Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes Fellowship Curriculum

The first year of fellowship is an intensive clinical year. The trainee has the opportunity to diagnose and manage patients with a wide variety of endocrine disorders. The fellow will rotate in each of our five affiliate hospitals in five week blocks, and each site has a distinctive patient population. During each block, the fellow works in the hospital’s inpatient service and one to four of the site’s outpatient Endocrine clinics. In addition, the fellow has one half-day of continuity clinic weekly at Harris Health’s Smith Clinic. Continuity clinic extends across both years of the program.

Hospital Rotation Schedule

During the second year, fellows devote the majority of their time to research training. They have the opportunity to work with well-funded, world-renowned mentors across basic, clinical, and translational research tracks. Mentors are available from multiple prestigious institutions, including the Baylor Diabetes Research Center, the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, the Children’s Nutrition Research Center, the Baylor Department of Cell Biology, and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Clinical responsibilities in the second year include continuity clinic at Harris Health’s Smith Clinic and an outpatient clinic with the fellow’s research mentor, where applicable. In addition, fellows may select from a variety of elective rotations, including female reproductive endocrinology/fertility, lipidology, adrenal and pituitary disorders, and thyroid fine needle aspiration (FNA).

As part of their quality improvement training, fellows participate in the Department of Medicine Quality Academy, and they have the option to apply for the formal Certificate of Added Qualification in Healthcare Improvement (CAQHI) Program, which offers advanced training in systems-based practice and quality improvement methodology.

Fellows interested in academic careers are encouraged to apply for the Clinical Scientist Training Program, which offers options for a Certificate of Added Qualification, a Master’s degree, or a Ph.D. This program provides formal training in study design, biostatistics, and grant writing. 

Those interested in developing clinician educator skills can participate in the Academy of Fellow Educators Certification Program, which offers structured training in teaching, feedback, curriculum development, and educational scholarship.

Fellows are also sponsored by the division to attend the intensive Endocrine University course, organized by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and the American College of Endocrinology. This program includes hands-on training in bone density measurement, thyroid ultrasound and FNA, and endocrine clinical laboratory supervision.

A third-year of fellowship training is strongly encouraged for fellows planning for a career in academic endocrinology. Our program is approved by the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners for a third year for research.

Held as a combination of virtual and in-person sessions—including team-based, active learning every Monday at 7:45 a.m.—this conference offers a comprehensive review of 55 core endocrine topics over a two-year cycle. The core curriculum is attended by Endocrinology fellows from Baylor College of Medicine, UT-Houston, and Houston Methodist Hospital fellowship programs.

Conference runs from 12- 1 pm on Wednesdays (in-person) and Fridays (virtual)

Fellow Case Conference

This conference provides a venue for fellow case presentations and detailed, interactive case-based discussion of endocrine disorders.

Evidence-based Endocrine Practice Conference

This conference provides training in critical appraisal of the Endocrine literature.

Neuroradiology Conference

This session is devoted to reviewing pituitary/hypothalamic imaging with the neuroradiologists.

Thyroid Cytopathology Conference

This conference is held jointly with the cytopathology department to review thyroid nodule fine needle aspirates and surgical pathology.

Endocrine Surgery Conference

This conference is held jointly with endocrine surgeons to review outcomes in patients who have undergone thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal and other endocrine surgery.

Multidisciplinary Thyroid Tumor Board

This conference is held in conjunction with surgery, ENT, pathology, radiology and nuclear medicine to discuss evaluation and management of complicated thyroid cancer patients

Endocrinology Grand Rounds

This twice a month conference is held in conjunction with the endocrine divisions of The University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Texas Children's Hospital. The format includes lectures on basic and clinical endocrinology by local faculty and visiting speakers.

Training in Quality Improvement

Baylor’s Quality Academy program, initiated in the 2020-2021 academic year, is a program jointly attended by fellows from multiple Internal Medicine subspecialty programs. It consists of 7 hours of didactics and a group project with a faculty mentor.  

Affiliate-Specific Conferences

All the affiliate sites have their own internal conferences the fellows attend while on rotation. For example, multidisciplinary endocrine tumor boards occur at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, and the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center. While rotating at Texas Children’s Hospital, endocrine fellows join the Thursday afternoon pediatric endocrine academic conferences. Most affiliates have their own journal clubs.

Research Retreat

Once a year, in the fall, faculty present their research programs and training opportunities to all fellows in a half-day seminar in preparation for choosing a research mentor and transitioning to the second year of fellowship.

An integrated research program in any area of basic endocrine science involving faculty with joint appointments in the Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism of the Department of Medicine and the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (see faculty list).

A research training opportunity, which is offered to all senior fellows at Baylor. This didactic and research-oriented program leads to diploma, masters or doctorate status in clinical research. Read more about the Clinical Scientist Training Program.

