The Second & Third Years

Under the supervision of a faculty mentor, the fellow undertakes an in-depth investigation of one area of basic or clinical research. Fellows may select a mentor in one of the many of areas of investigation offered by the faculty at Boston Children’s Hospital, or they may choose to work with an investigator at affiliated institutions including Joslin Diabetes Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Broad Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Massachusetts General Hospital. (See “Research Opportunities” for details of current research programs at Boston Children’s Hospital.)

Mentorship is a critical element of training in academic medicine, and the Fellowship Program is committed to providing outstanding mentorship for our fellows. The process of selecting a research mentor occurs during the first year. This process is overseen by the Division Chief and Fellowship Director, who meet with each fellow throughout the first year to explore interests, suggest potential mentors, and facilitate the eventual selection of a research mentor by the spring of the first year.

During the second and third years, each fellow has a Scholarship Oversight Committee that meets twice per year to review research progress and scholarly activities. This group also advises the fellow on career development, with the goal of guiding the fellow’s post-graduate planning and transition to a faculty position.

In both the second and third years, each fellow continues with longitudinal clinics for one half-day per week at Boston Children’s Hospital, seeing a combination of general endocrinology and diabetes. All fellows spend one week at a summer camp for children with diabetes during the summer before their second or third year. At camp, practical issues in diabetes outpatient management are emphasized under the guidance of attending staff. Each fellow also returns to the inpatient setting for two weeks on the Endocrinology service each year.

Night/Weekend Call

In the second and third years, each fellow takes call from home for the inpatient Endocrinology and Diabetes services one weeknight (Mon-Thu) every 6 weeks. Weekend calls are divided evenly among fellows of all three years. Weekend inpatient call occurs every 9^th weekend (on average) and includes daytime rounding in the hospital and overnight call from home (Fri-Sun). In addition, each fellow takes outpatient call from home (Sat/Sun mornings 8a-12p) every 9^th weekend to allow the inpatient team to round more efficiently.

Education and Conferences

Fellows continue to attend a variety of other educational conferences including Fundamentals of Endocrinology, Fellows’ Journal Club, Endocrinology Clinical Case Conference and Division Seminar, and a variety of endocrine subspecialty and multidisciplinary conferences. They also present their ongoing research annually to the Endocrine Division. Second year fellows take part in a fellowship quality improvement curriculum that includes both didactics on high-yield topics and formal project mentorship.