The Baylor College of Medicine Pediatric Nephrology Fellowship Program is a three-year ACGME-accredited training program with comprehensive training in all aspects of pediatric nephrology. Fellows provide family-centered medical care for infants, children and adolescents diagnosed with renal conditions and diseases, including end stage renal disease, which is compassionate, effective and developmentally and age appropriate. Fellows diagnose and manage infants, children and adolescents with renal disease, using established and evolving biomedical, clinical and epidemiological knowledge, and demonstrate the ability to acquire, critique, interpret and apply this knowledge in patient care and clinical decision making.
First Year
The first year is largely comprised of clinical responsibilities including inpatient renal floor, critical care nephrology, and consult service coverage. During the first year of training, fellows will also be expected to participate in outpatient rotations which include chronic dialysis and outpatient (ambulatory) clinics. Fellows will have protected research time to identify research topics and start working with designated research mentors on their projects.
Second and Third Years
In the second and third years of training, the majority of the time is dedicated to scholarly activities. Clinical responsibilities are limited to three months in the second year and two months in the third year. Outpatient clinical experience and participation in didactics will continue. Advanced training opportunities are available through the University of Texas to second year fellows who may be interested in pursuing a Master of Public Health or Master of Science. Towards the end of training, third year fellows will have an opportunity to take on supervisory roles in conducting rounds.
Weekend and night call responsibilities are evenly distributed among all first through third year fellows. All fellows’ clinical activities are supervised by an attending physician. Throughout the three years of training, fellows will have opportunities to participate in continuity clinics and didactic sessions as required by the ACGME, and perform percutaneous native and transplant renal biopsies.
Electives
Available elective rotations include Renal Pathology, Apheresis, Urology, Rheumatology, and Administration.
Didactic
Weekly fellows’ conferences cover nephrology topics that satisfy the core knowledge components for the American Board of Pediatrics Sub-Board of Pediatric Nephrology. These feature faculty lectures in basic science, renal physiology, disease pathophysiology and fellows’ case presentations. Twice-monthly renal-biopsy/pathology conferences and monthly joint conference with Urology as well as dialysis and transplant conferences are also held.
Bi-monthly clinical research conferences that review the state of current research projects in the Texas Children's Nephrology Division.
The Pediatric Subspecialty Fellows' College is a centralized program that educates all pediatric subspecialty fellows in various realms of ACGME competencies and helps with additional professional development. Fellows’ College offerings are held approximately twice per month and experienced faculty educators serve as lecturers, coaches and facilitators in didactic or workshop formats.
Fellows participate in a monthly Journal Club that includes reviews of the literature pertaining to a specific diagnosis and its application to patient care. Fellows are encouraged to perform a literature search for in-depth information about interesting cases seen on the in-patient service or in the Renal Clinic or Dialysis Unit.
Fellows present at least one peer-reviewed journal article per year at monthly Journal Club, under the supervision of a faculty member, who has assisted in the selection of the article and reviewed the presentation.
Fellows have an opportunity to attend the weeklong “Camp Okawehna” near Nashville, TN. This camp is for patients with End Stage Renal Disease who are on dialysis or have received a transplant. Fellows act as counselors, supervise hemodialysis treatments on site along with an attending and participate in camp activities alongside the campers.
Research
During the training period, each fellow under the guidance of a mentor is an active participant in a research project with the aim of serving as the first author on a peer-reviewed publication. Fellows have a minimum of 18 months of protected research time, predominately in the program’s second and third years.
Many opportunities exist to collaborate with Baylor College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics faculty members in clinical, basic or translational research. Collaboration can extend beyond pediatrics to include the faculty and resources throughout the College and the more than 50 medicine-related institutions of The Texas Medical Center.
Scholarly activity is not limited to research. It also includes educational and quality improvement projects.
Fellows are encouraged to select a project and a mentor during the program’s first year. Rotations with specific faculty or in specific laboratories are encouraged.
In addition to one-on-one research training with their mentors, fellows will have opportunities to learn skills that are critical to any research career: critical thinking, manuscript and grant writing, poster presentation, giving PowerPoint or multi-media research presentations, public speaking, answering questions, and responding to reviewer comments.