At Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, housestaff will manage a wide variety of inpatient cardiologic disorders not usually seen outside a county facility. This includes valvular disease, congenital disease, and heart disease in pregnancy.  The Cardiology Division has facilities for all aspects of non-invasive and invasive procedures. There are more than 5000 non-invasive and 600 invasive procedures per year.   Residents rotating on the consult service in cardiology receive intensive teaching during ward rounds, weekly conferences, outpatient clinic, and reading of cardiac procedures. There is also a rotation available in the Non-Invasive (Stress) Laboratory for a more concentrated experience in the performance and evaluation of stress testing. There are specialized outpatient clinics for patients with Cardiomyopathy, Pacemakers/Devices, and Chagas Disease.

The areas of research interest include clinical pharmacology of heart failure, basic mechanisms of vascular injury, non-invasive evaluation of endothelial function, and Chagas disease.

The Dermatology Division at Olive View - UCLA Medical Center is managed under the Department of Medicine and is actively involved in patient care and teaching.  In addition to staffing twice-weekly dermatology clinics, the clinical faculty present special teaching sessions and seminars, and evaluate cases with the general internal medicine inpatient consultation service. These sessions include bi-weekly rounds evaluating interesting patients in the Medical Walk-In and Pediatric Dermatology Clinics and monthly rounds in the ID-Dermatology Clinic. Residents assigned to the ambulatory medicine rotation attend one to two dermatology sessions per week.  A weekly dermatology procedure clinic is also available for residents to attend.

Endocrinology

The Division of Endocrinology is responsible for staffing the weekly endocrinology clinics and providing consultations.  Additionally, the division presents monthly lectures as part of the noon conference series.  This is a popular service with the housestaff because of the Endocrinology Division’s dedication to teaching.  Of note, Dr.Mahabadi is actively involved in the research area of hypogonadism.

Gastroenterology

The Division of Gastroenterology is one of the five members of the UCLA system-wide training program in gastroenterology.  It is situated at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center.  Its objectives are to train students, housestaff and fellows in all aspects of clinical gastroenterology.  The focus of the training is on appropriate utilization of resources, critical thinking, and decision-making based on clinical presentations.  The division trains one first year fellow and one post-graduate fellow.

The post-graduate fellow is in the advanced endoscopy training program.  This fellowship provides training in ERCP and endoscopic ultrasound as well as other advanced procedures such as wireless capsule endoscopy, metal-stent placement and endoscopic mucosal resection.

The currently active research programs are involved with clinical outcomes/decision analysis, hepatitis, complementary and alternative medicine in gastroenterology, nutritional support, interventional endoscopy, and gastrointestinal endoscopy.  The division oversees approximately 600-800 inpatient consultations, 3,000 outpatient visits, 1,000 endoscopic procedures, 25-50 liver biopsies, and 50 upper and lower GI manometric procedures annually.

General Internal Medicine

(*) Also teach in the Division of GIM, Department of Medicine

The General Internal Medicine (GIM) faculty includes a large group of hospitalists, hospital-based internists, clinic-based internists, and our associate Internal Medicine-Emergency Medicine faculty.  They are all heavily involved in housestaff education and are supervising Attendings for the majority of the ward medicine experiences, the ambulatory medicine (primary care and urgent care) experiences, and the GIM consult service.  GIM faculty are also in charge of the Medicine Pre-Op and Derm Biopsy clinics.  In addition, the Division is responsible for training a fourth year fellow in GIM (Kennamer Fellowship) at Olive View.  Several faculty teach at the David Geffen School of Medicine campus at UCLA.

The Division of GIM is known for it’s outstanding medical education of housestaff and students. Each full time faculty member has a specific interest and training in General internal Medicine (Hospital and/or Primary Care).  Specific clinical and research areas of interest include: health services provision, practice guidelines, patient safety, evidence-based medicine, medical informatics, diabetes, diabetic ulcer management, hypertension, anticoagulation, pain management, alternative medical therapies, women’s health and palliative care.

