Spinal Cord Injury Medicine Fellowship
Mission & Vision
To provide each fellow with the opportunity to achieve broad competence in all aspects of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation by facilitating a positive educational and work environment that allows for an open exchange of ideas, so that upon graduation, each fellow can function independently as an excellent medical provider in any setting – academic or private – with the highest degree of confidence and proficiency. Fellows will equally embrace clinical and research training, with the ultimate goal of providing care to all by demonstrating accountability; compassion; expertise and respect.
Mission & Vision
To provide each fellow with the opportunity to achieve broad competence in all aspects of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation by facilitating a positive educational and work environment that allows for an open exchange of ideas, so that upon graduation, each fellow can function independently as an excellent medical provider in any setting – academic or private – with the highest degree of confidence and proficiency. Fellows will equally embrace clinical and research training, with the ultimate goal of providing care to all by demonstrating accountability; compassion; expertise and respect.
Program Director’s Welcome
The Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is fortunate to have training opportunities with the South Florida Spinal Cord Injury Model System, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and the Miami VA Healthcare System’s Spinal Cord Injury Unit. We are seeking bright, highly motivated and enthusiastic physicians who are excited to partake of this one year, ACGME-accredited fellowship program, exposing them to the full spectrum of SCI clinical management, including acute trauma, post-acute rehabilitation and translational research. We have appointed research-only faculty within the department with extensive research opportunities and a weekly SCI lecture series that is live streamed with other fellowship programs.
Fellows will teach PM&R residents and medical students, while training with the many disciplines that contribute to SCI care, including endocrinology, neuro-urology, neurosurgery, occupational therapy, orthopedics, physical therapy, plastic surgery, psychology, pulmonology, recreational therapy, social work and wound care. Fellows will also be encouraged to attend conferences and expositions, including those offered by the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals.
Program Director’s Welcome
The Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is fortunate to have training opportunities with the South Florida Spinal Cord Injury Model System, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and the Miami VA Healthcare System’s Spinal Cord Injury Unit. We are seeking bright, highly motivated and enthusiastic physicians who are excited to partake of this one year, ACGME-accredited fellowship program, exposing them to the full spectrum of SCI clinical management, including acute trauma, post-acute rehabilitation and translational research. We have appointed research-only faculty within the department with extensive research opportunities and a weekly SCI lecture series that is live streamed with other fellowship programs.
Fellows will teach PM&R residents and medical students, while training with the many disciplines that contribute to SCI care, including endocrinology, neuro-urology, neurosurgery, occupational therapy, orthopedics, physical therapy, plastic surgery, psychology, pulmonology, recreational therapy, social work and wound care. Fellows will also be encouraged to attend conferences and expositions, including those offered by the Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals.
Jackson Memorial Hospital rotations are housed in a state-of-the-art rehabilitation facility, the Christine E. Lynn Rehabilitation Center for the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. There will be a dedicated inpatient SCI service of 27, all-private suites with dedicated access to world-class therapy facilities and resources. All outpatient and research personnel for SCI will also be housed in the same facility. Through this University of Miami/Jackson Health System facility, our SCI patients will have access to all aspects of the campus’ resources, all under one roof, for the entire continuum of care.
The Miami VA Healthcare System’s Spinal Cord Injury Unit will also provide inpatient and outpatient training for our fellows, under the direction of Dr. Jasmine Martinez-Barrizonte, a former SCI fellow 2008 graduate. Numerous former graduates from our program have gone on to help train the next generation of SCI physiatrists as attendings at the Miami VA Healthcare System’s Spinal Cord Injury Unit.
We have graduated more than 20 fellows since starting the program in 2002. They all have received great job offers and are successful in their practices. We look forward to showing interested applicants more of what makes our program so special, and we thank you for your interest.
-David R. Gater, Jr., MD, PhD, MS
Description
The Miami VA Healthcare System’s Spinal Cord Injury Unit will also provide inpatient and outpatient training for our fellows, under the direction of Dr. Jasmine Martinez-Barrizonte, a former SCI fellow 2008 graduate. Numerous former graduates from our program have gone on to help train the next generation of SCI physiatrists as attendings at the Miami VA Healthcare System’s Spinal Cord Injury Unit.
We have graduated more than 20 fellows since starting the program in 2002. They all have received great job offers and are successful in their practices. We look forward to showing interested applicants more of what makes our program so special, and we thank you for your interest.
-David R. Gater, Jr., MD, PhD, MS
Fast Facts
Accreditation
Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education
Number of Fellows per Year?
2
Duration of Fellowship?
1 year
Clinical Experience
Year 1
Training will be evenly divided into three-month blocks rotating at both Jackson Memorial Hospital and the Bruce W. Carter Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Concurrently, the fellow is exposed to specialized outpatient clinics treating multiple sclerosis, musculoskeletal, spasticity and wound care, and can be tailored to the fellow’s clinical preferences.
The fellow will have a dedicated didactic program with lectures provided not only by PM&R faculty under the direction of the Fellowship Program Director Kevin Dalal, MD, but also research faculty at The Miami Project, as well as clinicians and research leaders in other University of Miami departments.
The fellow will also take a leadership role in educating residents and medical students/observers on the service as well as patients in the South Florida Spinal Cord Injury Model System’s Model System’s Post-Rehabilitation Educational Program and Resource Exchange “PREPARE” program, a didactic program set up to help patients maintain their knowledge base in the chronic phase of their recovery.
Research
The South Florida Spinal Cord Injury Model System in collaboration with The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis provides innumerable opportunities for research pursuits within the framework of grant-funded research protocols.
Within the parameters of the department, the fellow is expected to participate in a research project of their choosing to be presented at a Research Day presentation at the time of graduation. Additionally, the fellow will be expected to conduct a quality improvement project, to be presented at the final Grand Rounds of the academic year. Historically, fellows are active on numerous other projects in addition to these requirements, and are valued contributors and presenters at national conferences, for which they receive institutional support.
Your Faculty
Junney Baeza-Dager, MD
Attending Physician, Spinal Cord Injury Unit, Miami VA Healthcare System
Kevin Dalal, MD
Associate Director, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency Program
Assistant Professor, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
Medical Director, Spinal Cord Injury Inpatient Unit, Jackson Memorial Hospital
Jasmine Martinez-Barrizonte, DO
Chief of Service, Spinal Cord Injury Unit, Miami VA Healthcare System
David Gater, MD, PhD, MS
Co-Director, NIDILRR South Florida Spinal Cord Injury Model System, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
Director, Spinal Cord Injury Medicine Fellowship Program
Medical Director of Rehabilitation, Jackson Memorial Hospital
Professor and Chair
Alumni Placements Include:
Brooks Rehabilitation
Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare
James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital
Miami VA Healthcare System
University of Miami
Alumni Placements Include:
Brooks Rehabilitation
Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare
James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital
Miami VA Healthcare System
University of Miami
Notable Alumni
Junney Baeza-Dager, MD
2012
Staff Physiatrist, Spinal Cord Injury Unit, Miami VA Healthcare System
Julie Chow
2016
Director, Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana
Kevin Dalal, MD
2008
Associate Director, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency Program
Assistant Professor, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
Medical Director, Spinal Cord Injury Inpatient Unit, Jackson Memorial Hospital
Geneva Jacobs, MD
2014
Medical Director, Spinal Cord Injury, Brooks Rehabilitation
Jasmine Martinez-Barrizonte, DO
2009
Chief of Service, Spinal Cord Injury Unit, Miami VA Healthcare System
Giancarlo Perez-Albela
2019
Staff Physiatrist, Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare
Charles Alexander Plumlee
2016
Staff Physiatrist, North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System
Ori Schnitzer
2018
Staff Physiatrist, Sharp Memorial Hospital
Gizelda Tardin Bonamichi Casella, MD
2014
Staff Physiatrist, Physical Medicine and Rehab Medical Service Group
Cara Thomas
2018
Staff Physiatrist, National Health Rehabilitation