Hospice and Palliative Medicine

The three fellows will be actively involved in working with the interdisciplinary teams in a variety of clinical settings.

The fellows will rotate in the following clinical activities, with attention to ensuring the fellow integrates seeing patients across these care settings.

Inpatient Palliative Care Consultation Service: Fellows will spend up to 6 months on the inpatient consultation services divided between Rush University Medical Center and Stroger Hospital of Cook County. The consultation services at both institutions have well established interdisciplinary teams and are clinically intensive rotations.

Inpatient Hospice Unit: Fellows will rotate in a hospice inpatient setting dedicated to high acuity support for hospice patients and their families and for the care of the imminently dying. The fellows will spend a total of 8 weeks in this interdisciplinary setting.

Home and Long-Term Care: Fellows will spend at least 8 weeks seeing patients at home and in long-term care settings, focusing on facilitating inpatient-outpatient continuity of care, especially as related to the practice of palliative and hospice medicine.

Outpatient Clinic: Fellows will have a palliative care clinic 1 half-day per week for a minimum of 6 months and will be assigned a faculty preceptor. The fellows will see patients with a variety of diagnosis and have the opportunity to see patients across care settings, hospital to clinic or clinic to home hospice or hospital.

Electives: Fellows can select from a variety of elective rotations, including pain, integrative/complementary medicine, wound care, neurologic and rehabilitative medicine or research. Additional electives can be arranged based on the fellow’s interests.

Joel Solis arrives to Cook County with a background in family medicine. Originally wanting to pursue primary care, he had several encounters with patients with serious illness that made him want to pursue palliative care. He has a special interest in working with underserved patients and is looking forward to serving others in a palliative care setting. In his free time, he enjoys watching sports, learning about history, and exploring new cities. Joel looks forward to learning more about palliative care and becoming the best team player he can be.

Victor Wong is thrilled to join the palliative care program at Cook County/Rush University and serve the people of Chicago. He completed residency training in Emergency Medicine at Maimonides Medical Center, the largest hospital in Brooklyn, NY. Despite a deep passion for the breadth and acuity of emergency medicine, he made the most profound connections in the ED when having deep discussions with gravely ill individuals and their families. He is excited to continue exploring the complex cultural, ethnic, religious, and family backgrounds that influence the dynamic decisions of individuals and families at the end of life. Outside the hospital, Victor loves exploring the city with his friends, indulging in boba and spicy foods, and doing his best Steph Curry impression on the basketball court. Lastly, he knows his New York friends would disown him if he said that Chicago pizza > NY pizza, but it’s true!

Noorel Zia hails from the Motor City. He initially was a volunteer with the Hospice of Michigan before medical school and pursued his emergency medicine residency in Detroit. He enjoys the thrills of high acuity cases in the emergency room but is also deeply passionate about end-of-life care. On his free time, he likes playing guitar, rooting for the Detroit Lions (often times not so painfully), cooking at home, and trying new restaurants. He is looking forward to working in a brand-new city with a great group of peers and having the opportunity of treating complex medical pathologies of people from all walks of life while also giving back to an undeserved population.