The educational objectives of the core conferences are to provide the Fellows a broad background in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, 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, the Clinical Endocrinology Conference 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, the Nuclear Medicine Conference 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, the Endocrine-Surgical-Pathology Conference 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 monthly, the educational objective of this conference is 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 month are reviewed under a multi-headed microscope with a cytologist and the Attending endocrinologist who performed the thyroid FNA.
Journal Club
Held monthly, the Journal Club 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. 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, didactic sessions are given in the beginning of the academic year (July to October). The curriculum aims at providing formal instruction in the most common endocrine conditions.