During your Fellowship training, you will have supervised experience caring for a large number of patients with a broad range of problems in Pediatric hematology, oncology and hematopoietic progenitor cell transplantation. Clinical training will occur in both inpatient and outpatient (clinic) settings and involve interaction with specialty physicians and nurse practioners. During the first year the fellow will be assigned as the primary physician for approximately 20-30 newly diagnosed patients who they will follow in continuity of care clinic for the three years of fellowship. Finally, fellows will be expected to supervise and teach pediatric residents and medical students in the care of hospitalized pediatric oncology, hematology and transplant patients.
The Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology/Transplantation evaluates and cares for approximately 130 new Oncology patients annually. The Hematology service evaluates over 1,000 patients per year with benign hematological problems. Our Sickle Cell clinic cares for 350-400 patients with hemoglobinopathies. Coagulation Disorder clinic and the clinic for Severe Bleeding Disorders each care for over 350 new patients annually. The Hematopoietic progenitor cell transplant program performs approximately 40 allogenic and 20 autologous transplants per year.
Successful completion of a scholarly activity is required for subspecialty certification by the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP). To meet this requirement, years 2 and 3 are dedicated to hypothesis-driven research. Two distinct research pathways are offered: laboratory-based and clinical research. A requirement of the clinical research track is to successfully complete a masters program in either Epidemiology or Public Health. It is expected that fellows present their research in regional and national forums and publish in peer-reviewed journals. A major goal of our training program is to provide the fellow a focused environment in which they can develop research interests and be positioned to successfully compete for extramural funding upon completion of their training.
We also offer competitive funding through the MACC Fund (Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer) for a fourth year of training. In situations where a fourth year is approved, the full effort of the fellow is dedicated to research.
One of the unique strengths of our program is the focus on translational research. Important clinical questions are the focus of active collaborations involving clinical and basic science investigators within our section as well as expert research staffs at the neighboring Medical College of Wisconsin and the Blood Research Institute (BRI) These multidisciplinary teams take problems encountered in the clinic back to the laboratory to better understand cellular and molecular mechanisms, then returning to the clinic with improved treatment strategies. Active translational research programs in the section include experimental hematopoietic progenitor cell transplantation, cancer immunotherapy, mechanisms of vaso-occlusion in sickle cell disease and bleeding disorders, and the diagnosis and treatment of vascular tumors and anomalies.
Successful completion of a scholarly activity is required for subspecialty certification by the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP). Each fellow will be assigned a three member Scholarship Oversight Committee (SOC) at acceptance into the program. The primary responsibility of the SOC will be to help the fellow choose a suitable mentor and research project and then to ensure that the research experience meets ABP guidelines for scholarly activities. The fellow is required to identify a faculty mentor and research project in the first year. Either clinical or basic science research projects will be acceptable but must be carried out under the supervision of appropriate senior faculty (associate or professor) with approval of the SOC. All research mentors must have independent grant funding at a national level and experience in fellowship training. The fellow will meet with the SOC at least twice a year to review with the fellow by the chair of the SOC and copies provided to the fellow, program director and mentor.