Education


Welcome to Endocrinology Fellowship Program!

Thank you for your interest in the Endocrinology Fellowship at The University of Florida. The main purpose of our program is to educate physicians to become outstanding clinicians, teachers and scientists in the broad field of Endocrinology and Metabolism. It is a two year fellowship program that provides high quality clinical training in endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism along with ample exposure and education in the research activities of the division. Graduates of this program will be trained and fully equipped to function as clinical endocrinologists, clinical educators, or to further pursue education in clinical research, depending on individual career goals.

The division includes faculty with international reputations in clinical endocrinology and in both basic and clinical research. Exceptionally strong clinical training exists in diabetes mellitus, thyroid, pituitary, adrenal disease, osteoporosis and obesity.

Areas of research emphasis include pathophysiologic mechanisms and treatment of type 2 diabetes, thyroid cancer, drug metabolism, pharmacogenetics, inborn errors of metabolism, obesity and gene therapy for mitochondrial metabolic disorders.

For more information about UF Graduate Medical Education please visit  https://gme.med.ufl.edu/


fellows

Mission Statement

Our mission is to provide a learning environment that is professional, nurturing and aids in the development of outstanding Endocrinologists who can enhance our patients’ future by providing the highest quality, patient-centered healthcare.

Vision Statement

To achieve the goal of becoming one of the leading national US Endocrinology division of choice, in patient care, education and research.

Program Aims

  • Continue to have a collaborative, open, nurturing environment for our fellows’ learning, as measured by ACGME and internal surveys  
  • To have our fellows complete one quality improvement project prior to graduation
  • To have 100% of our graduates board certified upon graduation
  • To have our graduates well prepared for the complexity of independent practice through educational experiences around appropriate documentation, quality metrics, billing and coding and telemedicine services
  • To have our graduates find employment in diverse endocrine practice settings, including academic, community and fellowship programs   

Fellowship – the 1st Year

The first year of fellowship is devoted predominantly to clinical training. Fellows spend 12 months participating in both ambulatory and inpatient endocrine and metabolism training. All training in the first year occurs at the University of Florida, Shands hospital and the Malcom Randall VA hospital. In addition to their clinical training, fellows attend divisional conferences, including Endocrine Grand Rounds, Journal Club, Endocrine Case Conference, Research Conference, board review, pathology conference, nuclear medicine conference, research-in-progress meetings, along with the core curriculum lectures. In addition, fellows attend the AACE Thyroid Ultrasound conference to prepare them for the path to ECNU certification.


Fellowship – the 2nd Year

During the late fall/early winter of the first year, fellows choose whether to follow a research or clinical educator pathway for the second, and if appropriate, third year*. Both pathways include all the required educational, clinical and research components to train fellows to become an independent board-certified endocrinologist. The research pathway is targeted to those fellows who choose 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, supervised by a faculty mentor while they maintain one weekly continuity clinic. In addition, fellows who wish to further pursue clinical/translational research have opportunities for additional graduate work in clinical research. The goal is for the fellow to transition to independent mentored research funding as s/he advances on a research career track in academic medicine.

If the fellow chooses the clinical pathway, the second year is structured to further develop the skills of a consultant endocrine specialist. This second year has more clinical exposure to refine specialty-specific skills, including additional neck ultrasound, bone densitometry, insulin pump and continuous glucose monitoring training. In addition, fellows conduct a mentored scholarly project with a goal of abstract presentation and subsequent publication, perform a quality improvement project, and actively engage in supplementary didactic activities.

Upon completion of our training program, all fellows will be fully competent 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 all patients coming to us from culturally and economically diverse backgrounds, who suffer from a broad range of endocrine disorders, including diabetes, lipid disorders, osteoporosis and bone metabolism, thyroid, pituitary, adrenal disease, reproductive disorders, endocrine neoplasia, and clinical nutrition.

Fellowship – the optional 3rd year

An optional third year focused primarily on research and scholarly activity is offered on a case-by-case basis, assessed by the Program Director, Division Chief and Fellowship Coordinator.