Fellowships
Program Overview
The Rheumatology Fellowship Program of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine accepts applicants who have completed, or are about to complete, Internal Medicine residency training, are eligible to sit for the American Board of Internal Medicine certification exam, and wish to receive further training in the subspecialty of Rheumatology. Both two and three year clinical and research positions are offered. The goals of the program are to: (1) train clinical rheumatologists in a setting that emphasizes teaching of the musculoskeletal and autoimmune disorders, practical skills, and offers specialized training in certain specialized invasive procedures if desired; and (2) train academic rheumatologists with an emphasis on developing careers in clinical or laboratory research. A strength of the Wake Forest University Rheumatology Fellowship Program is the ability and capacity to design the training for fellows on an individual basis such that either of these goals can be met.
Under the direction of Kenneth S. O’Rourke, M.D., the Section’s fellowship program offers four distinct tracts, allowing residents to focus their training to a desired career path.
Four distinct tracts within the Rheumatology Fellowship Program are offered:
Clinical Rheumatology: a two year intensive clinical program for those applicants interested in pursing a career primarily in patient care.
Clinical Rheumatology-Geriatrics: a three year, integrated clinical program leading to Board Eligibility in both Rheumatology and Geriatrics, for the applicant pursuing a career in patient care. This tract requires a separate application to the Geriatrics Fellowship program.
Academic Clinical Rheumatology: a three year program for applicants desiring a career in clinical research. The final two years of the program are spent acquiring a Master's degree in Epidemiology in the Department of Public Health Sciences. This tract requires a separate application to the Graduate School;
Basic Sciences Rheumatology: a minimum three-year program for applicants pursuing a career in independent laboratory-based research.
The first year of training, the fellow spends four half days in the outpatient rheumatology clinic of the Wake Forest University Physicians. This very active clinic cares for a large patient population providing the fellow an opportunity to evaluate and treat a variety of rheumatic problems. The fellow also rotates on the rheumatology consult service which averages approximately 30 consults per month. Faculty teaching in the clinic and on the consult team is supplemented by a complete program of conferences. A formal curriculum covers, over two years, areas of fundamental clinical and basic sciences knowledge in rheumatology. Regular conferences include Arthritis Rounds (monthly), Basic Science Seminar (monthly), Journal Club (monthly), Case Conference (monthly), Radiology Conference (monthly). The succeeding year(s) of the program is designed to meet the clinical or research objective of each tract.
Participation in a research project is a component of all training tracts. At the start of the first year, all fellows meet with each of the faculty to discuss potential clinical and basic research projects and to choose a faculty mentor. Fellows with an interest primarily in clinical rheumatology may choose to work with a faculty mentor on either a clinical or laboratory oriented project. The project is initiated during the first year and finished within the second or third year while the fellow continues clinical training. Fellows interested in laboratory research training will choose a faculty mentor who assists the fellow in the development of a basic laboratory research project.The fellow's clinical schedule is reduced during the second and third years to allow for more research time. The research interests of the faculty are broad and include clinical research in: interventional rheumatology including arthroscopy, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, SLE, Sjogren's syndrome and Raynaud's syndrome. Basic research of the faculty include: molecular mechanisms of cellular immune dysfunction in SLE, signal transduction in B cells, the control of macrophage functions in inflammation, and vitamin K metabolism, The faculty and their research interests are described below in more detail.
Fellowship Goals
The goals of the program are to:
- train clinical rheumatologists in a setting that emphasizes teaching of the musculoskeletal and autoimmune disorders, practical skills, and offers specialized training in certain specialized invasive procedures if desired;
- train academic rheumatologists with an emphasis on developing careers in clinical or laboratory research.
A strength of the Wake Forest University Rheumatology Fellowship Program is its ability to design fellowship training on an individual basis, assuring that one of these goals are met.
To Apply for a Rheumatology Fellowship
The Section on Rheumatology participates in the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS).
To access the ERAS website go to: http://www.aamc.org/students/eras/timeline/start.htm
If you have any questions regarding the fellowship program, you may contact Vicki Fair via E-mail at vfair@wfubmc.edu or via telephone at (336) 716-4507.
The Wake Forest University School of Medicine
The Wake Forest University School of Medicine is part of Wake Forest University, and in conjunction with North Carolina Baptist Hospital, forms a Medical Center, which is a regional referral center for an area of nearly five million people. The Medical Center trains students in medicine as well as in allied health fields including physician assistants, medical technologists and nurse anesthetists. The Medical Center offers training programs for house officers in 23 specialties, each of which is approved by the Council of Medical Education in Hospitals of the American Medical Association and their respective specialty boards. The Medical School also has basic science programs with graduate training in Biochemistry, Cancer Biology, Comparative Medicine, Neurobiology/Anatomy and Physiology/Pharmacology. Wake Forest University has very large and distinguished Department of Public Health Sciences which offers graduate training in Epidemiology. The Medical Center is well known for its outstanding clinical training but also has placed additional emphasis on continuing achievements in medical research.
Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Wake Forest University
Wake Forest is a small, comprehensive university that has been consistently ranked as one of our Nation's finest. The undergraduate population totals 3,800 with 2,300 graduate and professional students. Wake Forest College moved to Winston-Salem from its previous location in Wake Forest, North Carolina in 1956. Winston-Salem is a city of approximately 171,000 located in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. The city has a moderate climate with an average year-round temperature of 59º. It is conveniently located about one and a half hours from the mountains and three to four hours from the Atlantic coast beaches. Winston-Salem has long been known for its support of the arts, and its residents enjoy a wide variety of cultural activities. Many of these are sponsored through Wake Forest University and through the North Carolina School of the Arts, which is also located in Winston-Salem. The cost of living in Winston-Salem is very reasonable and a variety of rental houses and apartments, as well as houses for sale are available for incoming fellows.
