The core mission of the Rheumatology Fellowship Program at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University is to train expert clinical rheumatologists by cultivating strong clinical care, education, research, and lifelong scholarship in the field of rheumatologic diseases. The commitment to uphold our mission is fulfilled by our faculty members at varying stages of their careers. Trainees who have completed the Temple Rheumatology Program have gone on to successful careers in both academic medicine and private practice.
The clinical component of the Temple Rheumatology Fellowship Program is composed of hospital consultations and ambulatory services. The inpatient consult service is comprised of thirteen ½-month blocks (total 6.5 months) of hospital responsibility over a 24-month training period. This takes place in our 721-bed tertiary care hospital located in North Philadelphia. Ambulatory patients are seen by fellows in ½ day continuity clinics which include general rheumatology clinics at various clinical sites, lupus clinic, ultrasound clinic, interstitial lung disease clinic, pediatric rheumatology clinic at St. Christopher’s Hospital, and an urgent clinic for acute rheumatologic concerns and hospital discharge follow-ups.
The educational component of the Temple Rheumatology Fellowship Program includes section-wide, fellow-specific, and interdisciplinary conferences. Section-wide conferences occur weekly and covered topics include Rheumatology Grand Rounds; case conference; morbidity & mortality (M&M) report, journal club; and disease-specific conferences focusing on pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment. Fellow-specific didactics include board review, immunology, MSK radiology, MSK ultrasound, ACR guideline review, lupus journal club, and review of sentinel papers in rheumatology. Interdisciplinary conferences include Connective Tissue Disease Associated Interstitial Lung Disease (CTD-ILD) Conference and Renal-Rheumatology Conference.
Research opportunities for fellows include participation in clinical trials and clinical research in addition to quality improvement and patient safety research. During their two-year fellowship, trainees are expected to participate in and submit their scholarly work for publication and dissemination in local, regional, and national rheumatology conferences and journals.