Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship Program Overview
Our Program at Stanford University
The Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship at Stanford School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford (LPCH) is an ACGME accredited 3-year training program designed to prepare physicians who are board eligible in pediatrics to become leaders in the field of pediatric endocrinology and diabetes in academic or clinical medicine.
Spread over the three-year program, the fellow completes one year of clinical training and two years of either basic science, clinical or translational research and participates in grant writing and a quality improvement project. Clinical training is performed both on Stanford campus at the Mary L. Johnson Pediatric Ambulatory Care clinic and at Stanford Children’s Health endocrinology clinics located in neighboring communities, Los Gatos and Sunnyvale.
Environment
The fellows interact closely, in a friendly and supportive environment, with each other and division faculty who supervise fellow care of patients, education, scholarly activity, and career development. They are encouraged to participate and take leadership roles in the many inclusive, social, and educational opportunities available through the Division, Department of Pediatrics, and the Office of Pediatric Education just to name a few!
Scholarly Activity
In keeping with guidelines established by the American Board of Pediatrics and the vision of Stanford School of Medicine to fuel innovation and transform patient care, all fellows are required to pursue hypothesis-driven research during their fellowship and participate in a quality improvement project. Fellows are encouraged to take advantage of the unique breadth of multidisciplinary research opportunities available within Stanford University’s Seven Schools. With assistance from program leadership, fellows identify a research mentor and project early in their first year.
This is a clinically, front-loaded program, however, research time is allocated throughout the three years with much of the third year dedicated to scholarly activity. In the first year, fellows will commence research and develop and submit an internal grant proposal with the Maternal Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI). The process mirrors that of external, competitive grants to prepare fellows for th transition to future careers as physician scientists.
The program and department support the development of fellows' research and grant writing skills in many ways including the enrollment of first-year fellows in a week-long Fellows' Scholarship Academy late October, followed by Grant Writing Club meetings as the fellow develops their research question culminating to the grant submission in early February. Additionally, there is ongoing mentorship in the program and the Scholarship Club meetings that address the needs of the second and third-year fellows.
Individualized scholarship oversight committees (SOC) comprised of at least three faculty members are formed once a project is identified. SOC meet semi-annually to oversee fellow progress. Fellows regularly present to the faculty, and are encouraged to present at local and national conferences and to submit a scholarly manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal by the end of their third year. A personal statement and completed work product approved by the SOC are required by early June in the final fellowship year in order to qualify to sit for the Board exams.
Funding
The School of Medicine offers a highly competitive pay and benefits package to fellows with many stipends like monthly housing stipend, annual QI involvement bonus, and a free healthcare plan option. The program guarantees funding for all three years. However, fellows are required to participate in the internal, Maternal Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI), grant application process to seek research funding for the second and third-year. External funding may also be pursued.
Clinical Training and Rotations
The fellow's office and rest areas are on campus at the main hospital as is the primary pediatric endocrinology clinical site and the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford. The brand new children's hospital opened in December 2017. And, there are numerous satelite, partner clinics in the region where fellows are able to rotate either for convenience or to gain wider exposure to diverse populations and cases. Currently, call is taken from home.
Education
In addition to clinic-based learning and delivering resident lectures, fellows are required to attend weekly didactic sessions where they present journal articles, case conferences, research, and physiology talks to division members and affiliates. Fellows conduct their own, weekly board review series. The Fellows' College series, monthly division faculty lectures, weekly adult endocrinology conferences, and pediatrics grand rounds also comprise the curriculum.