Curriculum and Career Development
Our three-year research training program involves an in-depth research experience. While we recognize that not all three-year fellows will pursue research as a long-term career, we strongly believe such research experiences are beneficial for all clinicians—especially academic clinicians. For example, meaningful participation in research fosters important critical thinking skills; and it provides a deeper understanding of the nature of scientific evidence, which is the foundation of medical practice.
The goals of our research training curriculum are (a) to provide all fellows with a solid understanding of the breadth and depth of endocrine research that drives the development of new and improved clinical treatments and (b) to prepare the interested fellow for a career in academic medicine that combines clinical activity and research. Importantly, a firm grounding in the fundamentals of endocrine research will be useful to the future clinician, educator, and investigator alike.
Mentoring and Career Development
Each fellow is assigned two faculty advisors upon entry into the program.
For three-year clinical/research fellows, at least one of these advisors is a clinician and at least one is a researcher (MD, MD/PhD, or PhD). The incoming fellow will meet with her/his two advisors within the first month of fellowship training. The advisors will begin to help fellows choose a research mentor and a research area that fits their interests. Thereafter, the advisors will meet with the fellows as needed, but at least twice a year throughout the fellowship. These two faculty advisors will, together with the fellow’s research mentor, provide ongoing training guidance, discuss/formulate goals and future plans, and be a resource for problem-solving as needed.
Two-year clinical fellows will be assigned, two clinical faculty advisors. Faculty advisors will provide ongoing training guidance, discuss/formulate goals and future plans, and be a resource for problem-solving as needed.
In addition to the aforementioned faculty advisors, the Program Director (Dr. Hong) also serves as a career advisor to all of the fellows. Thus, the fellow has rich mentorship throughout her/his fellowship training.
Research Project
A major portion of the fellow’s time in the second and third years of training is dedicated to an endocrine- or metabolism-related research project (clinical or basic) under the guidance of her/his research mentor. Three-year fellows are expected to choose a research mentor and research area by October of their first year. To facilitate this, the Program Director and fellow will work together to identify potential research mentors, followed by individual meetings between the fellow and the identified prospective research mentor(s). The fellow chooses a research mentor/area in consultation with her/his career mentors and the Program Director. Once the fellow has chosen a research mentor, and thus the research area, the fellow is strongly encouraged (a) to attend the research mentor’s group meetings whenever possible and (b) to start sketching out a specific research project. This allows the fellow to prepare for the submission of individual fellowship applications at the beginning of the second year of training.
Fellows in the two-year, more clinically oriented fellowship will also have the opportunity to engage in an academic research project, albeit on a smaller scale, with the ultimate aim being presentation at a research conference if they so desire.
Research Fellowship Applications
Three-year clinical/research fellows are encouraged to apply for our NIH T32 institutional training grant (Research Training in Neuroendocrinology T32 Training Program) toward the end of her/his first year of fellowship. Fellows are expected to submit applications for individual grant support (most commonly an NIH F32 NRSA application) at the beginning of year two. The process of designing a research plan and submitting an individual fellowship application constitutes an important learning experience for fellows. It is also an important step for those fellows planning to pursue an academic career that includes future submission of larger grant applications. To facilitate timely and successful fellowship grant applications, fellows are given some time to work on their research project during their first year, and clinical activities are markedly reduced for 3 months at the end of the first year (i.e., May, June, and July). Overall, this provides fellows with ample time to collect preliminary data, formulate research plans, and construct a grant application. The fellow’s research mentor will be intimately involved with this process. To support the grant writing process, the fellows present the “Specific Aims” of their research plan in a Research in Progress (RIP) discussion session circa April of their first year. These RIP sessions are attended by faculty and fellows from the division in addition to others from the university community with interests in endocrine and metabolic research. We have found that this forum provides the fellow with valuable feedback from a group of experienced researchers. Importantly, failure to secure individual grant funding will neither alter the training curriculum or research experience for a three-year fellow; and in the absence of individual grant funding, the fellow’s support will continue to come from institutional training grants and/or the division.
Fellows completing a two-year, more clinically oriented fellowship are not expected to submit applications for grant support.
Other Research-Related Activities
- Research in Progress (RIP) seminars: RIP sessions are held weekly and are given and attended by faculty, fellows, and graduate students pursuing research in endocrinology and metabolism. Recent and currently ongoing research is presented in an informal setting in which discussions are highly encouraged. This forum is a great opportunity for the fellows to learn about ongoing research at the University of Virginia and to practice presenting their own research. Each fellow is expected to present progress in her/his research project once a year, typically as part of the RIP seminar series.
- Research-Related Fellow Lectures: The fellowship didactic lecture series includes lectures on fellowship and early career grant applications, writing and presenting abstracts, writing research papers, and presenting research talks.
- Journal Clubs: Journal clubs for the fellows are held every other month and are organized by the fellows. For each meeting, assigned fellows choose articles of interest and present them to their peers. Faculty members with expertise in the selected topic are asked by the presenting fellow to guide them during their preparation, and the faculty members participate in the journal club discussions.
Career Development and Academic Projects for Two-Year Clinical Fellows
Two-year clinical fellows will be assigned two clinical faculty advisors upon entry into the program. The incoming fellow will meet with her/his two advisors soon after beginning fellowship training. Thereafter, the advisors will meet with the fellows as needed, but at least twice a year throughout the fellowship. These two faculty advisors will, together with the Program Director, provide ongoing training guidance, discuss/formulate goals and future plans, and be a resource for problem-solving as needed. Thus, the two-year clinical fellow has rich mentorship throughout her/his fellowship training.
Two-year clinical fellows will be encouraged to pursue an academic project(s) during her/his fellowship. This will be conceived and pursued under the guidance of a dedicated faculty mentor. Examples of academic projects include a short-term clinical research project, an in-depth Quality Improvement project, etc. The academic project will often begin in the first year, although the bulk of the project will be completed in the second year.