Constantine Stratakis, MD, DSc
Program Director

Maya Lodish, MD
Assistant Clinical Investigator
Deputy Program Director

Entry Id: TP-69

National Institutes of Health
National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development

Introduction
The fellowship in Pediatric Endocrinology is a three-year ACGME-accredited program providing comprehensive training in clinical patient management and guidance in the development of research skills. The fellowship is administratively supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and based at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center, in Bethesda, Maryland (NIH-CC).

The NICHD program is based at one of the largest and most sophisticated research institutions in the United States. The NIH Clinical Center maintains clinical research protocols investigating the treatment of adrenal and pituitary tumors, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, precocious puberty, idiopathic juvenile osteoporosis, Cushing's syndrome, obesity, and others.

The fellow gains critical skills in the construction and execution of clinical research projects while learning about some of the more rare pediatric endocrine disorders.

Participating institutions include the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Endocrinology; The Children's National Medical Center (CNMC) Division of Pediatric Endocrinology; andGeorgetown University (GU) Department of Pediatrics. GU, JHU, and CNMC, serve as primary care facilities, and the NIH-CC houses a large tertiary care referral and research center. These facilities make available to our fellows pediatric endocrine, diabetes, oncology, metabolic, bone disorders and other pediatric subspecialty clinics and consult services, and general pediatric inpatient and intensive care units. The program maintains an affiliation with the GU Pediatric Residency Training Program, and provides a one-month elective on Pediatric Endocrinology and Clinical/Medical Genetics at the NIH for GU pediatric residents.

The fellowship is designed to provide clinical and research exposure that allows for the development of academic Pediatric Endocrinologists with experience in both clinical and/or bench research. The first year of the fellowship is dedicated to the acquisition of necessary clinical skills from all aspects of the principles and practice of Pediatric Endocrinology. It is during that year that the fellows rotate through the NIH-CC and the participating hospitals. The second and third years are focused research years allowing for training in laboratory or clinical research. During these two years, fellows also receive appropriate courses on statistics, biotechnology and laboratory methods, grant and scientific paper writing, and the development and execution of clinical trials.

Pediatric Endocrine fellows maintain a weekly continuity clinic with a variety of patients at the NIH-CC and have the option of attending continuity clinics at the participating institutions beyond their first clinical year.

The NICHD fellowship program in Pediatric Endocrinology is among the largest and most prestigious in the world. More information is available at the pediatric endocrinology WIKI site.

Educational Program
The Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship at NIH consists of one year of clinical training, and two years of combined clinical training and research training.

Clinical Training Rotations
A typical training schedule for first-year fellows includes the following rotations:

During the second and third years, mandatory clinical responsibilities are limited to a half-day continuity clinic per week and providing inpatient pediatric endocrine consultation on an on-call basis.

Didactic Training
Regularly scheduled didactic courses, seminars, and case conferences enhance clinical experience. These include the following weekly events:

1. Inter-Institute Endocrine Grand Rounds
2. Pediatric Endocrine Case Conference
3. Pediatric Endocrine post-clinic conference
4. Lecture series covering both clinical and research topics
5. Journal Club (once a month)
6. Board review (weekly) Fellows are encouraged to attend at least one national/international professional meeting/year during the three fellowship years.

See also:

• USUHS Department of Pediatrics Fellowship [disclaimer]
• Georgetown Pediatrics [disclaimer]

Research Training
Fellows learn how to develop a research protocol, conduct a study, evaluate the results, and create a presentation or a manuscript suitable for publication. Work in a laboratory setting performing state-of-the-art basic science research is closely supervised by internationally known mentors. During the first year, a research mentor is chosen and the project for each fellow and progress on it are monitored by a committee, as recommended by the American Board of Pediatrics [disclaimer]. With the mentor's help, a topic of special interest is defined and a research protocol is developed. The second and third years of the fellowship are dedicated to the successful completion of the selected project(s) with minimal clinical duty requirements. See also the following site for more information on research training at the NIH: NIH Office of Intramural Training and Education.

