Pediatric Pulmonology Fellowship Curriculum

Overview of Curriculum

*Fellows participate in ½ day per week of continuity and CF clinics throughout training - considered 1 month per year of clinical experience.

Fellows have a minimum of 12 months of inpatient service in three years. Fellows rotate through three inpatient teams; Legacy Team, West Tower Team, and Pulmonary Hypertension Team. The first year of fellowship consists of six months of inpatient service, (two months of time on each of the inpatient teams.) The second and third years of fellowship consist of three months of inpatient service (one month of time on each of the inpatient teams) When not on inpatient service, time is spent in the Continuity and Cystic Fibrosis clinics, elective rotations, preparing educational presentations or engaging in quality improvement projects and scholarship/research activity. The fellows also participate in structured outpatient rotations in flexible bronchoscopy, asthma education for first-year residents, and interpretation of pulmonary function tests.

Fellows are expected to take primary responsibility for the evaluation and management of their list of patients under direct supervision of an attending pulmonologist and are allowed graded autonomy over three years. Hospital follow-up is frequently arranged with the fellow which allows longitudinal learning experiences across inpatient to outpatient settings. The fellow leads a team of residents in the care of patients admitted to the pulmonary service. During consult rotations, patient rounds are tailored to the individual fellow’s learning and are conducted as a fellow-attending pair. 

When not on inpatient service, time is spent in the continuity and cystic fibrosis clinics, elective rotations, preparing educational presentations or engaging in quality improvement projects and scholarly/research activity. The fellows also participate in structured outpatient rotations in flexible bronchoscopy, asthma education for first-year residents, and interpretation of pulmonary function tests. The abundant opportunities to perform outpatient flexible bronchoscopies arise from the lung transplant program.

At the end of the first year, fellows will be asked to select a track to individualize their second and third year electives. The second and third year curriculum enables fellows to reinforce clinical interests and develop potential academic niches. Recognizing that fellows’ interests within pulmonary medicine vary greatly, the curriculum can be tailored to set fellows up for success early after fellowship. Examples tracks include academic clinician (with emphasis commonly in critical care, CF, community, or sleep) and clinician-educator (with emphasis on teaching or educational scholarship).  An individualized learning curriculum director will be assigned to each fellow to help align interests with meaningful learning experiences. 

Curriculum Directors:

• Manuel Silva, M.D.
• Fadel Ruiz, M.D.
• Kevin Kaplan, M.D.

Fellows maintain their own panel of patients over three years in their continuity and CF clinics. Fellows have one half-day of general continuity clinic and one half-day of CF continuity clinic per week. Each fellow is assigned a supervising attending pulmonologist. The fellow establishes a long-term relationship with patients and families which is considered a critical part of training.

During the second year of the program, fellows complete a hybrid inpatient/outpatient rotation dedicated to lung transplant, a community clinic rotation, as well as a subspecialty outpatient clinic rotation in which fellows see patients in a variety of the highly specialized pulmonary clinics:

• Aerodigestive
• Life-Threatening Asthma
• Muscular Dystrophy
• Sickle Cell
• Pulmonary Hypertension
• Lung Transplantation
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Sleep Medicine
• Interstitial Lung Disease

Common elective rotations include Sleep Center, Allergy and Immunology, PICU, ENT and many other areas of interest.

Learning opportunities are a blend of division-specific, departmental, and college-level offerings. Fellows are immersed in an academic environment that fosters intellectual discussion and exchange of knowledge in all of the ACGME competencies and beyond.

Pediatric Fellows College

Fellows College is an innovative and collaborative approach to sub-specialty training implemented at Baylor College of Medicine in 2011. The primary focus is to provide educational seminars for pediatric sub-specialties to meet the core curriculum (quality improvement, patient safety, communication, professionalism & medical writing) required by the ACGME and the ABP. In addition to the sessions offered to meet the core curriculum, Fellows College offers educational series on topics such as Fellows as Educators, Academic Career Development, Quality Improvement, Leadership, and Research.

Expanded curricular opportunities provided by Fellows College help to prepare sub-specialty fellows for their future careers. Furthermore, fellows have a wider range of opportunities to network and interact with an extended community of learners and leaders participating in Fellows College.

Pediatric Grand Rounds

Grand Rounds is held every Friday at Texas Children’s Hospital and open to pediatric physicians, residents, and fellows of Texas Children’s Hospital / Baylor College of Medicine. Grand Rounds fulfills the need for regular updates on advances in the fields of general pediatrics and pediatric sub-specialties. Educational methods include lectures and question/answer sessions and is designated as an educational activity for AMA PRA category 1 credit.

Our fellows have the option to pursue additional opportunities for advanced education and advanced degrees with scholarship funding available.

Master Teacher Fellowship Program

The primary aim of the Master Teacher Fellowship Program is to enhance the educational mission of the College by improving the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of individual faculty. Specifically, the fellowship is designed to increase:

• Knowledge of key educational principles and theories.
• Skills in lecturing, facilitating, designing, and evaluating.
• Interest in and ability to serve as an educational leader.
• Self-reflection and readiness to benefit from constructive feedback from learners and peers

Clinical Scientist Training Program

Clinical Scientist Training Program is committed to educating and training highly motivated individuals to become successful, independent clinical investigators and future leaders in academic medicine and biomedical research. It is designed primarily for junior faculty and senior sub-specialty fellows at Baylor College of Medicine. The Certificate of Added Qualification is designed for people who are interested in an introduction to clinical research but cannot commit the time for an in-depth study.