The educational objectives of the core conferences are to provide the Fellows a broad background in Endocrinology and Metabolism in the areas of basic science, clinical medicine, and research and to promote skills in independent learning and development, and the opportunity discuss a variety of disease processes in greater depth than at the bedside or the ambulatory clinic.
Clinical Endocrinology Conference, held weekly, provides the opportunity for presentation of clinical problems encountered in the inpatient and ambulatory settings for in-depth discussions and literature review of disease process, pathophysiology and treatment.
Nuclear Medicine Conference, held monthly, aims to help develop the skills required in reading and interpretation of nuclear medicine scans (Tc, sestamibi, I131, I123, octreotide, MIBG, iodocholesterol) as related to Endocrinology. The appropriate indications for ordering nuclear medicine scans, and the basic science principles that underlie the use of each of the radiopharmaceuticals used are reviewed.
Endocrine-Surgical-Pathology Conference, held monthly, provides an opportunity to review the pathological findings at the gross and microscopic levels of a wide variety of endocrine disorders including thyroid adenomas, thyroid carcinoma, parathyroid adenoma, pituitary adenoma, islet cell tumors, pheochromocytoma, adrenal adenomas and adrenal carcinoma, and to learn about the proper surgical management of these disorders.
Thyroid Aspiration Biopsy Conference, held weekly. The educational objective of this conference to become familiar with the reading and interpretation of aspiration biopsies of the thyroid. This is a practical session where all aspiration biopsies performed the preceding week are reviewed under a multi-headed microscope with a cytologist and the Attending endocrinologist who performed the thyroid FNA.
Journal Club, held monthly, helps the Fellows develop the ability to critically read clinical and research articles in Endocrinology. Generally, two articles will be presented. One article is picked by the trainee assigned to that month and one article by the attending assigned to that month. In general, there will be an even mix between clinical and basic science articles. Participation in the journal club also provides instruction in clinical epidemiology, biostatistics, and clinical decision theory.
Didactic Lecture Series
In addition to the above weekly conferences, biweekly didactic sessions are given in the beginning of the academic year (July to October). The curriculum aims at providing formal instruction in the following:
- Pathogenesis and epidemiology of diabetes mellitus
- Genetics as it relates to endocrine diseases
- Developmental endocrinology, including growth and development, sexual differentiation, and pubertal maturation
- Endocrine physiology and pathophysiology in systemic diseases and principles of hormone action
- Biochemistry and physiology, including cell and molecular biology and immunology, as they relate to endocrinology and metabolism
- Signal transduction pathways and biology of hormone receptors
