Expanding Graduate Medical Education with New Specialty Fellowship Programs
Sierra View Medical Center has reached a significant milestone in the growth of its Graduate Medical Education program with ACGME Initial Accreditation for new fellowship programs in Cardiovascular Disease and Gastroenterology.
The two programs will bring advanced specialty physician training to Porterville and build on the foundation of Sierra View’s Internal Medicine Residency Program. Each fellowship is approved for six fellows, who will complete their specialty training at Sierra View Medical Center. The Gastroenterology Fellowship is scheduled to welcome its first class in July 2027. The start date for the Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship is still being finalized.
The new fellowships are being developed with a larger regional need in mind. Communities throughout the Central Valley have long faced challenges recruiting and retaining specialty physicians, which can contribute to longer waits for appointments and the need for patients to travel outside their communities for advanced care. By expanding physician training in the Valley, Sierra View is working to help build a local pipeline of specialists who understand the patients and communities they serve.
“Establishing these fellowship programs is about much more than adding another level of medical education at Sierra View,” said Nashwan Obad, MD, Program Director of Sierra View Medical Center’s Internal Medicine Residency Program. “It is about creating a pathway to train specialists in the communities that need them. Physicians who train here care for our patients, work alongside our medical teams and gain an understanding of the healthcare needs of the Central Valley. Our hope is that those connections encourage more physicians to build their careers in this region.”
Fellowship training takes place after physicians complete residency and provides advanced education and clinical experience within a medical specialty. While many fellowship programs are based at large metropolitan academic medical centers, establishing Cardiovascular Disease and Gastroenterology fellowship training in Porterville creates additional opportunities for physicians to pursue advanced specialty education in the Central Valley.
“These programs represent an investment in the future of healthcare throughout the Central Valley,” said Donna Hefner, President and CEO of Sierra View Medical Center. “For many years, communities like ours have worked to recruit specialists who completed their training somewhere else. By developing fellowship programs here, we have the opportunity to be part of training the next generation of specialists in the Central Valley and strengthening access to specialty care for years to come.”
The fellowship programs grow from Sierra View’s Internal Medicine Residency Program, which received ACGME accreditation in September 2020 and welcomed its first class of residents in July 2021. The program now trains approximately 40 physicians and has graduated 36 residents through 2026. Graduates have gone on to pursue fellowship training in specialties including Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Critical Care Medicine, Endocrinology, Infectious Disease and Nephrology, while others have entered careers in hospital medicine and primary care. Physicians trained at Sierra View are now caring for patients throughout the Central Valley and beyond.
Program directors for the Cardiovascular Disease and Gastroenterology fellowships will be announced as development of the programs continues. Additional information about recruitment and program timelines will be shared as it becomes available.