Call Frequency
There is no in-house call. During the first year, pediatric endocrine fellows are on call from home, supported by one of the endocrine attendings. During the second and third years, fellows take call from home when they participate in the pediatric endocrine consult service. Third-year fellows attend one month in the wards of the NIH-CRC and they are on-call from home for the ward for these 4 weeks.

Teaching Opportunities
Third-year fellows are required to take a supervisory role and cover the pediatric endocrine inpatient service at the NIH-CC for one month. During these 4 weeks, the senior fellow supervises first-year fellows, residents, and students and is responsible for teaching rounds and conferences.

Evaluation and Quality Assurance
The fellow meets with the program director, the mentor, and the supervising committee on a regular basis to assess personal goals and objectives, and to review evaluations from the staff. All fellows and other staff participate in regular staff meetings, and quality assurance is monitored both at the program and at the hospital level by regular (weekly and other) meetings.

• Constantine A. Stratakis, MD, DSc
  • Scientific Director, NICHD
  • Genetics of adrenocortical and pituitary diseases and related pediatric genetic syndromes (website: segen.nichd.nih.gov and annual report: http://annualreport.nichd.nih.gov/segen.html)
• Maya Lodish, MD
  • NICHD
  • Endocrine care of pediatric cancer survivors and pediatric thyroid cancer
• Jeffrey Baron, MD
  • Head, Unit on Growth & Development, NICHD
  • Regulation of skeletal growth (website: http://ugd.nichd.nih.gov and annual report: http://annualreport.nichd.nih.gov/sgd2.html)
• Carolyn Bondy, MD
  • Chief, Developmental Endocrinology Branch, NICHD
  • The IGF system, Turner syndrome and the X chromosome (annual report: http://annualreport.nichd.nih.gov/sed.html and clinical trial: http://turners.nichd.nih.gov)
• Deborah Merke, MD
  • Chief of Pediatric Services Clinical Center, NIH
  • Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and related disorders
• Kristina Rother, MD
  • NIDDK, NIH
  • Pediatric diabetes mellitus, islet cell transplantation, lipodystrophy and related disorders
• Jack Yanovski, MD, PhD
  • Head, Unit on Growth & Obesity, NICHD
  • Physiology, psychology and genetics of obesity (website: http://ugo.nichd.nih.gov/ and annual report: http://annualreport.nichd.nih.gov/sgo.html)
• Margaret F. Keil, MS, PNP
  • Director, Pediatric Endocrine Clinical Services, Pediatric Endocrinology Training Program
  • Treatment, diagnostics, and nursing and quality-of-care issues for pediatric endocrine patients with CAH, other adrenal and pituitary diseases
• Rachel Gafni, MD
  • NIDCR
  • Pediatric bone disorders
• Rebecca Brown, MD
  • NIDDK
  • Type II diabetes
• Joan C. Han, MD
  • Assistant Clinical Investigator, Unit on Metabolism and Neuroendocrinology, NICHD
  • Genetics of obesity and WAGR syndrome (website: http://annualreport.nichd.nih.gov/umn.html)
• Angela Delaney, MD
  • Assistant Clinical Investigator, Unit on Genetics of Puberty and Reproduction, PDEGEN, NICHD (website: http://annualreport.nichd.nih.gov/ugpr.html)

The Pediatric Endocrinology Program is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Applications are submitted through ERAS [disclaimer].

Our program participates in the NRMP match. Upon successful completion of the three-year training program, fellows are eligible to sit for the examination of the American Board of Pediatrics. Qualified candidates must have completed PGY-3 level training prior to initiation of the fellowship, and should be eligible for board certification by the American Board of Pediatrics. There are two positions available per year, and applications should be received at least one year in advance. Fellows stay a minimum of three years; selected fellows can stay additional years as senior medical staff fellows, or through other mechanisms. For further information applicants should contact:

Constantine Stratakis, MD, DSc, Scientific Director, NICHD and Director, Pediatric Endocrinology Training Program, NICHD
Maya Lodish, MD, Deputy Director, Pediatric Endocrinology Training Program, NICHD

Tel: 301-451-7175
Fax: 301-480-0378

Interviews are scheduled January through March. For more information, call the pediatric endocrine program coordinator, at 301-451-1466.

The NIH is dedicated to building a diverse community in its training and employment programs.

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