Fellowship
The Pediatric Rheumatology fellowship at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) and Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Einstein) is a three-year program with the goal of training physicians to become leaders in pediatric rheumatology.
Candidates are selected on the basis of excellence during their pediatrics training and medical school. Previous research experience is encouraged but not required for application to the program.
Program Overview
The first year of the program is focused on establishing clinical skills. The first-year fellow attends all outpatient clinics and, over the course of the year, is given increasing autonomy over the care of patients seen in the clinic. The first-year fellow also performs all inpatient consults and manages the care of patients admitted to the Rheumatology service at CHAM.
Fellows also receive ample experience performing intra-articular steroid injections and managing patients receiving outpatient infusions. During the second half of the year, the fellow, with the guidance of the faculty, identifies a research mentor and project, thus laying the foundation for the second- and third-year experience.
In the second year, the fellow spends approximately 50 percent of the time in clinic and 50 percent of the time on research endeavors. The fellow has one to two continuity clinics and also attends other subspecialty clinics, such as Adult Rheumatology, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, Dermatology, Rehabilitation Medicine and Immunology.
The third-year fellow spends approximately 80 percent of the time on research, while seeing patients in one continuity clinic per week. Overnight and weekend call is shared evenly among the three fellows.
Mentorship and Next Steps
Research mentors may be chosen from anywhere in the Einstein community, which has an abundance of opportunities available for clinical, basic science and translational research. Past fellows have been mentored by faculty in Pediatric Rheumatology, Adult Hematology, Microbiology & Immunology and Adult Rheumatology.
During the second and third years, a Scholarship Oversight Committee is formed to help ensure each fellow’s success. Fellows are strongly encouraged to submit their work for publication and presentation at local and national meetings. Recent fellows have received the Amgen Pediatric Research Award given by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and have been nominated for the ACR Distinguished Fellow Award.
Didactic activities are numerous and consist of weekly discussions of Cassidy and Petty’s Textbook of Pediatric Rheumatology, weekly Pediatric Rheumatology Grand Rounds, weekly Pediatrics Grand Rounds, a monthly Rheumatology-Nephrology conference, a monthly Rheumatology-Radiology conference and a quarterly Rheumatology-Immunology conference.
CHAM has a weekly “Fellows Science Course” in which fellows learn research methodology, skills for success in academia and effective teaching techniques. Our fellows are encouraged to play a major role in the education of rotating residents and students, and give lectures at house staff conferences. Past and current fellows have been inducted into the prestigious Leo M. Davidoff Society for their excellence in teaching medical students.
Fellows interested in pursuing a career in clinical research will additionally have the option of participating in the Clinical Research Training Program at Einstein. This two-year program provides a didactic curriculum and a mentored research experience leading up to a master of science degree in clinical research methods.
Fellows are encouraged to take leadership roles within national organizations, such as the American College of Rheumatology and the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatism Research Alliance. Recent fellows have sat on the ACR Fellows-in-Training Subcommittee.
The Montefiore Pediatric Rheumatology fellowship is designed so that graduates will be successful as physician-scientists or clinician-educators. Recent graduates of our program are on faculty at CHAM, Hackensack University Medical Center, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson, and Miami Children’s Hospital.
Our fellowship has been recognized for its excellence with multiple ACR Fellowship Training and Lupus Foundation Career Development Awards. If you are interested in learning more about our program, we would appreciate hearing from you.