Ben Taub Hospital is the tertiary care referral center for the residents of Harris County, Texas, the third most populous county in the United States. It is an elite Level I Trauma Center and serves as one of the two major public hospitals in Harris County. Staffed by Baylor College of Medicine, it has 444 licensed beds and cares for more than 80,000 emergency patients each year. While rotating at BTGH, Endocrine Fellows see a wide array of complex pathologies, including thyroid emergencies and other endocrine disorders. Fellows also work in several specialized endocrine clinics: the Diabetic Ketoacidosis Clinic, which has published important work in the area of ketosis prone diabetes; the OB-Endocrine clinic, where fellows see endocrine complications in pregnant women including diabetes, thyroid, adrenal and pituitary pathology; FNA clinic, where fellows are trained in thyroid ultrasound and fine needle aspiration of thyroid nodules; and Metabolic Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD) clinic (in conjunction with Gastroenterology), where fellows learn management of metabolic diseases. Smith Clinic, the General Endocrine continuity clinic for fellows over the two years of fellowship, is also within the Harris Health System. Here, the fellows have their own panel of patients with a wide array of endocrine disorders, and they are also trained in the numerous endocrine dynamic testing protocols and interpretation. 

MD Anderson Cancer Center is ranked as the top hospital for cancer care by U.S. News & World Report. It is recognized around the world for research and patient care. The faculty at MD Anderson are leaders in thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia and adrenal neoplasia. The rotation also provides exposure to endocrine issues in the context of active treatment of malignancy. Trainees manage post-operative thyroid and pituitary surgery patients and see endocrine immune related adverse events from checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Fellows are also exposed to the use of systemic therapy (TKIs, immunotherapy) for advanced thyroid cancer patients.  

Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center (BSLMC), is a private teaching hospital for adult patients at Baylor College of Medicine. Jointly owned by Baylor College of Medicine and CommonSpirit Health, it is part of the CHI St. Luke’s Health System. BSLMC is an 881-bed hospital with robust programs in heart, liver, and kidney transplantation.

Diabetes care is a major focus of both the inpatient and outpatient training experience. Fellows learn to manage complex patients with diabetes, including those receiving parenteral nutrition, and gain hands-on experience with advanced diabetes technologies such as insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors.

Endocrine fellows also receive training in thyroid ultrasound and fine needle aspiration (FNA), as well as the use of molecular gene testing in the evaluation of thyroid nodules. They participate in the Multidisciplinary Endocrine Neoplasia Clinic at the Thyroid and Parathyroid Center, located within the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, where they gain experience in the management of endocrine malignancies, particularly thyroid cancer.

Additionally, fellows rotate through specialized clinics at the Pituitary Center, where they work alongside neurosurgeons to manage complex pituitary disorders. While at BSLMC, fellows also provide inpatient consults for adult patients at the Texas Children’s Hospital Pavilion for Women, a state-of-the-art facility specializing in obstetrics and gynecology and a key referral source for gestational endocrine disorders. 

The Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center serves as the primary health care provider for more than 113,000 Veterans in southeast Texas. Veterans from around the country are referred to the MEDVAMC for specialized diagnostic care, radiation therapy, surgery, and medical treatment including cardiovascular surgery, gastrointestinal endoscopy, nuclear medicine, ophthalmology, liver transplant, renal transplant and treatment of spinal cord injury and diseases. The hospital is a state-of-the-art facility with 350 acute care beds, a 40-bed Spinal Cord Injury Center, and a 141-bed Community Living Center. Diabetes in patients who have had cardiothoracic surgery or organ transplant is a major focus of the inpatient service, as well as the evaluation of patients with fragility fractures, and endocrine disorders and complications in hospitalized Internal Medicine patients. The outpatient general endocrinology clinics see a broad range of pathology including pituitary, thyroid and adrenal neoplasia, hypogonadism, transgender medicine, and metabolic bone disease, and the insulin pump / continuous glucose monitoring program is one of the largest such programs within the VA system.

Texas Children's Hospital is one of the largest pediatric hospitals in the country with 650 beds, and a premier academic institution. Texas Children's has 30 pediatric endocrinologists on staff. The fellow rotates with Pediatric Endocrinology fellows and faculty and participates in the care of both inpatients and outpatients. For the inpatient rotation, the fellow rotates on a diabetes service and a general endocrinology consult service, seeing children with newly diagnosed T1 and T2DM as well as a broad range of general endocrinology. The outpatient rotation provides a broad exposure to pediatric endocrinology including more DM technology (insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors) and a gender medicine multidisciplinary clinic. The endocrine fellow on the Texas Children's rotation also sees newborn consults in the NICU at the Pavilion for Women.