Nephrology Fellowship Program – Education + Didactics

Held during the first 2 weeks of fellowship, Bootcamp serves to ease the transition into our systems and facilities, and to rapidly build engagement with all of our staff.

Held twice weekly during the summer, this series helps new fellows learn key aspects of kidney disease and the nephrology fellow’s role during their first few months of training.

After the summer, a weekly series is held where faculty prepare reviews on pathophysiology, disease states, management issues, and the scientific background of Nephrology.

Research Conference is held weekly from October to June to discuss research methodology, scientific approach, and study design. Faculty, fellows, and visiting professors present their recent work.

Held weekly from October to June, Journal Club is where faculty and fellows present articles of importance and discuss the recent literature in a critical manner.

Harrington Rounds, held weekly throughout the year, is the Division’s clinical conference to discuss the pathophysiologic, pathologic, ethical, and medical decision-making issues involved with challenging and complicated cases. Cases are selected, presented, and reviewed by clinical fellows on a rotating basis.

Pathology Conference is held regularly to review kidney biopsies. Fellows provide a clinical overview of each case, with our renal pathologist explaining the histologic features.

Fellows run a Board Review Conference throughout the winter and spring to prepare themselves for the In-Training Exam and ABIM Nephrology Boards.

Fellows or attendings present cases which have opportunities for improvement.

Transplant Rounds, held weekly, is an opportunity to review transplant recipient and donor candidacy, discuss challenging transplant issues, and revise transplant protocols and policy.

Access Rounds reviews hemodialysis access issues in a multidisciplinary setting with Vascular Surgery and Interventional Radiology.

A weekly interdisciplinary review of hospitalized and recently discharged dialysis patients with a goal of coordinating inpatient and outpatient medical and nursing care. Additional topics of quality care in outpatient hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis are discussed with a team of physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, and dieticians.

The Division supports fellows to attend one national nephrology conference each year.  Fellows receive reimbursement towards expenses incurred from registration, transportation, lodging, and meals. Fellows are also supported to attend any meeting at which they present their work, and conference within their designated area of focused study.

The Divisions of Nephrology at all the Boston-area teaching hospitals meet annually to review educational topics, often in a case-based format with a world-renowned visiting professor. Fellows from Tufts Medical Center, Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, UMass Medical Center, and Rhode Island Hospital prepare cases on a particular topic for discussion by a world leader in the field. This activity leads to a strong educational collaboration among the institutions of Greater Boston.

The Division of Nephrology welcomes esteemed faculty from across the country and around the world to share their cutting-edge work, often during times of collaboration with Division research efforts.