Pain Medicine Fellowship

Experiential learning is attained through meaningful and responsible patient care under faculty supervision. Informal daily interactions with rotating residents, medical students, faculty and inter-professional team members occur in an academic environment that uniquely blends community and hospital-based medicine. These experiences prepare the pain medicine fellow for future practice in any setting.

Patients are seen in the inpatient setting at NYPH/CUMC. Additionally, patients are seen for consultation and interventional therapy at the ColumbiaDoctors Pain Management Center at 5 Columbus Circle. At both clinical sites the pain fellows obtain critical skills needed to provide patient care using an individualized, multidisciplinary approach with interventions focused on functional restoration and analgesia. The vast patient diversity affords exposure to a wide variety of pain problems that allow the fellow to develop competencies and skills needed to respond to the dynamic health care needs of patients across cultural and socioeconomic boundaries. They become facile at the art and science of integrating pain treatment with primary disease management.

Every core faculty member in the Pain Division is dedicated to providing compassionate, respectful, patient-centered care, while using stylistically distinct approaches to therapeutics and staying bound by ethical, evidence and value-based guidelines. This comprehensive training allows Pain Medicine fellows to broaden their perspectives and to develop the awareness needed to adopt practice styles consistent with their future career plans.

Fellows who graduate from the Columbia Pain Medicine Fellowship program are able to document a procedural and clinical experience that far exceeds ACGME requirements and seamlessly prepares them for independent practice. Through direct observation and feedback from faculty and inter-professional team members, the fellows are able to self-reflect and evaluate their personal clinical effectiveness to constantly improve their own skills. This experience, in association with research/scholarly activities, helps to develop all aspects of the expert consultant. Formal feedback on their competency development, aided by a self-reflective learning portfolio process, helps the fellow in establishing and monitoring individualized learning plans. The fellows are expected to take the Pain Medicine In-Training Exam in the latter half of the fellowship year, as a measure of their acquisition of medical knowledge regarding Pain Medicine in anticipation of the actual subspecialty certification examination.

All fellows receive a competitive salary and benefits from NYPH, our ACGME Institutional Sponsor. Please refer to the NYPH Graduate Medical Education Website for more specific information.

Program start date: July 1
Number of positions: 3
Length of program: 12 months

Fellows gain experience across multiple clinical environments that collectively provide exposure to the full spectrum of contemporary pain medicine.

NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center

As one of the nation's premier academic tertiary referral centers, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital provides fellows with extensive experience managing acute, chronic, cancer-related, postoperative, neuropathic, and pediatric pain. Fellows participate in multidisciplinary inpatient consultations while working closely with specialists in neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, oncology, rehabilitation medicine, psychiatry, palliative care, and other medical and surgical disciplines. This collaborative environment fosters sophisticated clinical decision-making and prepares fellows to manage the most medically and procedurally complex patients.

ColumbiaDoctors Pain Management Center

At the ColumbiaDoctors Pain Management Center, fellows develop expertise in comprehensive outpatient pain management through longitudinal patient care and advanced interventional procedures. Fellows evaluate new consultations, formulate individualized treatment plans, and provide ongoing care using a multidisciplinary approach that integrates image-guided interventions, medication management, behavioral pain medicine, acupuncture, nutrition, health coaching, and rehabilitation. This continuity clinic experience reinforces the importance of building lasting therapeutic relationships while delivering personalized, evidence-based care.

Och Spine at NewYork-Presbyterian/The Spiral

Fellows also rotate through Och Spine at NewYork-Presbyterian/The Spiral in Hudson Yards, a state-of-the-art comprehensive spine center that brings together nationally recognized experts in pain medicine, orthopedic spine surgery, neurosurgery, neurology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, radiology, and physical therapy. Within this uniquely integrated environment, fellows participate in multidisciplinary evaluation and management of complex spinal disorders while gaining exposure to innovative diagnostic pathways, collaborative treatment planning, minimally invasive spine interventions, neuromodulation, and advanced non-operative spine care. This experience provides an unparalleled understanding of how pain medicine integrates within a comprehensive spine program.

