Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Training Program

The Baylor College of Medicine Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Training Program provides a comprehensive clinical and research training program for candidates interested in a career in academic pediatric hematology/oncology. The large clinical service and state-of-the-art research programs of the Texas Children's Cancer Center and Hematology Service and Baylor College of Medicine provide a unique training environment. Approximately 1000 new patients with cancer and blood disorders are referred each year to the Texas Children's Cancer Center and Hematology Service. Virtually every form of childhood cancer and blood disorder is represented in our patient population. Consequently, the program offers extensive, in-depth exposure to a multitude of clinical pediatric hematologic and oncologic problems in a carefully supervised training environment. At the beginning of the fellowship, each trainee is matched with a senior faculty mentor, who serves as an advisor throughout the fellowship years.

The first year of fellowship focuses primarily on clinical training. Fellows are trained in the principles of diagnosis and management of pediatric hematologic and oncologic disorders. The clinical experience includes primary patient care, consultations, and participation in teaching residents and medical students. Fellows rotate monthly between the inpatient and outpatient services, spending approximately half the year on the inpatient ward at Texas Children's Hospital. In the bone marrow transplantation unit, fellows learn the principles of managing transplantation patients and the techniques of allogeneic and autologous transplantation. The ambulatory care experience is obtained in the Cancer Center's outpatient facility.

In addition to these rotations, time is afforded to pursue in-depth experiences in coagulation, blood banking, hematopathology and radiotherapy. The clinical year also includes a comprehensive didactic program. Fellows participate in a subspecialty-focused orientation lecture series that covers a wide range of topics including reviews of the major diseases that confront the pediatric hematologist/oncologist, the principles of clinical trial implementation and the use of statistics and statistical analysis in pediatric hematology/oncology.

Additionally, fellows participate in our ongoing schedule of educational conferences, tumor boards, research seminars and journal clubs, all of which serve to enhance the fellowship educational experience. Fellows also learn clinical research methodology, including concepts of experimental design and methods of clinical protocol development.

Toward the end of their first year, fellows, with the guidance of the program director and their mentors, select a research laboratory where the next phase of their training program will take place. During the second and third years, fellows receive in-depth training in clinical or basic research under the mentorship of a senior research faculty advisor. Fellows can choose from a wide variety of high-quality clinical research or laboratory research programs within the Texas Children's Cancer Center and Hematology Service, at Baylor College of Medicine or at related sites in the Texas Medical Center. Laboratory programs in molecular oncology, cancer genetics, tumor biology, pharmacology and experimental therapeutics, neuro-oncology, biochemistry, tumor immunology, research hematology and gene therapy are available.

The goal of training during these years is for the fellow to develop the research skills and experience necessary to become a productive and successful independent clinical or laboratory investigator. Senior faculty mentors are careful to ensure that each fellow receives the guidance and direction required to develop a firm foundation on which to build a career in academic pediatric hematology/oncology.

Although the basic fellowship is three years in duration, qualified fellows are encouraged to extend their experience for a fourth year to further enrich their clinical and research education and to augment their teaching skills.

Completion of the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program fully meets the subspecialty certification requirements of the American Board of Pediatrics.

Application Procedure
Fellows seeking pediatric clinical training should send a curriculum vitae and letters of recommendation to:

Program Director
David G. Poplack, M.D.
Texas Children's Cancer Center
6621 Fannin St. MC3-3320,
Houston, TX 77030
(832)824-4200
Fellowship Information

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(Modified: September 21st, 2007 - jb)