Didactic Education and Meetings

Our Pediatric Endocrine Division holds a weekly academic conferences, called the "Tuesday Noon Conference", with active fellow participation. The conference schedule includes a Topic Review for the fellowship core curriculum (the "Fellows' Lecture" series) as well as Journal Club, Thyroid Tumor Board, and Case Presentations. Pediatric Endocrinology faculty from outside institutions including Balboa Naval Hospital, Sharp Rees-Stealy, and Kaiser Permanente participate in these academic meetings.

Following the weekly Tuesday Noon Conference, fellows attend an additional 2-hour educational session called the FEEDBACK (Fellow EDucation BAsed on Cases to expand Knowledge) conference with a faculty preceptor. In these FEEDBACK sessions, fellows discuss cases and board examination content with their fellow colleagues and a pediatric endocrine attending. Didactic fellow core lectures are also presented in this session by faculty members.

Fellows attend weekly Pediatric Grand Rounds at Rady Children's Hospital and have the opportunity to attend Adult Endocrinology Grand Rounds at UCSD. Within RCHSD and UCSD, there are numerous clinical and research conferences and symposia where fellows can attend and present their research or Quality Improvement (QI) projects.

Fellows are expected to attend at least one national meeting per year. Our fellows typically present at least one abstract, poster, or oral presentation at the Endocrine Society Meeting, the Pediatric Endocrine Society Meeting, or the American Diabetes Association Meeting.

Each fellows will formulate and develop a QI project under the guidance and mentorship of a QI expert within our Division or in the Department of Pediatrics. QI training is also offered through the Innovative Quality Improvement Research in Residency (INQUIRY) Program at Rady Children's Hospital for pediatric residents and fellows.

The Division encourages and supports fellows in participating in more formal research or medical education training. Fellows may participate in clinical research training though the CREST (Clinical Research Enhancement through Supplemental Training) Program offered at UCSD. Fellows interested in building skills in clinical teaching and medical education may pursue training in the UCSD Pediatrics Fellow as Clinician Educator Track (FACET) program at Rady Children's and the UCSD Faculty and Fellows As Clinician Educators (FACE) course.

Teaching Opportunities

Fellows have ample opportunities for bedside teaching during their on-service months as they work closely with residents and medical students in the inpatient and outpatient settings. More formal teaching includes:

Division Journal Club:

Each fellow reviews and presents an article of interest once a year at our division academic conference.

Case Conference:

Fellows are encouraged to share interesting or challenging cases at the weekly division academic conference to discuss with attendings and other fellows.

Feedback Conference:

Fellows have the opportunity to present content related to outpatient or impatient cases, practice questions for the board examination, or other topics of interest to their fellow colleagues and faculty preceptor.

Resident Noon Conference:

Each fellow gives a lecture on a common pediatric endocrine topic to pediatric residents and medical students once or twice a year.

Lecture for the first-year residents during orientation to prepare them for their endocrinology rotation on the inpatient service.

Resident School:

Fellows and faculty from our division present a half-day afternoon session every other year as part of the Resident School curriculum. This is a fun educational activity (nicknamed Resident BP for "Bezoar Pediatrics: Ingest It & Retain It") and is designed to deliver concise, high-yield, interactice content on pediatric endocrine topics to the pediatric residents.