Each first-year fellow will have four outpatient continuity clinics a week. Fellows have the opportunity to learn from a diverse patient population and enhance their clinical skills through direct patient care under the mentorship of our experienced faculty. Our clinic experience is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of a wide range of rheumatic diseases. Our clinic also emphasizes the importance of patient education and long-term disease management, ensuring you are well-prepared to provide holistic care.
Curriculum
Clinic Experience
Electives
Electives can be scheduled in hand surgery, physical therapy, occupational therapy, uveitis clinic, dermatology, radiology, and other departments depending on fellow’s interest.
Second year fellows attend pediatric rheumatology clinic at Boston Children’s Hospital once a week to once a month
Consult Experience
First-year fellows are assigned to the inpatient consult service for 22 weeks, out of which the first 8 weeks are shared by both fellows. Second year fellows are assigned to the inpatient consult service for 12 weeks.
Our consultation experience is integral to the rheumatology fellowship and is designed to build your proficiency in managing complex cases. Fellows will provide consultative services in various hospital settings, including general medical wards, intensive care units, and emergency departments
Conferences
Our program includes weekly didactic sessions, grand rounds, journal clubs, and case conferences to enhance learning and stay current with the latest developments in rheumatology.
National and Regional conferences:
Our division sponsors fellows to attend two conferences each year.
Year 1
- Philadelphia region’s First Year Fellows conference is an annual event designed to provide first-year fellows with a unique educational and networking opportunity.
- The American College of Rheumatology State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium (SOTA) is an annual conference that provides the latest updates and advancements in rheumatology.
Year 2
- American College of Rheumatology Annual meeting which is one of the most significant events in the field of rheumatology.
- The Brigham Board Review and Comprehensive update in rheumatology or UCSF Rheumatology Board Review.
Morbidity and Mortality Conference:
- These conferences are scheduled quarterly and involve discussions to evaluate and learn from patient cases, with a focus on improving patient outcomes and clinical practice.
Summer Series:
- During summer, Faculty will guide fellows attending the American College of Rheumatology V-FIT series, which is a collection of online courses developed by rheumatology experts to address the specific educational needs of fellows in training.
Interdisciplinary conferences:
- Radiology: Monthly
- Pulmonology: Quarterly
- Pathology: Quarterly
- Sarcoidosis Clinical Conference: Monthly
- Gastroenterology: Annual
- Department of Medicine Grand Rounds - Weekly clinical or translational conference for all members of the Department of Medicine.
Ultrasound training
We encourage fellows to complete the USSONAR training or EULAR MSK ultrasound course to become accredited in Musculoskeletal ultrasound.
Ultrasound Teaching Clinic is organized once every month to improve the sonographic skills of our fellows.
Fellows have access to a dedicated ultrasound machine in the rheumatology clinic, and we have point-of-care ultrasound machines on the inpatient floors. We also train fellows to use the hand-held ultrasound machine during their clinic sessions.
Our fellows can remotely join the Musculoskeletal Ultrasound (MSUS) Conference held at MGH. The conference focus on recognizing basic ultrasound anatomy and is conducted 6 times per year.
Hands-On Regional Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Workshop Sessions: Our division sponsors second year fellows to attend the Introductory and Advanced Musculoskeletal Ultrasound: Hands-On Diagnostics and Cadaver Lab-Based Guided Interventional Skills (subjected to change on yearly basis).
Research
Fellows are expected to identify an independent research project by the second half of the first year. This project will allow them to develop skills in hypothesis-setting, study design, and data interpretation under the direct supervision of a mentoring faculty member.
Interested fellows can also work on ongoing research projects including clinical trials and NIH funded studies.
View ongoing clinical trials in our division.
QI project:
Under the supervision of Dr. Shantini Kasturi, each fellow should identify, design, conduct and present at least one quality improvement project during the two years.
We encourage and guide our fellows in participating in other scholarly activities including participation in grand rounds, posters, workshops, quality improvement presentations, podium presentations, non-peer-reviewed print/electronic resources, articles or publications, book chapters, textbooks, webinars, or serving as a journal reviewer, journal editorial board member, or editor.
Evaluation
Evaluation and assessment occur through:
- Clinical Competency Committee
- Milestone assessment process
- Individual program director-fellow feedback sessions
- Direct observation
- 360 evaluations
- Regional annual collaborative ROSCE
- ITE (In training examination)
Vacation
- 3 weeks (15 working days)
- Sick days - 12
- Personal days - 3
- Parental leave - 6 weeks maternity leave, paternity leave and adoption leave.