During the course of the academic year, fellows participate in a series of lectures and conferences. These provide fellows with the opportunity to (1) prepare and present cases for discussion, (2) review the relevant medical literature for self-learning and presentation to faculty, and (3) attend lectures provided by local, national, and international experts on topics in basic and clinical endocrinology. The following is a description of the conferences routinely attended by all endocrinology fellows.
- Clinical Case Conference: First year fellows prepare one case weekly when they are on the inpatient consult rotation for discussion; cases are usually developed from recent inpatient and outpatient endocrine consultations performed by the fellows at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Typically, patients are presented whose problems pose interesting or difficult diagnostic or therapeutic decision making. During the discussion, the presenting fellows also briefly present the key literature relevant to the case.
- Endocrine Grand Rounds (hosted jointly by BWH and Boston Children’s Hospital): Local, national, and international endocrinologists are invited to present lectures on recent research findings relevant to adult general and pediatric endocrinology. This conference meets weekly from September to June. First year fellows also present at one of these conferences
- Journal Club: Fellows and faculty present critical reviews of recent journal articles. Typically, two articles are discussed at each journal club session.
- Endocrine Research Conference: This weekly conference provides the opportunity to BWH endocrine fellows and faculty to present their ongoing research.
- Endocrine Subspecialty Conferences: The faculty of the Thyroid, Hypertension, Diabetes, Pituitary, Bone and Men's Health sections hold monthly conferences to discuss challenging patient issues.
- Summer Bootcamp Series: This takes the place of Endocrine Grand Rounds during the summer and is a series of lectures and workshops focusing on endocrine emergencies and basic endocrine management principles in diabetes, thyroid cancer, bone health etc. There are also simulation sessions to introduce fellows to procedural skills.
- Fellows’ Core Curriculum Series: This is a series of didactic lectures covering all the main topics of endocrinology over two years. The fellows have a large amount of input on the topics covered. In the fall, these lectures focus on board review sessions.
- In-Training Exam Review: All fellows sit the in-training exam to give them and the program feedback on areas of strengths and weaknesses. A selection of complicated questions are discussed after the test to ensure that this is also a learning opportunity and a preparation for the endocrine board exam.
The fellowship program also offers financial support for educational expenses, such as travel to conferences or textbooks, courses, society memberships etc.
