Clinical
Fifty percent of fellowship time is spent in clinical training, extensively covering allergy disorders (e.g., asthma, food allergy, anaphylaxis, drug allergy, eczema, allergic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis, eosinophilic disorders, mast cell diseases) and primary and secondary immune deficiencies. Fellows will become accomplished in the application of skin tests for diagnosis of aeroallergen, venom, and drug allergy; pulmonary function testing; food and drug challenges and desensitization; epicutaneous patch testing: allergen immunotherapy; the use of biologics and immunoglobulin therapy.
Fellows are assigned patients whom they treat and monitor longitudinally over the period of their 2-year fellowship supervised by attending faculty members. On average, fellows will see 3-6 patients per half-day session. The number of weekly outpatient sessions will vary based on whether the fellow is covering inpatient consultations as well or is on elective rotation. Typically, this includes 2 half days in adult clinic a week and 1.5-2 days in pediatric clinic a week.
The Division of Allergy & Immunology works closely and collaborates with the pediatric and adult divisions of dermatology, pulmonary, rheumatology, and gastroenterology. Fellows can elect two 2-week rotations per year in their divisions of interest, based on preference and availability. Other specialty exposure during fellowship can include either adult or pediatric dermatology, pulmonary, gastroenterology, infectious disease, and rheumatology.
Fellows will have opportunities for teaching residents and medical students rotating through the allergy & immunology elective programs. Fellows participate in and present at the conferences, journal clubs and board review and are actively involved in teaching the house staff during inpatient consultations and when students and residents rotate through allergy & immunology outpatient clinics.
Fellows will become accomplished in the application of skin tests for diagnosis of aeroallergen, venom, food, and drug allergy; pulmonary function testing; food and drug challenges and desensitization; epicutaneous patch testing; allergen immunotherapy; the use of biologics and immunoglobulin therapy.
Research & Scholarly Activities
Fifty percent of fellowship time is allocated to research and scholarly/educational activities. Fellows will master basic principles of research including conducting a comprehensive literature search, study design, data collection, data analysis and data interpretation, writing and editing research protocols.
Fellows are mentored in the design, implementation, and evaluation of individualized scholarly research projects within their area of interest. Projects may be laboratory-based, epidemiologic, quality-improvement focused, or clinical-investigation based. Fellows will present their findings at local, regional, and national professional and scientific society meetings and they will endeavor to have their research published in peer-reviewed journals.
During the first year of training each fellow will select a faculty preceptor from our core who will provide mentorship in research in subsequent years. If a fellow’s interests do not align with our core faculty, there is the opportunity to seek a mentor outside the division. Dedicated research time will start within the first year of fellowship so that fellows are able to complete their projects. Fellows will update their research progress during our research meetings at minimum quarterly.
Education
Didactics conferences are scheduled throughout the work week, month, and year. Attendance at didactic conferences is required of all fellows, rotators, and divisional faculty.
Weekly Conferences
- Internal Medicine Grand Rounds
- Pediatric Medicine Grand Rounds
Semi-Monthly Conferences
- Clinical Case Conference (Pediatric, Adult Allergy and Immunology): Discussions of difficult cases and inpatient and outpatient consultations.
- Core Curriculum/Board Review: Conferences address core content defined by the American Board of Allergy and Immunology for certification and Board Review.
- Immunology Conferences: Board Review of immunology from textbook and peer-reviewed journals.
Monthly Conferences
- Journal Club: Topics of interest presented by allergy attendings, fellows and rotators.
- Research Meeting & Immunology: Critical review of fellows’ and faculty research presented by the fellow in allergy & immunology or faculty. May include abstracts or posters for annual meetings.
Quarterly Conferences
- Allergy & Immunology Grand Rounds: Invited speakers, including community allergists, present allergy & immunology focused topics.
- Multidisciplinary Conference: Allergy & Immunology conference held jointly with the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology. Faculty and fellows present and discuss topics and patients of interest to both groups.
Other Educational Opportunities
- Yearly Botany Walk
- Annual High-Fidelity Simulations are performed in clinic for office management of allergic emergencies.
- Each fellow will attend at least one national allergy conference (2nd year fellow will attend the AAAAI, and the 1st year fellow will attend the ACAAI)
- Each fellow has the opportunity to attend a regional conference (for example, New England Society of Allergy, Eastern Allergy Conference, or Contact Dermatitis Institute) once per year of fellowship
Multidisciplinary Programs
The Severe Asthma Program, co-led by Dr. Tao Zheng, brings together a team of allergists and pulmonologists who work in collaboration with other disciplines including social work and pharmacy to help manage patients whose asthma has been difficult to control with conventional therapy. Severe asthma clinic occurs once monthly.
Fellows rotating in pediatric and adult pulmonary have the opportunity to participate in Cystic Fibrosis clinics which are led by pulmonary in collaboration with other disciplines including social work, nutrition, gastroenterology and pharmacy to manage the complexity of this chronic disease.