Rotations

Outpatient Experience
Each fellow has two continuity clinics (one at a UPMC facility and one at the VA) in which they perform complete initial evaluations and follow up evaluations, correspond with the patient’s referring physician, and function as the patient’s primary rheumatologist for longitudinal care under the supervision of a faculty member. These patients will be followed by the fellow throughout the duration of their fellowship which gives them the opportunity to manage various disease processes from onset of symptoms to maintenance and remission. Each fellow sees one or two new patients and four to six follow-up patients per half-day clinic session.

Inpatient Experience
Over the course of training each fellow will spend 4 months on “A” service and 4 months on “B” service. The “A” service fellow is responsible for all consults received from Presbyterian and Montefiore University Hospitals. The “B” service  fellow sees all consults received from Magee-Women’s Hospital, and the VA Medical Center-Oakland. The fellow is expected to function as a junior attending by organizing rounds, communicating closely with both house staff and family, teaching residents and students on the team, and interacting with the other medical services involved in the care of the patient.

Elective Rotations
Fellows will have two to three outpatient rheumatology sessions (half-day clinics) per week in addition to their continuity clinics where they will rotate through electives with faculty with clinical expertise and research interest in specific rheumatological disorders. These disease-specific sessions include:

First year electives:

• Polymyositis/Dermatomyositis
• Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
• Systemic Sclerosis
• Pain management

Second year electives:

• Vasculitis
• Dermatology
• Pediatric rheumatology
• Multidisciplinary rheumatology/pulmonary clinic
• Multidisciplinary rheumatology/ophthalmology clinic
• Telerheumatology – mandatory for fellows in the clinician and clinician educator track
• Musculoskeletal ultrasonography required mandatory for fellows in the clinician and clinician educator track

Immunopathology
Immunology didactics will be presented in a workshop format throughout the year which will cover the curriculum in basic immunology. Fellows will participate in monthly, highly-interactive sessions requiring reading and discussion in a workshop once a month, organized by faculty who are translational researchers in the division.

Fellows will also receive hands-on experience with commonly performed immunologic laboratory studies in the Clinical Pathology Laboratory. These sessions are held four times and spread throughout two years of training.  Fellows will learn the detection and characterization of autoantibodies associated with the spectrum of connective tissue diseases. Objectives of this rotation include:

• To learn the techniques of immunofluorescence and immunoprecipitation
• To recognize different ANA patterns and correlate these findings with antigen specificity