Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program
Program Overview
The goal of the LSU Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program is to produce skilled and compassionate leaders who provide the best possible care to their patients and their families and make important contributions to the emerging field of palliative care.
Since its inception in 2023, our interdisciplinary program based at Our Lady of The Lake Regional Medical Center (OLOLRMC) in Baton Rouge has developed a successful one-year ACGME accredited fellowship to equip fellows with the skills they need to excel in their chosen field, whether academic medicine, community-based care, or hospice care. The program is affiliated with Louisiana’s largest academic hospital, OLOLRMC along with The Hospice of Baton Rouge, the largest not-for-profit hospice in our region. It is currently the only LSU-sponsored palliative medicine program.
We currently offer one Palliative Fellowship position per year with plans to grow the program in the coming years. The Fellow will gain experience in multiple venues to include: the inpatient consultation service, outpatient clinic, long-term care facility, 8 bed inpatient GIP hospice unit, and home hospice. Experience includes complex care rotations with the critical care and trauma teams as well as medical and surgical oncology, interventional pain management and substance use disorder clinics to better understand the broad skill set required to perform at the highest level.
Our mission is to train physicians who are:
- Skilled and compassionate palliative medicine physicians who truly care about those they serve.
- Lifelong learners and teachers, evolving, strengthening, and sharing palliative medicine knowledge and skills.
- Proficient in techniques of interdisciplinary leadership and quality improvement.
- Catalysts for improving outcomes of palliative care in the health care systems where they work.
- Interested in caring for underserved communities, which aligns with the mission of our sponsoring institution, LSU School of Medicine and our training site, OLOLRMC.
Message from the Program Director
As director of the LSU Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship program, I thank you for your interest in this specialty and in our unique training program. Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, the largest medical center in Louisiana, serves as the primary training site for our LSU SOM sponsored fellowship program. Palliative Care is a foundational mission for our Health System and this Fellowship is enthusiastically supported by its leadership. Located in our state’s capital, Baton Rouge is the second largest city in Louisiana, a university town, and has a growing health district which is a strategic coalition of life science entities dedicated to strengthening the community.
We are a small program (one fellow), but as a highly supported palliative care program
we offer an excellent opportunity for a fellow seeking a firm educational foundation.
And because of the complex social determinants that impact our community, our program
offers a unique opportunity to engage with a diverse population that requires a comprehensive
approach to care. Although in our first year, we plan to modify our program as needed,
shaped by engaged faculty and feedback from our fellows. Our faculty, made up of physicians
and other members of the team, love to teach and are committed to making this the
best possible training experience for our fellows.
As you explore opportunities for training, we encourage you to learn more about our
program and wish you the best as you make the important decision about where to pursue
your advanced training in hospice and palliative medicine.
Mark Kantrow, MD
Program Director
Inaugural Fellow
Danielle McMechan is a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia Family Medicine Residency program in 2017 after graduating from Ross University Medical School in 2013. She has worked in Hospital Medicine over the last 6 years in both community-based and academic centers. She, her husband, son and two beagles relocated to Baton Rouge in 2021 for an opportunity with Our Lady of the Lake RMC. Earlier this year, she was accepted to the new LSU Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship program, which started in July and is thrilled to be a part of this community.
For more information, contact our program coordinator Tammi Aidt at Tamela.Aidt@fmolhs.org or (225)765-8996.
