Applicants FAQ
What does the program offer for additional research support?
Previous fellows have found the assistance of our divisional biostatistician, Cynthia Bell, invaluable in the development of high quality research design and analysis. Cynthia Bell is often part of the fellow’s SOC committee. Each fellow receives a yearly $500 stipend for educational expenses. Fellows are not expected to secure funding for salary support.
What is the call schedule?
There is no in-house call: call for the on-service fellow is taken from home. Fellows, with the assistance of the program director, make their own call schedule for service and weekend coverage. In the unusual instance when the fellow is in house overnight for a sick child, they are not allowed to work more than 30 consecutive hours. The fellows are also not allowed to average more than 80 hours per week over a two week period. Moonlighting hours, though allowed, are included in the 80 hour work week limit. Fellows average 5-6 days per month without clinical responsibilities, even while on service.
What are the night call responsibilities?
When on service, fellows take call from home 4 nights per week (Monday through Thursday). Throughout the fellowship and regardless of rotation, each fellow spends on average one weekend per month on inpatient call (Friday evening through Sunday). There is always an attending on call.
What comprises the structured didactics?
There are 3-4 hours of educational meetings each week. As a whole, these meetings provide a comprehensive and well-rounded education for the fellow.
- Weekly Patient Care Conference/Signout: discuss the inpatient nephrology service patients
- Weekly Education Hour: core lectures in Pediatric Nephrology
- Monthly Journal Club: two current articles are presented by a fellow and a faculty member. The fellow is trained in critical appraisal of the literature
- Monthly Research Meeting: fellows and faculty update the division about their ongoing research projects
- Bimonthly Board Review: sample board prep questions are reviewed and discussed as a group
- Annual Nephrology Core Curriculum series: at the beginning of each academic year, all pediatric and adult nephrology fellows participate in a two-month course that provides an introduction to nephrology concepts.
- Monthly RUN conference (Radiology/Urology/Nephrology): interesting cases are discussed at this multidisciplinary meeting
- Weekly Renal Grand Rounds
- Weekly Pediatric Grand Rounds
- Monthly Renal Biopsy Conference
- Monthly Transplant Biopsy Conference
- Monthly Transplant Journal Club
- Monthly Pre-transplant Hour: discuss new transplant referrals and evaluations
- Weekly Dialysis CQI meeting (only during dialysis rotation): multidisciplinary meeting in which the outpatient dialysis program is discussed, included patient issues and quality initiatives
How is the fellow’s progress assessed?
Fellows meet individually with the Fellowship Program Director and mentor multiple times a year to review the clinical/research progress. Additional feedback is provided by regular meetings with the SOC committee. We have recently added a novel forum for ongoing direction of fellows’ research, the eGFR (establishing Great Fellows Research) Happy Hour. Finally, each fellow is required to take the annual ABP subspecialty in-training exam in March.
How do I apply?
We typically take 1 or 2 fellows per year starting July 1st. We encourage interested applicants to
contact us 12-15 months before the anticipated start time. Please apply through ERAS.
We would be happy to talk to you personally if you have any specific questions about the program. Please contact our Program Director Joshua Samuels or Associate Program Director Joyce Samuel.