Weekly
Tuesday: Rheumatology Section Conference. Attended by all faculty and fellows. Presentations rotate through several formats including journal club, major topic updates, morbidity and mortality, challenging cases, research updates. Once monthly outside speakers who conduct basic science in an area of immunology are also invited to speak.
Tuesday: Core Didactics. The didactic series for fellows addresses basic and advanced rheumatology, interdisciplinary topics relevant to rheumatologists, and basic and clinical science. We have fully integrated our clinical and basic science curriculum and have an embedded immunologist participating in didactics. An 8-week US course is also included in this time. Guest lecturers from pulmonology, allergy/immunology, nephrology, infectious disease, endocrinology, OT/PT, neurology ophthalmology and orthopedics offer expertise.
Friday: Department of Medicine Grand Rounds. We expect fellows, whenever it is possible, to attend the Department of Medicine’s weekly grand rounds, which present speakers from all divisions within the department. As a division of the Department of Medicine, we typically host 2 speakers annually and fellows must attend those sessions.
Monthly
1st Tuesday: Radiology Conference. Fellows and faculty meet with one or two musculoskeletal radiologist to review a topic and challenging imaging cases from the clinic.
2nd Tuesday: Muscle Conference. The sections of Rheumatology and Neurology gather monthly to present challenging patients with muscle disorders. Patients frequently attend these sessions.
3rd Tuesday: Board Review Conference. Fellows and faculty jointly do board questions based on the topics covered in the month prior.
4th Friday: Pulmonary-Rheumatology Conference. The sections of Rheumatology and Pulmonary gather monthly to present challenging patients with interstitial lung disease.
Both Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and Veterans' Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) have a monthly Dermatology/Rheumatology clinic. The VAMC clinic is integrated into the 1st year fellow schedule. The Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center clinic is integrated into the 2nd year fellow schedule.
Quarterly
5th Tuesday: Pathology Conference. Faculty and fellows review pathology specimens with the chief pathology resident, including temporal artery biopsies, kidney biopsies, skin biopsies, etc.
Tuesday: Morbidity and Mortality. Presented quarterly within the section, faculty and fellows present cases.
Each second year fellow will give one morbidity and mortality presentation for the Department of Medicine at the VAMC.
External conferences
The ACR/APR annual meeting provides you with an outstanding educational and professional networking opportunity. The Division of Rheumatology makes every effort to coordinate your schedule so you can attend part or all of this meeting. One first-year fellow and both second-year fellows usually attend the entire meeting.
The first-year fellow who was unable to attend ACR is able to attend the state-of-the-art Clinical Symposium, or the Winter Rheumatology Symposium.
We do support and encourage participation in the Ultrasound School of North American Rheumatologists training program.