Hematology/Oncology

Members of the Hematology/Oncology Division pride themselves on providing outstanding patient care and excellent clinical teaching.  The division is active in clinical trials research including protocols for breast, lung, GI, and hepatocellular carcinomas, lymphomas, leukemias, and myelodysplasia.  The division has established a Genetic Risk Assessment Program in collaboration with the City of Hope National Medical Center.  Additionally, the breast cancer program is outstanding with a facilitator program funded by the Avon Foundation.  The Hematology/Oncology Fellowship program is fully integrated with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Infectious Diseases

The clinical training program of the Division of Infectious Diseases is part of the UCLA Multicampus/Affiliated Program in Infectious Diseases and Microbial Pathogenesis.  Research activities include investigations of tropical medicine (Chagas Disease), Coccidiodomycosis, meningitis, and HIV- associated neurological diseases.  Because of our immigrant patient population, the service has a special interest in tropical medicine and the diseases of travel.  The hospital has a busy, multidisciplinary AIDS clinic with expertise in HIV-associated neurological diseases, HIV dermatology, metabolism in HIV disease, and HIV infection in women.

Nephrology

The Nephrology Division offers a fellowship training program leading to board certification in Nephrology and elective rotations for students, interns, and residents.  Weekly teaching activities include Journal Club, Renal Grand Rounds and Renal Pathophysiology.  Monthly conferences include Renal Pathology.  The program organizes 8 to 12 national and international visiting professorships and conducts four UCLA Society of Nephrology meetings each year.  Faculty members are actively involved in research and creative scholarship.  The division receives research funding from NIH, the Veterans Administration, ADA, AHA (Michael L. Tuck, M.D.), as well as the biomedical industry.  The division also conducts various clinical trials.  Active areas of basic research include, hypertension and vascular biology.  Trainees are given the opportunity to pursue either clinical or basic research.  The patient population is diverse and the pathology seen allows for ample training in all areas of Nephrology.  For example, our fellows  follow numerous cases of glomerulonephritides, autoimmune diseases  and   electrolytes disorders. All renal biopsies are performed by the renal fellows under the supervision of a nephrology attending. We also have a large population of patients  of patients who have received renal transplants.

Pulmonary and Critical Care

The Pulmonary/Critical Division is responsible for the administrative, clinical, and teaching activities within the Medical Intensive Care Unit, Respiratory Therapy Unit, Chest Clinic, Sleep Program, Pulmonary Procedures Unit, and the Pulmonary Function/Blood Gas Laboratory.  Members of the division are actively engaged in basic and clinical research involving mechanisms of sleep generation, asthma, COPD, control of respiration, pulmonary complications of HIV disease, and pulmonary inflammation.  The Pulmonary/Critical Care/Sleep Training Program is integrated among four sites:  Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, West LA VA, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and Kaiser Sunset Medical Center.

Rheumatology

Olive View-UCLA Medical Center offers patients encompassing the full spectrum of connective tissue diseases, from infectious arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, sero-negative spondyloarthritides, systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic vasculitis to osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, gout, pseudogout, and localized musculoskeletal pain conditions.  The program includes ambulatory arthritis clinics with a total of approximately 5,000 patient visits yearly.  The inpatient and outpatient services at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center are outstanding resources for clinical training and clinical research.

Trainees will develop clinical expertise in performing rheumatological procedures, including aspirating and injecting joints, and soft tissue injections.  All training is closely supervised by dedicated faculty and attending physicians in a congenial environment.  Clinical research experience at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center can involve health services and outcomes studies, arthritis empowerment programs, scleroderma research, and clinical trials.  Research laboratories are closely located at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System in Sepulveda and may provide fellows/residents the opportunity to participate in bench research in the molecular biology of autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus.

The UCLA-Olive View Rheumatology Program is a dynamic clinical and research program with a 30-year history of training outstanding board-certified rheumatologists.  This program has 3 full-time faculty, 3 part-time faculty, thirteen volunteer attending rheumatologists (twelve in private practice and one in industry), and two fellowship positions.  The training program provides diverse educational experiences by incorporating elective rotations that may include the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System, Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, and/or the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.  Clinical rotations will also include training in medical orthopedics, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and pediatric rheumatology.  A strong didactic teaching program includes clinical and core curriculum basic science conferences, clinical and basic science journal clubs, research conferences, x-ray conferences, pathology conferences, and emphasis on bedside teaching.