Mission Statement

It is the mission of this Division to train fellows who will become clinically competent consultants in the field of Allergy/Immunology and/or Rheumatology, to provide medical residents with the solid foundation in clinical Allergy/Immunology and Rheumatology essential to the primary care provider, and to provide medical students with an introduction to clinical Allergy/Immunology and Rheumatology.

Curriculum

Fellowship Curriculum:

     The fellowship curricula are comprehensive and include all facets of the discipline and related fields including clinical care, clinical research, and basic research. Teaching venues include the ambulatory clinic, the in-patient hospital, the emergency room, Division conferences, the Clinical Immunology Research Center, and the reaseach labs.

Rheumatology Fellow Curriculum

Allergy/Immunology Fellow Curriculum

Medical Resident Curriculum:

     The resident curriculum is extensive and includes the unique components of the history and physical exam, an understanding of immunologic laboratories that are critical to the diagnosis of common diseases, and a better understanding of the presentation of some of the diseases, diagnostic strategies and treatment modalities found in the diseases unique ot Allergy/Immunology and Rheumatology. Teaching venues include the ambulatory clinic, the in-patient hospital, Division conferences, and a self-study course on Blackboard.

Allergy/Immunology & Rheumatology Resident Curriculum

Medical Student Curriculm:

     The medical student curriculum provides a excellent foundation in Allergy/Immunology and Rheumatology and focuses on the history and physical exam, diagnositic laboratory studies, and diagnosis of the more common diseases in Allergy/Immunology and Rheumatology. Teaching venues include the ambulatory clinic, the in-patient hospital, Division conferences, and a self-study course on Blackboard.

Med658 Clinical Immunology Curriculum

Conferences

Below is a table outlining the times of the regularly scheduled conferences. For more information on the Clinical Conference for a particular Thursday of the month, please use the link to Conferences.

Conference Descriptions

Below are descriptions of the various conferences.  The letters following the titles indicate the audience for which the conference is intended.

• F=allergy/immunology and/or rheumatology fellow
• R=medical resident
• M=medical student

Immunology Couse (F)

      This course is organized and led by Dr. Looney.  The first portion of the course will be discussions centered around chapters in a textbook chosen by Dr. Looney.  Fellows are expected to read the assigned chapter and come prepared to discuss the topic of the assigned chapter.  Once the text book has been covered, the pathophysiology of autoimmune diseases will be discussed using pertinent assigned journal articles.  Fellows are expected to be prepared to discuss the methods and significance of these articles.  Medical Residents may attend but are not required to attend.

Allergy Conference (F)

     This conference is held weekly and covers core topic in Allergy and Immunology.

Clinical Conference (F,R,M)

     Clinical conference is designed to provide a formal setting to present a case for which the fellow/resident has a particular question.  It can be a diagnostic or treatment dilemma and it should be handled from the perspective of evidence-based medicine.   The fellow/resident will be expected to prepare a written summary of the case for distribution.  During the case presentation, the fellow/resident should take questions regarding the history, physical exam and labs immediately after presenting that information.  The fellow/residents’ questions are then discussed by the group.  At the end of the discussion the fellow/resident should be prepared to summarize an article pertinent to his case and question(s). 

Multidisciplinary Conference (F,R,M)

Multidisciplinary Conference is a morbidity and mortality conference.  All subspecialties involved in the care of the patient to be discussed are invited to the conference.  The fellow prepares a written summary of the history, physical exam and labs as well as an outline of the specific topics to be discussed.  Pathologic specimens are reviewed by a pathologist.  Discussion of the specific topics amongst all present ensues.  This is followed by brief presentations by the fellow of the literature that pertains to the topics chosen for discussion.  Some of the conferences must center on the unique challenges in the geriatric age group.  These include the challenges of diagnosis, treatment and end of life decisions. 

Grand Rounds (F,R,M)

Grand Rounds is held several times during the year and provides an opportunity for a scholarly presentation on a topic which is less common or a presentation on a topic by an invited expert.  It should be introduced with a representative case whenever possible followed by an in-depth discussion of the topic based on review of the literature. A bibliography must be prepared and distributed.

Research Conference (F)

 Research Conference is held monthly.  As these are  “Works in Progress” a formal presentation with slides is not necessary.  Overheads can be used for preliminary data.  These conferences offer the first year fellow the opportunity to receive input from the Unit on his hypothesis and plan and offer the senior fellow the opportunity to present his data to the group, often as a dry run before the ACR meeting.

Journal Club (F)

Journal Club is held monthly.  Articles should be picked from Nature, Science, Cell, Immunity, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Journal of Immunology, JACI, Arthritis and Rheumatism, New England Journal of Medicine or Annals of Internal Medicine and should take an evidenced based approach. The fellow should be prepared to discuss the techniques and statistical analysis. The fellow should review his article with a faculty member presenting at least one week before the conference.  Articles should be distributed one week in advance.

Radiology Conference (F,R,M)

Radiology Conference is held every month.  Fellows and faculty submit radiographs for review in advance.  On the day of the conference, the radiology fellow and faculty discuss the findings after the rheumatologist gives a brief patient history.

Case Conundrum (F,R,M)

Case Conundrum Conference is held every Thursday and is designed to be an informal discussion of cases for which faculty or fellows would like the opinion of the group on either diagnosis or treatment.  No written case description or article is required.  Cases are generally presented from the chart followed by discussion.  This conference also provides an opportunity for continuous quality improvement through discussion of clinical practices.

Rheumatology Lunch and Learn (F,R,M)

Lunch and Learn is a weekly confernce held over lunch and is designed to introduce medical students and medical residents to core topics in rheumatology while developing the teaching skills of rheumatology fellows. At the beginning of the academic year, faculty act as teaching models for the fellows. Then the fellows take ove the teaching of these seminars under the mentorship of the faculty. The conferences are interactive case presentations which take the residents and students through the diagnosis and treatment of some of the most common rheumatologic diseases.

Clinical Core Conference (F)

The Core Conference Series has two components.  There is a weekly component held before each continuity clinic session.  For this portion, fellows are assigned preparatory reading and the conference consists of a faculty led discussion of the topic with fellow participation.  The second component consists of a series of didactic sessions given by Unit faculty during July and August  which are centered around fundamental topics in Rheumatology.