Medicine: Hematology and Oncology > Fellowship

Overview

The Division of Hematology and Oncology at UCI School of Medicine fellowship is an ACGME-approved, three-year combined hematology/medical oncology training program leading to American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) board eligibility in both hematology and medical oncology. We accept four fellows per year.

Fellows train at the UCI Medical Center (including the NCI-designated Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center) and the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center in Long Beach.

The division’s faculty members address hematologic and oncologic disorders at the medical center, which is consistently listed among the top 50 U.S. hospitals by U.S. News & World Report, as well as at the VA Long Beach Healthcare System.

Our Educational Mission

Our educational mission is to train future clinical investigators with expertise in patient care balanced by a deep understanding of clinical trials and translational clinical research.

Smiling medical team standing together outside a hospital

This clinical investigator focus is accomplished through high-quality mentorship during an 18-month research rotation (at 70% research effort, plus 10-20% clinical effort in the clinical subspecialty mentor’s clinic); a robust didactic lecture series including protocol writing, statistics and ethics; and our longstanding graduation requirement that all fellows must submit a clinical trial protocol under the direction of their research mentor.

As a result, our graduates have extensive subspecialty-based experience, as well as a broad knowledge of inpatient and outpatient hematology/oncology. In recent years, 25 to 50% of our graduates have gone on to pursue academic or academically affiliated careers, with the remainder working in group practice settings. We offer a dynamic curriculum, including a robust wellness initiative, broad clinical exposure and high-quality research mentorship.

The fellowship program is designed to educate and support future clinical investigators who plan to dedicate their professional careers to clinical or laboratory research in hematology and oncology.

During the first year, fellows acquire a panel of outpatients whom they follow longitudinally throughout fellowship training in their continuity clinics. Under the direct supervision of faculty members, fellows receive a thorough grounding in solid tumor oncology, general hematology and hematologic malignancies.

The curricular emphasis is on understanding the pathologic process of diseases, their clinical manifestations and complications, diagnostic methodology, evidence-based standard and experimental therapeutic modalities, clinical trials and research.

During the inpatient clinical experience, fellows provide care and consultative services to a varied population of patients. Formal teaching and attending rounds are held daily at the medical center in Orange and at the VA in Long Beach. Teaching rounds include discussion and management of patients, as well as didactic lectures on relevant pathophysiology and ongoing clinical trials and correlative studies.

Fellows participate in weekly didactic lectures, as well as academic activities including Journal Club, M&M, quality improvement, hematology conference and disease-specific lectures. Fellows are also encouraged to attend the 12 different disease-specific tumor boards that are conducted on a weekly basis. We have a robust quality improvement series, including annual wellness initiatives.

Fellows receive a thorough grounding in general hematology, hematologic malignancy and solid tumors. The emphasis is on understanding the pathologic process of diseases, the resulting functional changes, their clinical manifestations and complications, as well as diagnostic methodology, standard and experimental therapeutic modalities, clinical trials and research.

During the second and third year, fellows develop and participate in a longitudinal research project spanning 18 months of protected time under the supervision of a research mentor.

The University of California is a major NIH-funded academic institute and offers a variety of research opportunities ranging from basic molecular biology to translational clinical trials and health outcomes. Research is conducted under the supervision of the research mentor and the research oversight committee.

During the research rotation, fellows receive four weeks of intensive clinical hematology laboratory experience, including training in automated hematology, blood banking, flow cytometry, coagulation, transfusion medicine, special protein laboratory and hemoglobin variant analysis.

Fellows are expected to develop sufficient research experience by the end of the rotation to be able to prepare papers for presentation at national and regional meetings and manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed medical journals.

Our faculty views the successful training and ultimate career placement of the UCI hematology/oncology fellows as a fundamental responsibility, and many fellows have had highly productive research experiences.

Fellowship candidates must have completed a three-year residency program in internal medicine that is recognized by the ACGME and the ABIM. Applicants also should be able to demonstrate their interest in the subspecialties of hematology and oncology.

Candidates must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents, or hold a J-1 visa with ECFMG sponsorship at the time of application submission.

Candidates must also have a valid California medical license before beginning the fellowship program as required by state law. For graduates of medical schools outside the United States, please note the licensure process can take six months or longer.

If you are not already licensed in the state, contact the Medical Board of California at 1426 Howe Avenue, Suite 54, Sacramento, CA 95825-3236.

All applicants must apply through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS), developed by the Association of American Medical Colleges to electronically transmit applications, personal statements, three letters of recommendation (including residency program director letter), transcripts and other supporting medical school credentials.

For questions about the application process, go to ERAS online or call 215-966-3940.

Applications should be submitted as early as possible to meet ERAS deadlines for supporting documents and interview schedules. Late applications may not be considered.

For current information regarding fellows salary and benefits, please visit the Residents & Fellows Salary, Benefits, Policies page on our UCI Medical Education website.

View Salary & Benefits

Connect with Us

Interested in our fellowship program? Contact our fellowship program coordinator for more information.

Program Administration

Program Director: Jason A. Zell, DO, MPH

Associate Program Director: Lisa X. Lee, MD

Associate Program Director and LBVA Site Director: Ann Eapen, MD

Research Rotation Director: Angela Fleischman, MD, PhD

Program Coordinator: Carlie Courtney

Division Chief: Edward L. Nelson, MD, FAC

Key clinical faculty:

Jeffrey Ahn, MD

Medical School: Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
Residency: Loma Linda University Internal Medicine Residency, Loma Linda, Calif.
Publications: PubMed

Zhaohui Arter, MD

Medical School: Nanjing Medical University
Residency: Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii
Publications: PubMed

Chimezie Ubbaonu, MD

Medical School: University of Lagos College of Medicine
Residency: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Odessa, Texas
Publications: PubMed

Nellie Nafissi, MD

Medical School: University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson
Residency: Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, Ariz.
Publications: PubMed

Kevin Shieh, MD

Medical School: Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Residency: Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Publications: PubMed

Sami Dwabe, MD

Medical School: University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine
Residency: Los Angeles County/University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif.

Nghia Pham, MD

Medical School: Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine
Residency: Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, Sylmar, Calif.

Brian Warnecke, MD

Medical School: Kansas City University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Residency: University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas
Publications: PubMed

Omid Yazdanpanah, MD

Medical School: Kerman University of Medical Sciences
Residency: Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center (Downtown), Detroit, Mich.
Publications: PubMed

Dalia Kaakour, MD

Medical School: University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
Residency: UCI Medical Center, Orange, Calif.

Catherine Ly, MD

Medical School: Drexel University College of Medicine
Residency: University of Southern California/LAC+USC, Los Angeles, Calif.
Publications: Presented a study on the impact of COVID-19 on patients with genitourinary cancer. Co-authored papers about the acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) Frontline Regimen and differing outcomes between Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients with ALL.

Farah Shah, MD

Medical School: Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Residency: Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, Calif.
Publications: PubMed

Shannon Zhang, MD

Medical School: University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson
Residency: UCI Medical Center, Orange, Calif.
Publications: PubMed