The three year fellowship in pediatric hematology-oncology and stem cell transplantation focuses on clinical care and research.
First Year
This first year of fellowship consists primarily of immersion into the clinical care of pediatric hematology-oncology patients. This clinical experience allows for the fellow to acquire skills needed to manage newly diagnosed patients, treatment toxicity, and more. Fellows will spend time rotating through the following core rotations:
- Stem cell transplant inpatient service (six weeks total)
- Hematology inpatient service (12 weeks total)
- Solid tumor and neuro-oncology inpatient service (eight weeks total)
- Leukemia and lymphoma inpatient service (eight weeks total)
As fellows progress through the first year, they assume more responsibility for clinical decision making and house staff education. By the end of their first year, it is expected that fellows can function as an attending, using faculty mentors as resources.
Throughout the first year of fellowship, fellows maintain a full-day continuity clinic once a week, during which they will independently see their own panel of hematology and oncology patients, staffed with an attending physician.
Also during their first year, fellows will supplement their inpatient service time with elective experiences (~8 weeks total), during which they can explore other areas of interest including, but not limited to:
- Blood bank
- Heme path
- Adolescent bleeding clinic
- Sickle cell disease clinic
- Hemophilia clinic
- Fertility preservation
- Vascular anomalies
- Bone marrow failure clinic
In addition to the above, first-year fellows will have a two week outpatient neuro-oncology experience, as well as one research elective (four weeks total). The research elective allows time for fellows to explore potential research topics, meet with potential mentors and develop a project with the aid of a faculty advisor.
Second and Third Year
During second and third year, fellows devote 80% of their time to research, while maintaining their weekly continuity clinic, night call and weekend call.
Call Schedule
All fellows will complete 12 weekend calls per year — six joint hematology-oncology weekends and six stem cell transplant weekends. Weekend calls consist of inpatient rounding and covering calls on inpatients from nurses and residents. On the weekend, home calls from parents are managed by the on-call advanced practice provider.
Fellows take home call approximately one night per week during first year, one night every two weeks in second year and once a month in third year. Hematology-oncology weeknight calls consist of home calls from parents; calls from the resident/APP covering the hematology/oncology service, the emergency department and any consulting teams; as well as staffing overnight hematology/oncology admissions. When a fellow is on a stem cell transplant rotation, they will not take hematology-oncology related calls but will take four nights per week of stem cell transplant related inpatient calls, admissions and home calls from parents. Fellows are always on call with an attending, and the attending is always available for questions and to assist with challenging clinical scenarios.
Mentorship
First year fellows are assigned a faculty mentor who will help guide them through the various aspects of first year of fellowship including adjusting to a new hospital system, clinical education, developing a diverse personal patient panel, identifying an area of interest for research and identifying a research mentor.
Second and third year fellows are expected to develop a Scholarly Oversight Committee (SOC) which meets a minimum of five times during the two-year period to discuss progress through research and job applications. The SOC consists of program leadership as well as three research mentors, one of whom is outside of the pediatric hematology-oncology division.