Department of Internal Medicine - Endocrine and Diabetes Fellowship Training Program

Programs

The Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism of the Department of Internal Medicine at The University of Iowa offers an instructional program for qualified individuals desiring advanced training in laboratory and clinical endocrinology. Qualifications for candidates include (1) an MD degree (or equivalent), (2) completion or expected completion of three years of residency training in Internal Medicine, with Board Eligibility or Certification by the American Board of Internal Medicine, by the initiation of Endocrinology Fellowship training.  The minimal duration of training for individuals interested in community practice careers is two years.  The expected duration of training for individuals interested in academic careers is three years or longer.  Suitably qualified physicians may undertake a program leading to a Masters or PhD degree in Translational Biomedicine or a basic science during their tenure.

Clinical Program

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The Division of Endocrinology is responsible for the care of all adult patients with endocrine disorders (including diabetes) in the medical school complex, which consists of the 700 bed University Hospital and the 150 bed VA Medical Center. The hospitals are located on the Health Sciences campus in Iowa City and derive their patient population from the states of Iowa, western Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northern Missouri. The University Medical Center is also responsible for the care of all indigent patients in the State of Iowa and thus is the tertiary care center for a large geographic area encompassing over three million people. The clinical case material is varied, complex and covers the full range of endocrine disorders.

Clinical activities of the Division include daily consultation rounds, morning and afternoon clinics, and a weekly VA endocrine clinic. Scheduled endocrinology conferences include: (1) clinical conference on Wednesdays, at which interesting patients or problems are presented and discussed in a multi-disciplinary format, (2) grand rounds style conference on Fridays, (3) endocrine surgical pathology case conference monthly, (4) research seminar monthly, (5) journal club monthly, (6) clinical endocrinology didactic lectures monthly on 6 months per year.

Every patient seen is a teaching case. A patient is evaluated first by either a student, house officer, or endocrine fellow, then each patient is presented to a member of the senior staff for evaluation and discussion. Advanced training fellows (third year or beyond) may be asked to serve as attending physicians on the consultation service.

The clinical program is closely integrated with other related departments and divisions. There are formal rotations for our fellows on the endocrinology services of the Department of Pediatrics and Division of Reproductive Endocrinology.  We have established excellent working arrangements with endocrine surgeons, neurosurgeons, Clinical Pathology, Nuclear Medicine, and Surgical and Cytologic Pathology. Faculty from these departments participate in the weekly clinical conferences.

Investigational and Instructional Programs

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Fellows focused on a career in community practice will pursue a fully clinical training program with opportunities to pursue practice-based or systems-based initiatives in collaboration with faculty of the Division of Endocrinology and Department of Nursing.  Fellows focused on an academic career generally initiate their laboratory or clinical research training during their first year and spend the majority of their fellowship time in second or subsequent years on their research programs or associated didactic studies. These fellows will work with an individual member of the endocrine division staff or closely related researcher on a project related to the staff's research program.

Each fellow will be involved in the instructional programs of the division. These include: (1) endocrinology grand rounds; (2) endocrinology clinical conferences; (3) endocrinology research seminars; (4) endocrinology journal clubs; (5) combined endocrine surgery / pathology case conferences; and (5) didactic endocrinology conferences.  Additionally, fellows will be expected to attend one national professional meeting per year, run by the Endocrine Society, American Diabetes Association, or American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and will have the opportunity to attend various subspecialty training programs and conferences nationally, including Endocrine University and others.  Fellows will also be expected to attend an Internal Medicine Fellowship Programs combined curriculum program.  They may also pursue advanced training in clinical teaching during their fellowship.

An NIH supported Clinical Research Unit is available as part of the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (http://www.icts.uiowa.edu/) for use in clinical investigational programs carried out by members of the division.  Fellows are encouraged to partake in and initiate clinical investigation.  Additionally, the Division of Endocrinology administers a VA funded research and training program in diabetes (http://www.research.va.gov/programs/blrd/reap.cfm) which funds fellows for research training broadly related to diabetes.  Qualifying fellows can also be funded for research through a variety of applicable NIH Training Grant programs at the University of Iowa.  Training opportunities in diabetes are expected to increase substantially as the newly funded Eagles Diabetes Research Center at the University of Iowa becomes fully functional (http://www.int-med.uiowa.edu/News/Stories.asp?displayID=234).

It is anticipated that fellows focused on a career in community practice will be excellently trained in all aspects of general endocrinology and that those focused on an academic career will be competitive for grant funding and fully equipped to enter an academic position at a top class medical center by completion of their training.

Investigators and Programs

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Each investigator is involved in specific fields of endocrine research and each may supervise fellows:

There is also active clinical and research participation by faculty in other clinical and basic science departments throughout the university focused on issues that relate directly to endocrinology.  Fellows are encouraged to pursue training with these individuals outside of the Division of Endocrinology if that fulfills a critical training goal for the individual.  Examples of such faculty include but are not limited to the following: 

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