The Franciscan Health Olympia Fields Graduate Medical Education (GME) program is now home to a three-year cardiovascular disease fellowship.

Three fellows are members of the inaugural class, which began July 1. The first fellows are all graduates of Franciscan Health Olympia Fields’ internal medicine residency program.

“We retained some of our best and brightest,” said Paul Johnson, designated institutional official for Franciscan Health Olympia Fields’ Graduate Medical Education program.

Johnson said having a fellowship program in a community-based location like Olympia Fields is an important achievement.

“It raises the profile of our hospital as an academic institution,” Johnson said. “We are an independent academic medical center. It distinguishes what we do from many other community hospitals in Chicagoland.”

Eligible applicants must complete three years of an internal medicine residency. Fellows become part of the hospital workforce, making them both learners and employees.

Dr. Elias Khazoum is one of the fellows in the inaugural class. When Khazoum completed his internal medicine residency at Franciscan Health Olympia Fields, he stayed on and became chief resident.

In that role, he helped facilitate the cardiovascular disease fellowship accreditation process. He said there are multiple benefits of fellowship programs to physicians and patients alike.

“Any time you have an educational program in-house, it drives faculty members as well as the learners to stay up to date about literature and active care,” he said. “You’re forced to think a little more critically when explaining to a learner and patients can be reassured knowing that multiple clinicians are collaborating closely on their care and communicating thoughtfully with them.”