Interventional Training

Our fellows receive extensive procedural experience in fluoroscopic and ultrasound-guided interventions, including epidural steroid injections, facet interventions, radiofrequency ablation, sympathetic blocks, peripheral nerve blocks, vertebral augmentation, spinal cord stimulation, dorsal root ganglion stimulation, peripheral nerve stimulation, intrathecal therapies, and other advanced image-guided procedures.

In addition to procedural volume, our curriculum emphasizes thoughtful patient selection, precision diagnosis, technical excellence, and evidence-based decision-making. Fellows will operate with dedicated pain neurosurgeons and advanced interventional faculty so that they can graduate with the procedural confidence and clinical judgment necessary to determine when and which  interventions are most likely to improve patient outcomes.

Our fellows will additionally have on-site monthly advanced interventional workshop intensives guided by our advanced faculty to build technical fluency and dexterity. 

Multidisciplinary Education

Pain is a complex disease that requires collaboration across specialties. Throughout the fellowship, trainees work alongside physicians, psychologists, physical therapists, integrative specialists and rehabilitation professionals to develop comprehensive treatment strategies tailored to each patient's unique needs.

Daily structured educational conferences include case-based discussions, multidisciplinary conferences, journal clubs, board review, anatomy and procedural workshops, ultrasound education, simulation, and invited lectures from nationally recognized faculty. This curriculum fosters intellectual curiosity while preparing fellows for lifelong learning and leadership in the rapidly evolving field of pain medicine.

Scholarship and Professional Development

Fellows are encouraged to build an academic portfolio through clinical research, quality improvement, medical education, and scholarly activity throughout the fellowship year. Individual faculty mentorship supports the development of presentations, publications, educational initiatives, and academic portfolios that prepare graduates for successful careers in academic medicine, private practice, or health system leadership.

Mentorship and Graduated Autonomy

One of the defining strengths of our fellowship is our commitment to individualized mentorship. Fellows work closely with faculty who provide continuous feedback, direct observation, and progressive responsibility throughout the year. By graduation, fellows have developed not only advanced procedural skills but also the maturity, professionalism, and independent clinical judgment required to lead multidisciplinary pain practices.

• Program Length: 12 months
• ACGME Accreditation: Fully Accredited
• Program Start: July 1
• Positions: Three fellows per academic year

Graduates of the Columbia University Pain Medicine Fellowship leave with the experience, confidence, and vision to become outstanding clinicians, educators, innovators, and leaders in the field of pain medicine. Our mission is not simply to train interventionists—but to cultivate compassionate physicians who combine scientific rigor, technical excellence, and thoughtful multidisciplinary care to improve the lives of patients living with pain.

The Columbia University Pain Medicine Fellowship participates in the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) and the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). 

We seek fellows who demonstrate intellectual curiosity, professionalism, compassion, technical aptitude, and a commitment to delivering evidence-based, multidisciplinary pain care. Applicants with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and career aspirations are encouraged to apply. We welcome applications from physicians who have successfully completed, or are expected to complete, an ACGME-accredited 4 year residency in one of the following specialties:

• Anesthesiology
• Neurology
• Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R)
• Emergency Medicine 

Applications are submitted through ERAS. Interview invitations are extended following a holistic review of each applicant's academic achievements, clinical performance, scholarly activities, leadership experiences, and commitment to the field of pain medicine.

For detailed application timelines, eligibility requirements, and registration information, please visit the ERAS and NRMP websites.

Application Resources

• Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS®)
• National Resident Matching Program (NRMP®)

Application Information

• Application Platform: ERAS
• Match Program: NRMP
• Program Length: 12 Months
• Program Start Date: July 1
• Positions Available: 3 Fellows per Academic Year

For additional information regarding the Pain Medicine Fellowship or the application process, please contact the Fellowship Education Office at (212) 305-3226

Program Director
Leena Mathew, MD
Professor of Anesthesiology
Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Fellowship Coordinator
Elena Quinonez
eq2176@cumc.columbia.edu