH Discharge Clinic.

HIV

C. Lynn Besch, MD
HIV Division Director

The HIV Division, a part of the Infectious Diseases Section, provides inpatient and outpatient staffing for the almost 2,000 HIV-infected patients of ILSUPH. Evaluation and primary and specialty care (including dentistry, ophthalmology, GI, and women’s health) are available during daily clinics at the HIV Outpatient Program.

Faculty members of the HIV Division participate in many teaching activities, including the freshman program, Introduction to Clinical Medicine, and residency and fellow lectures; they also staff the Infectious Diseases Consult Service and the HIV Inpatient Unit. Additionally, medical students and house staff rotate through the clinic. HIV Division faculty also lecture and serve as clinical preceptors for the Delta Region AIDS Education and Training Center.

The HIV Division houses a research section for pharmaceutical studies and contributes expertise and assistance in enrolling patients into clinical trials. Numerous epidemiologic and interventional studies are underway in collaboration with clinical and basic science investigators at LSU on topics such as human papilloma virus, oral and ocular complications of HIV/AIDS, adherence, and metabolic complications of HIV and its treatment.

Infectious Diseases

Julio Figueroa, MD
Acting Chief of the Section

The Infectious Diseases Section is committed to teaching infectious diseases to students, interns, residents, and fellows at the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans as well as at private hospitals affiliated with LSUHSC. Those individuals taking this four-week introductory course learn how to evaluate and treat patients exhibiting a variety of infectious diseases as well as how to collect, transport and process specimens collected from patients seen in consultation with the infectious diseases staff. The rotation experience may include several different facilities, including ILSUPH, Ochsner Medical Center - Kenner, and Touro Infirmary. All of these provide exposure to infectious-disease problems in diverse patient populations.

A collection of updated articles on common infectious-disease problems is maintained and discussed in order to reinforce important teaching points. Scheduled activities include daily clinical rounds, weekly infectious-disease case conferences and clinical microbiology conferences, and other regular activities in the Department of Medicine, including Grand Rounds and Morbidity and Mortality Conferences. Students are integral members of the team and are expected to see and review infectious-disease consultations with residents and fellows before presenting these patients to the Infectious Diseases faculty. In addition, students can attend the general infectious-diseases and/or HIV clinics. The opportunity to become involved in research during and after this clinical experience is also possible.

Nephrology and Hypertension

Efrain Reisin, MD
Chief of the Section

The Nephrology and Hypertension Section focuses on teaching all aspects of renal medicine, with emphasis on electrolytes and acid-base physiology, clinical nephrology, hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and treatment of hypertensive diseases.

The section provides education to medical students, interns, residents, and fellows within LSUHSC. Physicians-in-training assigned to the nephrology section attend daily rounds and two weekly clinics with an attending nephrologist and weekly teaching conferences that coveredall the aspects of renal pathology.

Nephrology fellows also receive training at the Alton Ochsner Hospital campus, providing additional exposure in transplant and interventional nephrology.

Research activities focus on the evaluation of chronic kidney disease, diabetic nephropathy, metabolic syndrome, end-stage renal disease, and hypertension.

Applicants for a nephrology fellowship must have completed an accredited Internal Medicine program. Background and experience in research are encouraged.

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Gary Glynn, MD
Chief of the Section

The Section of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is responsible for the diagnosis and treatment of conditions primarily associated with loss of function, including stroke, spinal-cord injury, brain injury, arthritis, degenerative neurological conditions, multiple trauma, amputations, burns, and painful musculoskeletal and other conditions. Emphasis includes physical examination and physical modalities such as therapeutic heat and cold, electrical stimulation, and exercise and special expertise in such electrodiagnostic procedures as EMG and nerve-conduction studies.

The Section’s student education program includes lectures and clinical experiences for students on the Junior Medicine Block and a senior elective offering exposure to a variety of PM&R services. Research in PM&R is available through the summer Student Research Program. Post-graduate medical education to become board eligible for certification in the specialty of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is available in a four-year residency program that has training affiliations with the ILSUPH, Touro Infirmary, the VA Medical Center, Ochsner, East Jefferson, and Children’s Hospital.
Principal facilities are ILSUPH, which includes staffing a 24-bed comprehensive stroke unit, a closed consultation service to the Level 1 Trauma Unit, and a general and pain consultation service, and Touro Infirmary, which includes Touro Rehabilitation Center, which has 63 beds that are CARF-accredited in General Rehabilitation, Spinal Cord Injury, Brain Injury, and Pain. An ACGME-accredited Pain Medicine fellowship is also offered, as well as a fellowship in Brain Injury.

Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine & Allergy Immunology

Carol Mason, MD
Chief of the Section

The Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine Section is responsible for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with diverse types of pulmonary diseases. The Section is also responsible for the management of a large variety of critically ill patients. Patients are cared for at ILSUPH and at other New Orleans hospitals. Open rounds are conducted daily in the Medical Intensive Care Unit, as well as on other hospitalized patients. Ambulatory outpatient care is conducted in a non-tuberculosis clinic and in a separate tuberculosis outpatient chest clinic on a weekly basis. A Chest Medicine Conference is held on a weekly basis.

Pulmonary medicine is taught at all levels of training: students, interns, residents and fellows. The students are presented the content of pulmonary medicine in a planned, scheduled, graduated fashion from their first through their fourth years. The planned elective can accept two senior students on each block during the academic year. Interdisciplinary teaching is continuously conducted. Elective research experience is also provided to interested students.

The Allergy and Clinical Immunology Section is responsible for a variety of teaching and research activities. Didactic teaching is provided in lectures to students as part of the Interdisciplinary Programs. Diagnosis and management of allergic and immunological diseases are taught in the Section’s outpatient clinics and on inpatient rounds. In conjunction with the Department of Pediatrics, the Section holds a conference at regular intervals for presentations by its members and by guest lecturers. The Section has an ACGME-approved fellowship training program in Allergy/Clinical Immunology. The residents finishing training in INT MED/MED PED are eligible to apply.

Rheumatology

Luis R. Espinoza, MD
Chief of the Section

The Rheumatology Section is responsible for the diagnosis and treatment of all patients with rheumatic and connective tissue diseases and has a broad interest in all diseases of the musculoskeletal system. The Section conducts a clinical rheumatology teaching program for house staff, students, and fellows consisting of (1) rounds three times a week, (2) three weekly conferences, (3) a weekly journal club, and (4) a monthly radiology conference. Two rheumatology clinics and an immunology clinic are held weekly.

Didactic lectures in rheumatology are provided for the sophomores, and two monthly rheumatology subspecialty conferences are held for students on the Medicine block and for the Medicine house staff. An elective for seniors is offered as well as a Rheumatology Fellowship Program. Research is ongoing in the area of immunogenetics in rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren’s Syndrome and systemic lupus erythematous; rheumatic fever; and reactive arthritis.