Program Training

Endocrinology Fellowship Clinical Training

Inpatient services include both the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and the Nashville Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, which are adjacent to one another.  Outpatient services feature the Vanderbilt Eskind Diabetes Clinic, a state-of-the-art facility housing both adult and pediatric endocrinology and diabetes clinics at Vanderbilt.  At this full-service clinic, the fellow benefits from a coordinated team approach to diabetes care, as well as multi-disciplinary thyroid and pituitary clinics.

There are also facilities for conducting clinical research.  The Nashville Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center outpatient clinic offers excellent training opportunities - staffed by members of the Division of Endocrinology-Metabolism and nurse practitioners.  It is a key component in the Endocrinology Clinical Training Program.

Clinical Training in Vanderbilt Department of Medicine

 

Year 1
  • Clinical focus with outpatient experience
  • Consults at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and the Nashville Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center under guidance of an experienced teaching faculty member
    • Rotations include: thyroid cancer, thyroid biopsy, bone disorders, intensive diabetes, gestational diabetes, lipids, obesity, PCOS, reproductive endocrinology, pituitary and adrenal disorders, pediatric endocrinology and general endocrine clinic
  • Built-in time to initiate research projects and establish a mentor
  

Year 2
  • Focus depends on fellow's interests and future plans
  • 2-year clinical fellowship plan
    • Meet with the program directors toward the end of first year to come up with a tailored clinical schedule for second year
    • Can include non-core rotations including: neurology, podiatry, endocrine surgery and maternal-fetal medicine
    • Significantly less time on the inpatient consult service as compared to the first-year fellows
  • 3-year clinical fellowship plan
    • Continue continuity clinic as a second year but spend the remaining time in the laboratory setting
  

Year 3
  • Research focus with ongoing exposure to outpatient endocrinology
  • Minimal inpatient consult time
  • Fellows may choose to continue half day continuity clinic or instead use that time to rotate through subspecialty clinics that they elect
  

Didactics and Conferences

Endocrinology Fellows have very well-organized didactics sessions lasting an hour twice weekly. Lecturers include both Division faculty as well as faculty outside the Division who have expertise on that topic. These encompass the complete breadth of endocrine education.

Journal Club and
Monthly Case Conferences

 Once monthly Journal Club and once monthly Case Conference are also geared toward the fellows but with faculty participation. In Journal Club, the first half of the year is dedicated to learning how to read the medical literature accurately, with each session focused on a different type of study design. Basic statistics is reviewed.
 

Endocrine Grand Rounds

 Endocrine Grand Rounds is held weekly and includes both adult and pediatric endocrinology. Speakers include both Vanderbilt faculty as well as guest speakers who are internationally known in their field.
 

Endocrine Tumor Board

 Endocrine Tumor Board is a multidisciplinary conference that includes surgery, radiology, pathology, oncology and endocrinology. This is a truly fun and interactive meeting where much is learned from our interdisciplinary discussion.
 

Pituitary Conference

Pituitary Conference is held weekly with endocrinology and neurosurgery. Fellows learn surgical indications, biochemical evaluations and to read MRIs.

Endocrinology Fellowship Research Training

The Vanderbilt Department of Medicine: Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism has a long track record of training academic endocrinologists. The fellowship program offers an intense research opportunity for fellows to develop their academic careers and thus the program is 3 years in duration.

Endocrinology fellow research time commitment

Year 1

Years 2 & 3

40%

80%

Vanderbilt Medical Center has a rich history of collaborative and multi-disciplinary research. This is reflected in the research programs of the faculty and fellows within the Division and the Diabetes Center as a whole. Although many fellows select projects under the guidance of Division faculty, fellows can choose research mentors from any of the Vanderbilt faculty working in the area of diabetes, hormonal and metabolic disorders, obesity, and endocrinology at Vanderbilt. This is a large and diverse group of potential mentors.

 

Over 100 faculty members in the
Diabetes Research and Training Center

 

Diabetes-related Research Areas

hormone action in animals
and humans as it relates to
diabetes and obesity		 intermediary metabolism pancreatic islet biology
micronutrient effects on
metabolic disease		 metabolic regulation molecular genetics of
metabolic disease
causes and treatments of obesity translation of diabetes care delivery type-1 diabetes
mechanisms and prevention

 

After choosing a research mentor, the fellow works in his/her mentor’s research area. The Vanderbilt laboratory and clinical research facilities are extremely strong.  Ones that are especially relevant for fellows in this program are the research laboratories of the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism, which occupy approximately 1 the 7th and 8th floors of Medical Research Building IV. This space includes the individual research laboratories, a fully equipped conference room, tissue culture facilities, animal preparation rooms, and shared facilities such as central offices, a break room, instrument rooms and cold rooms. There is additional research space at the VA ACRE building, adjacent to Vanderbilt. 

Vanderbilt and the Vanderbilt Diabetes Center offer a variety of core facilities (histology, microscopy, molecular biology, mouse metabolic phenotyping, mouse neurobehavior, islet analysis and preparation, mass spectroscopy, and hormone assay) that are very useful for individual research projects.  Key to training in clinical research is the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, funded by the NIH through a Clinical and Translational Service Award.  This facility includes inpatient beds, an outpatient center, as well as a metabolic balance core. It also provides funding and support for individual research projects by the trainees of this program.