The LAC+USC Medical Center is one of the largest university-affiliated general hospitals in the United States. The patients include a wide variety of acutely ill, newly diagnosed rheumatology patients such as those with infectious arthritis, systemic vasculitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, etc. The Division of Rheumatology operates a consultation service and three outpatient arthritis clinics per week and a fourth clinic at the Roybal Comprehensive Health Center.

Rancho Los Amigos Hospital is a major center well known for its expertise in rehabilitation and reconstructive surgery especially in arthritis. At the USC University Hospital three faculty rheumatologists staff a 32-bed inpatient rehabilitation unit. These programs provide another dimension to the service and complement the resources of LAC+USC Medical Center. The rheumatology trainee gains in depth and extensive experience and training in the orthopedic and rehabilitative care of arthritis patients at each facility. In addition, the long term care of the arthritis patients and the psychosocial aspects of rheumatic diseases are emphasized.
During the second year of fellowship, the trainee spends one month at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles to gain experience in the diagnosis, management and treatment of pediatric rheumatology cases.

The Division conducts three regularly scheduled conferences: Rheumatology Grand Rounds, Journal Club, and RLAH Conference. Rheumatology Grand Rounds is a clinical conference held once a week at LAC+USC Medical Center. A patient seen by the trainee is presented and discussed in this conference. Faculty and fellows present one carefully selected journal article in a Journal Club. At RLAH, each in-patient is presented by the rheumatology trainee in a multidisciplinary patient conference. The rounds are attended by rheumatology staff, orthopedic surgeon, physical therapist, medical psychologist, social worker, occupational therapist, nurse, and other allied health personnel. Decisions are made concerning the optimum care of the patient.

Since the opening of the USC University Hospital in 1991, our faculty has been responsible for the operation of an in-patient rehabilitation service and has become intimately involved with the Department of Orthopedics in the operation of their Arthritis Center. This program is headed by Dr. Glenn Ehresmann and supported by two other full time faculty members. The rehabilitation in-patient service not only hospitalizes patients with rheumatologic or orthopedic problems, but also includes neurology and neurosurgical patients so that the trainee is exposed to comprehensive rehabilitation medicine. For the interested trainee, spending an additional year based predominantly at the USC University Hospital can be an invaluable experience.

The research component combines the expertise team of basic-science-oriented faculty and clinical faculty with the exceptional resources in rheumatic diseases available at our teaching hospitals. There are four full time faculty members who are primarily involved in research. Three of these have Ph.D. degrees and have demonstrated areas of expertise in immunology and molecular biology. The laboratories occupy five thousand square feet of space and are located in the Hoffman basic science building that is across the street of the LAC+USC Medical Center. The Division operates the Core Molecular Biology Facility for the Department of Medicine and the Core flow cytometry facility.