Training Timeline
Training timeline for the Fellowship Program, Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, School of Medicine at UNC Chapel Hill:
| First year | Second year | Third year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outpatient clinics | Continuity clinics in diabetes & endocrinology | ||
| Specialty Clinics - Turner's Syndrome, , Lipid Disorders, Bone Clinic, and Gender Wellness | |||
| Inpatient/On-call Time | 8 months | 3 months | 2 months |
| Research/Scholarly Activities | Brainstorm project ideas Set up Scholarship Oversight Committee Interview several investigators to choose research mentor Make preparations for research project | Finalize IRB Start research project Collect and analyze data | Write manuscript Submit for publication Pursue additional interests |
| Academic lectures/ Core curriculum | Weekly board review, pediatric endocrinology conferences, combined adult and pediatric lectures, and Joint inter-divisional conferences Journal Club Summer series on the fundamentals of pediatric endocrinology |
||
| Career Development | Establish mentors | Explore career interests | Apply for jobs and/or grant funding |
| Formally meet with Program Director and Scholarship Oversight Committee twice yearly. | |||
| National Conferences | Fellows attend at least one national meeting per year. Fellows routinely submit abstracts and present research at national meetings. |
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| Annual Fun Activities | Monthly division social outings; Winter holiday party; Fellowship retreat and graduation party. | ||
| Vacation Time | 20 Monday through Friday workdays annually as paid time off (PTO includes all vacation, sick and personal leave). It is expected that 15 days will be used as vacation and up to 5 days for sick and personal leave | ||
The University of North Carolina Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes Fellowship program
The Division of Pediatric Endocrinology at UNC offers a rich training environment for physicians and researchers to receive a comprehensive educational experience, drawing on our close relationship with other world-class clinical teachers and researchers within the UNC School of Medicine community.
Residency
We play a major role in training pediatric residents in the Pediatrics Residency Program at UNC to become the next generation of primary care pediatricians, subspecialists, and leaders in academic centers.
We teach weekly seminars on core endocrinology topics to residents and medical students.
Fellowship
UNC offers an unparalleled opportunity for studying pediatric endocrinology within a strong general pediatric setting. Our training program consists of a comprehensive clinical and research experience spanning three years. This program is intended for physicians who desire to pursue a career in academic medicine that combines both clinical and research activities as well as medical education in endocrinology and diabetes. The clinical management of outpatient and inpatient endocrine disorders, including diabetes, is emphasized in the first year. The second and third years are primarily devoted to in-depth investigation of an area of basic, clinical, translational, or quality improvement research under the supervision of faculty mentors.
The First Year
As both an active primary care hospital and a major regional and national care center, UNC Children’s Hospital has a large and varied patient population with exceptional diversity of endocrine diseases and their complications. In the first year, fellows divide their time between monthly inpatient and outpatient rotations:
- Inpatient service and consults (8 months)
- Outpatient care, including endocrinology subspecialty clinics, and research activities (3-4 months)
Inpatient Service
In the inpatient endocrinology and diabetes service, the fellow works closely with a faculty member to evaluate and manage all endocrine and diabetes consultations within the NC Children’s Hospital. The fellow also directly supervises the care of all endocrine and diabetes patients admitted to the inpatient service, in collaboration with the pediatric resident team.
Outpatient Care
In the outpatient endocrinology clinic, the fellow holds 1-3 clinics each week, which exposes them to a wide range of pediatric endocrine disorders, including type 1 and type 2 diabetes, puberty and growth disorders, obesity, metabolic bone diseases, reproductive endocrinology, thyroid and thyroid nodules, disorders of sexual differentiation, transgender medicine, and brain tumor/neuroendocrine dysfunction. In the pediatric diabetes program, the fellow works within a multidisciplinary team that include nurse educators, nutritionists, and social workers to treat both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Fellows develop continuity with their patients whom they follow longitudinally during their training, with guidance from the faculty. The fellows also rotate through subspecialty clinics with a focus on Turner syndrome, bone metabolism, comorbidities of obesity, lipid disorders, disorders of sexual differentiation, and transgender medicine.
Night/Weekend Call
The on-call fellow takes weeknight call from home two nights during the workweek, with the other two nights being covered by the other fellows. The first year fellow is on call about 19 weekends per year from home, and may involve daytime rounding in the hospital. The on-call fellow answers all pagers from within the hospital, outside emergency rooms, and from patients and families at home. The on-call attending is available 24 hours a day to provide guidance, support, and supervision of the fellow on call.
Conferences
During the three years of fellowship, each fellow prepares and conducts approximately 10 – 15 clinical conferences attended by students, residents, fellows, and faculty in the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology. These conferences give the fellow the opportunity to investigate clinical topics in depth, to engage endocrinologists in discussion, and to provide interactive education to trainees.
The Second and Third Years
Under the supervision of the program directors, the first year fellow identifies faculty mentor(s) to plan, coordinate, and implement a comprehensive investigation of one area of basic, clinical, and/or quality improvement research. Each fellow also continues with longitudinal clinics for one day per week in general endocrinology and diabetes. All second or third year fellows spend one week at a summer camp for children with diabetes, where practical issues in diabetes outpatient management are emphasized under the guidance of attending staff.
During the second two years, the fellows continue to be on call and to develop their clinical evaluation and decision making skills with supervision from faculty members. The second year fellow is on call approximately 3 months per year, while the third year involves about 2 months of on-call time.