Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine Fellowship

Welcome from our Program Director

Thank you for your interest in the Brigham and Women's Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine Fellowship program. Our group is really proud and passionate about our subspecialty and our fellowship – one of the oldest in the country. At the core of our program and our traditions lie the unwavering commitment to highest quality compassionate care and training, and the thrill of intellectual curiosity, constant discovery and innovation. The Brigham Regional Anesthesiology division boasts renowned faculty dedicated to teaching in a stimulating and nurturing environment, and supporting our outstanding trainees in their quest for clinical and academic excellence, ultimately preparing them to practice and shine in any setting, however challenging.

We have been fortunate to build through the years one of the largest groups of regional anesthesiology fellowship-trained faculty in the country which, combined with the resources of Brigham and Women's and the other Harvard affiliated hospitals, provide unmatched diversity of clinical cases, research and public service opportunities. Our department and our division seek to foster a collegial and supportive atmosphere where our fellows thrive not only to competency in all relevant areas, but to fully realize their highest potential as expert clinicians, teachers, scientists – true leaders in the field.

Please find more information about our curriculum and facilities on this website and we look forward to hearing from you.

Kamen Vlassakov, MD
Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine Fellowship Director
Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine

Contact Us

If you are interested in our Regional and Acute Pain Medicine Fellowship, please contact:

Kamen Vlassakov, MD
Regional and Acute Pain Medicine Fellowship Director
kvlassakov@bwh.harvard.edu

Andrew Shorten, MD
Regional and Acute Pain Medicine Fellowship Associate Director
ashorten@bwh.harvard.edu

Aymee Beaudoin
Fellowship Program Manager
abeaudoin1@bwh.harvard.edu

Overview

The Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine Fellowship program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital was founded by Dr. Mercedes Concepcion in 1985. Currently, a 12-month ACGME-accredited fellowship program, it is structured to provide fellows with a comprehensive perioperative clinical experience balanced with formal didactics, conferences and research. Fellows develop sufficient depth of knowledge in clinical neuroanatomy and sonoanatomy, pharmacology and neurophysiology, orthopedic and geriatric anesthesia, and many other relevant fields. They acquire profound understanding and proficiency in the perioperative evaluation, management and follow-up of complex acute pain scenarios and syndromes, as well as the multimodal and multidisciplinary approaches to their optimal management, to become expert consultants to our surgical, medical and anesthesiology colleagues.

Curriculum

The Regional and Acute Pain Medicine Fellowship program has been designed to expose our fellows to the best clinical experience possible. We do an extensive variety of regional techniques and more than 7000 blocks per year at our main campus.

The educational goals of this program are to prepare fellows to practice competently and independently as consultant-anesthesiologists and advanced expert-regionalists with an emphasis on:

• Mastering the indications, contraindications and technical skills to perform and teach peripheral nerve blocks
• Understanding preoperative assessment considerations, particularly in but not limited to the orthopedic patient population
• Intraoperative management for surgeries in which regional anesthesia is used
• Creating a post-operative pain management plan, often involving but not limited to the use of regional anesthesia
• Teaching and supervision of resident trainees
• Learning how to contribute to and incorporate into practice the regional anesthesia body of scientific knowledge

Didactics

• Daily intraoperative teaching
• Weekly lectures
• Weekly departmental grand rounds
• Monthly journal club
• Involvement in our Perioperative and Intensive Care Ultrasound course (PICUS) workshops
• Involvement in local workshops held in the Boston area
• Fellow specific Regional Anesthesia Conferences
• Anatomy Labs
• Regional Anesthesia Practicum with living models

Clinical Experience

The Regional and Acute Pain Medicine services of Brigham and Women’s Hospital provide perioperative care to more than 4,000 surgical patients each year.  Combined with the required and the elective rotations, this curriculum provides our fellows with unmatched comprehensive patient care experience in the full spectrum of health conditions related to Regional and Acute Pain Medicine:

• Regional Anesthesiology (main campus) – integral participation in the execution and teaching of basic and advanced regional anesthesia techniques in the main operating room for patients undergoing a variety of orthopedic, thoracic, cardiac, plastic surgery, neurosurgery and general surgery procedures, as well as patients in the intensive care units and in the cardiology critical care units
• Extensive clinical experience with the Acute Pain Service averaging 12-14 weeks cumulatively
• One month at Boston Children’s Hospital
• Ambulatory rotation at Foxboro Surgicenter or Faulkner hospital
• A 2-4 week rotation with the chronic pain service
• A 2-4 week elective rotation at Mass Eye and Ear
• A 2 week elective rotation with the Division of Obstetric Anesthesia, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
• A 2 week elective rotation in research, subject to research plan formulation and approval
• Each fellow will become proficient in a wide variety of blocks and will participate in regional anesthesiology training events, including resident workshops, daily hands-on teaching and formal teaching sessions

FAQs

Q. What are the annual salary and benefits like?
A. The starting salary for a PGY-5 in 2024 is $95,150. Employment benefits include health, dental, disability and other insurance. For more information please refer to FREIDA and the Mass General Brigham Office of Resources for Trainees.

Q. Can you give me some information about trainee contracts?
A. Please refer to the Trainee Contract section of our website.

Q: Do you sponsor Visas? 
A. At this time, our institution sponsors both H1b and J1 Visas.

Q. Is moonlighting available?
A. Moonlighting is available within the Mass General Brigham System to residents at the CA-2 level of training or higher. Fellows need permission from the Program Director and must have obtained a full medical license, Massachusetts Controlled Substances Registration (MCSR) and Federal DEA numbers. Moonlighting Fellows cannot be on a J1 Visa.

How to Apply

Fellowship Application

Selection to the fellowship is highly competitive. Only completed applications are reviewed.

SF Match

The Brigham and Women’s Hospital Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine Fellowship participates in the SF Match. The applicant registration opening date for the 2026-2027 academic year is January 6^th, 2025. Letters of recommendation should be submitted to the SF Match.

Application Documents

Complete these items in the SF Match Application database:

1. Complete the SF Match Application
2. Upload three letters of recommendation, one from Program Director or Chief of Service SF Match application
3. Add all test score results into the SF Match Application

Our SF Match Program ID is 8424.

The deadline for completed applications is Wednesday, March 5^th, 2025.

The Match results will be announced on June 9^th, 2025.