Bohlman Fellowship in Spine 2007-2008

Dr. Henry Bohlman (Case Western Reserve University) still has 1 fellowship position opening for the 2007-2008 academic year. If interested, send your Curriculum Vitae and 3 letters of recommendation to the following address or fax:

Director: Henry H. Bohlman, M.D.
C/O Julie Bunkelman
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
University Hospitals of Cleveland
11100 Euclid Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44106

Fax: 216-844-1735
Office number: 216-844-1050

For a formal description of the fellowship program visit ortho.uhhs.org

Julie can be reached at the following email/office number for questions]julie.bunkelman@uhhs.com[/url]
216-844-1050

*see next post for my informal description of the program

Dr. Bohlman has one position open for 2007-2008. He takes 3 fellows per year. The fellows are divided between the 3 hospitals in the system. You spend 4 months at each hospital.

University hospitals of Cleveland: As the name implies, this is the University/private hospital in the system. You spend 4 months as primary assist to Henry Bohlman. You spend one day in clinic with him and 2 days in the OR. Most times, he runs 2 rooms so usually you are the primary surgeon in one room while he spends time with the senior resident in the other room and kind of bounces back and forth. Lots of autonomy. If you didn't know spine before you started fellowship, you certainly will afterwards. The other days of the week are spent with the other spine attendings in the department. So basically, you operate 4 days a week and spend one day in clinic. There is no rounding. This is truly a gentleman's fellowship. The residents see the patients postop and manage them on the floor. The fellow basically comes in to operate and then they are done. Currently we have 4 spine attendings. We do a boat load of spine surgery at the University. You'll see your share of complex as well as bread and butter cervical spine surgery. Being a major referral center, you will also see a fair share of revision spine. There is an abundance of both bread and butter as well as complex lumbar cases. You'll see a good amount of thoracic-level surgery and some deformity work. You'll get exposure to micro-disk surgery.

MetroHealth Medical Center: You spend 4 months here. This is the major level I trauma center in Northeast Ohio. It's one of the busiest trauma centers in the country. It's THE busiest lifeflight center in the country. With that said, you will get exposure to both basic and complex spine trauma. There are 2 spine attendings there that also have busy elective schedules. There is a fellow-run spine clinic where lots of good pathology comes in. Also no rounding.

Veteran's Administration Hospital: 4 months here also. Newly renovated VA hospital - probably one of the nicest in the country. The fellow more or less gets attending priveledges here. You have a clinic that you run and see pathology that only exists at the VA. You operate one day per week at the VA and one of the UH attendings is available if you have a complex case that you need help with. The other days of the week, the fellow usually comes over to UH to operate because there are usually multiple spine rooms running.

Overall, this is a great fellowship. Bohlman's not going any where. You will leave here being a great spine surgeon. Even as a 4th year resident I feel pretty darn capable of doing most bread and butter cervical/lumbar cases. You can't go wrong with this fellowship. Bohlman has trained many of the biggest names in spine surgery throughout the country. You definitely will have more than enough training to be a successful private practice spine surgeon. Without question, this fellowship would give you a tremendous start towards a career in academics.