Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism Fellowship Program

The Fellowship Program in Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism at the University of Pennsylvania has a rich history of training leaders in clinical care, research and education. The nationally renowned University of Pennsylvania Health System provides a robust training platform marked by a breadth of clinical experiences, diversity of patients and pioneering research. This environment provides trainees with a multitude of opportunities to foster the advancement of diverse career paths within the field of endocrinology.

Our Mission

Upon completion of our Program, all fellows are well equipped to provide expert clinical care for individuals with endocrine and metabolic disorders, and/or to pursue investigative careers in clinical, translational or basic research. We provide a supportive environment in which fellows assume graduated levels of independence in caring for patients of all genders, from culturally and economically diverse backgrounds, who present with from a broad range of endocrine disorders, including diabetes, lipid and metabolic disorders, osteoporosis and bone metabolism, thyroid, pituitary, adrenal disease, reproductive disorders, endocrine neoplasia, pediatric endocrinology and clinical nutrition. Fellows acquire the technical and procedural skills necessary to enable them to provide complete, clinical, patient care services, including, thyroid ultrasound and biopsy, interpretation of bone densitometry, and radioiodine scanning and therapy. Throughout the Program, ethical and compassionate behavior and cultural competency are emphasized, as is the impact of socioeconomic factors on health care delivery. Fellows are prepared to negotiate the increasingly challenging practice environment, should they elect to become practicing physicians. Furthermore, our Program provides education and mentoring that prepare our graduates to become active participants and future leaders in clinical, translational, and/or basic research.

This is accomplished by providing the advanced training and experience needed to acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes in all competencies required by a consultant in this field through:

Broad and intensive clinical exposure and teaching to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and experience required for all of the competencies needed by a consultant in this field
Training in and opportunities for teaching and academic presentations
Post-doctoral level training in basic, translational, or clinical research

First Year

The first year of fellowship is devoted predominantly to clinical training.

Clinical Training

Simultaneous participation in ambulatory and inpatient training experiences.
Ambulatory experiences include dedicated clinics in thyroid, neuroendocrine, diabetes, metabolic bone disease, transgender medicine as well as general endocrinology.
Inpatient experiences include training in Inpatient Diabetes Management and Endocrinology Consultations.
Clinical training sites include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and its associated clinical practices in the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine and Penn Medicine at University City and the Philadelphia Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC).

Conferences

Fellows participate in a number of divisional conferences including:

Endocrine Grand Rounds
Rodebaugh Diabetes Didactic Series
Journal Club
Summer Didactic Series
Neuroendocrine Sella Conference
VA Bone Case Conference
IDOM Research Seminar Series
Advance Didactic Series
VAMC Case Conference

Second Year

Early in the second half of first year, fellows choose whether to follow the Research or Clinical Educator Pathway for the second year. Both pathways include all the required educational, clinical and research components to train fellows to become an independent Board certified endocrinologists.

Research Pathway

The Research Pathway is targeted to fellows planning to embark on investigative careers in basic science, translational, or clinical research. For these fellows, the primary emphasis becomes the fellow's individual research project (basic science, or clinical/translational research), supervised by a faculty mentor and they maintain one weekly continuity clinic. In addition, fellows who wish to further pursue clinical/translational research may apply for post-graduate degree programs awarding either a Masters of Science in Clinical Epidemiology, Masters of Translational Research or a Master of Science in Health Policy Research. Second year fellows pursuing the Research Pathway maintain one continuity clinic per week throughout the year.

The goal is for the fellow to transition to a research associate position at the conclusion of the two-year fellowship program and then subsequently, to apply for independent mentored research funding as they continue to prepare for research careers in academic medicine.

Clinical Educator Pathway

The Clinical Educator Pathway is designed for fellows who will pursue careers in clinical endocrinology, including those in the academic setting. The year is structured to further develop the skills of a consultant endocrine specialist, a clinical innovator, and an educator. Training experiences are designed to refine clinical, technical, and didactic skills, including additional neck ultrasound, insulin pump and continuous glucose monitoring training. The fellows in the clinical educator pathway maintain continuity clinics in a variety of settings.

Fellows on this pathway also conduct a quality improvement project as well as a mentored scholarly research project under the guidance of a faculty mentor with the goal of abstract presentation and subsequent publication. Second year fellows on the Clinical Educator Pathway actively engage in concentrated ambulatory clinical experience and teaching at all levels of medical training. For those interested in careers in medical education, the Department of Medicine also offers a one-year Measey Fellowship in Medical Education to which clinical educator pathway fellows can choose to apply. Interested fellows may also elect to apply to the Department of Medicine sponsored Building Leadership OppOrtunities in Medicine for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (BLOOM-DEI) Longitudinal Pathway. Fellows on the Clinical Educator Pathway also conduct mentored scholarly research under the guidance of a faculty mentor with the goal of abstract presentation and subsequent publication.

This fellowship program is supervised by Serena Cardillo, MD, Program Director and Caitlin White, MD, Associate Program Director. The Fellowship Coordinator is Mrs. Jen Cronin.

In an article in the NEJM (2004; 351:1163) entitled, Learner-Centered Medical Education, Dr. Kenneth Ludmerer captured our educational philosophy very well. As Dr. Ludmerer states, our program aims to “create a true learner-centered environment that makes active, self-directed learning under the close tutelage of interested faculty members the core of the experience.” Further, we hope to instill “high professional standards” and help fellows “develop the power of critical reasoning, the capacity to generalize, the ability to acquire and evaluate information, and the intellectual tools to become lifelong learners.” We agree that “accomplishing these goals requires thoughtful and personalized teaching. Instructors must generalize and synthesize, not just provide the view from their particular specialty. Students need seminars, tutorials, and individualized instruction, not lectures alone, for their reasoning powers to be developed fully. Students also need close interactions with experienced, mature physicians in the work of patient care — and the opportunity to talk with them about that work.”

Serena Cardillo, MD
Program Director

Caitlin White, MD
Associate Program Director

Jen Cronin, C-TAGME
Program Coordinator

Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Fellowship Program