Spinal Cord Injury Fellowship Program
 

The UCI/Long Beach VA SCI Fellowship is an ACGME-accredited one year clinical program that is based at the VA SCI & Disorders Center at the Long Beach Healthcare System.  The SCI fellowship program is under the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency Program at UC Irvine.  The SCI fellow is encouraged to participate in PM&R residency training program activities and to assist in supervising and instructing the PM&R residents from UCI as well as UCLA.    

The VA Long Beach SCI/Disorder Center is the largest SCI center in the VA system, with an inpatient bed capacity of 77 and a comprehensive SCI outpatient program.  The center serves over 1200 SCI veterans living in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Northern San Diego, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Kern, and Las Vegas counties.   

The inpatient census averages approximately 50 and includes various specialized programs such as CARF accredited SCI Acute Rehabilitation Program for new injuries, SCI medical/surgical program, which includes SCI patients on ventilators and patients pre- or post- urological procedures, SCI Geriatric program, SCI Annual Preventive Health Maintenance program and the Wound Healing And Research Program (WHARP) for patients with complex pressure sores and other wound management issues. 

The comprehensive SCI Outpatient program provides both primary care and specialty care including the SCI Primary Care Clinics, Interdisciplinary SCI Annual Evaluation Clinic, SCI Shoulder/Injection Clinic, SCI Acupuncture Clinic, the SCI Diabetes Clinic, SCI Urology Clinic, SCI Wheelchair Clinic and the SCI Nursing Clinic.  The VALB SCI outpatient center includes state-of-the-art urology suite with the capacity to perform urodynamic studies, cystoscopies and other urological procedures.  Other procedures performed include flexible sigmoidoscopies, ultrasounds, and lab areas for blood draws and ECGs.  There is also a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to aid in wound healing.  Other specialty rehabilitation program includes Driver’s Evaluation and Training, Vocational Rehabilitation Services for SCI veterans and the Brace Clinic.

In addition, the fellow rotates to Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center (RLANRC) for pediatric rehabilitation and other unique experiences in world renowned specialty clinics such as spina bifida clinic, spasticity clinic, Post Polio Program, SCI Orthopedic clinic, Center of Applied Rehabilitation Technology and the wheelchair clinic.  The RLANRC, has a very busy pediatric rehabilitation program with the daily census up to ten, with a large number of children who have sustained spinal cord injuries.

Opportunities at UC of Irvine include unique exposure to acute management of new spinal cord injury patients alongside the trauma team.  For those interested in SCI research, there are also opportunities for clinical as well as basic science research in collaboration with the Reeve-Irvine Research Center.  

Other educational opportunities include regularly scheduled didactic sessions including: a weekly Neurosurgery Teaching Conference, a SCI lecture/ journal club series as well as a weekly “Yes, You Can!” series of classes for patients, family and staff.  The SCI Journal Club Series is designed to cover all major areas of SCI medicine in a one year period. 

It is the goal of the VA Long Beach SCI fellowship to provide a balanced clinical and academic experience where you will be exposed to the full spectrum of lifetime care of SCI patients-from new injury, to acute and chronic complications of SCI, to issues dealing with aging with SCI.

Again, thank you for considering the UCI/ VA Long Beach Spinal Cord Injury Fellowship. 

Sophia Chun, MD                                  
Chief, SCI/D HCG