Fellowship Program

The Fellowship Program is an ACGME accredited fellowship training program for pediatric endocrinologists. It is a young, vibrant, and thriving fellowship experience that offers extensive clinical training as well as outstanding clinical research and basic research training for future pediatric endocrinologists. The comprehensive fellowship is a three-year program. Six months of the first year and three months in each of the subsequent two years are devoted to clinical training, while the remaining time is dedicated to basic laboratory and/or clinical research. Throughout protected research periods, the fellow continues to attend a half-day fellows' continuity clinic.

Faculty and Section Expertise

The faculty is nationally recognized in their respective areas of clinical or basic research and they are also accomplished clinicians. Their areas of expertise are complementary to one another so that there is excellence in most clinical areas of pediatric endocrinology including general endocrinology, growth and pubertal development, diabetes, and metabolic disorders. As teachers, the faculty has been recognized by medical students, graduate students and residents as being outstanding. They are extremely popular with students and residents and are highly sought after to serve as mentors and advisors. Each faculty member has made a sincere commitment to teaching and they have received special recognition for these teaching efforts.

Clinical Responsibilities

The clinical service is busy. Currently, there are 27 half-day endocrine or diabetes clinics per week and the outpatient service averages 300 patients per week. The inpatient service typically averages between three and ten patients. Because the program is based in the only children's hospital in the state (population of 5 million), there is a wealth of clinical activity. Fellows are also welcome to attend the section'ssatellite clinics in South Bend, Fort Wayne, North Side, and St. Francis Hospital South Campus.

While on the clinical service, the fellow is responsible for managing the care of inpatients. In addition, the fellow is expected to attend a minimum of two outpatient clinic sessions per week. During the week, the fellow is expected to be available between 7:30 am and 5:30 pm daily. During the clinical rotations, the fellow takes call every other day and every other weekend on average. This schedule is designed so that the trainee has at least two nights off each week and has no program duties every other weekend.

Each fellow attends a bimonthly endocrine continuity clinic and a monthly diabetes continuity clinic. In these clinics, the fellow acquires a group of patients that are followed for the duration of the fellowship. Fellows remain actively involved in ongoing outpatient care of these clinic patients via telephone calls and communication with referring physicians. The staff coverage for this clinic includes at least four different faculty members, so that the fellow is exposed to different styles.

The fellow is expected to participate in the education of housestaff and medical students when performing clinical service time. On the inpatient service, there is always at least one pediatric resident. The fellow is expected to develop supervisory experience in directing the activities of the other trainees. The fellow will present informal teaching sessions to these trainees weekly and formal conferences to the entire Pediatric Endocrinology team monthly. In addition, annually the fellow is required to deliver lectures to the pediatric residents, conferences at the campus-wide Endocrinology Grand Rounds, and journal club presentations.

Research

The fellow has great flexibility in selecting a research project. During the first six months of the clinical program, the fellow is exposed to the research activities of the Section's faculty and may elect to work with anyone within the Section or in the Adult Endocrinology Section. The trainee is closely mentored by the senior investigator on every project; however, the fellow is expected to participate actively in the scientific design, execution and interpretation of results from each experiment. Regardless of whether the project is clinical or basic research, the trainee is expected to meet twice a week with the research mentor and to present a weekly update of progress to the rest of the specific research team. In addition, the fellow is expected to present an annual review of his or her research to the other members of the Section. At this meeting, progress is critically reviewed and constructive suggestions are made to ensure future productivity. Fellows are encouraged to present the results of their work at national meetings such as the Pediatric Academic Societies (SPR), the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society, the American Diabetes Association, and the Endocrine Society. These presentations are carefully coordinated and the entire Section participates in preparing the fellow for these public presentations. Those fellows interested in a career with a major emphasis on clinical or basic science research have the opportunity to apply for additional grant funding to extend their research training, either as a senior fellow or a junior faculty member.

Coursework

There is a standard curriculum of Pediatric Endocrinology topics that is covered each year during weekly section conferences. In addition, each fellow is encouraged to attend several courses that are offered on the Indiana University campus. These courses include a three week-long workshop on Molecular Biology, a semester-long course in Clinical Research techniques, a Summer Endocrine Didactic course, and a two-year course in Statistics and Epidemiology. There is also an opportunity to earn a Masters Degree in clinical research through the School of Medicine.

Evaluation

The fellows meet monthly with the staff physician on the inpatient service to evaluate their clinical skills. Trainees are formally evaluated twice per year by the entire Section Faculty who meet to discuss the fellows' clinical and research progress. Written records are kept by the Director of the training program who reviews the evaluation with the fellow. Constructive comments are always expected and progress in any areas of weakness is reviewed most carefully at subsequent evaluations.

The residents, students and fellows also regularly evaluate the faculty. These evaluations are forwarded to the Department Chairman who reviews them with the Section Director, who subsequently shares them with the faculty. Evaluation of the overall training program is also actively sought from the fellows. Each year, the fellows are asked to evaluate the program, and their comments are utilized in the continuing reassessment of the program structure and content.

Past History and Accomplishments

The program graduated its first fellow in 1991, and former fellows now have faculty positions at major university medical centers. During their fellowships, trainees have been awarded NIH National Research Service Awards and have consistently received competitive grant funding. Many fellows have received travel awards to national and international scientific meetings. Each fellow has been invited to present his or her research findings at national meetings, and each fellow has publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals.