First Year
During the first year of training, the fellow will have broad exposure to various types of problems in which the immune response is altered (either by deficiencies of various host-defense mechanisms or by the development of hypersensitivity states). This exposure will come through participation in allergy and immunology faculty and fellow continuity outpatient clinics, and management of inpatients with allergic and immunologic disorders. Fellows are directly supervised by faculty members in all clinical rotations.
The trainee will learn the various techniques necessary for patient evaluation, including skin testing, clinical immunology laboratory tests for evaluating immunologic competence, and pulmonary function testing. In-depth training in clinical and laboratory immunology is provided. The trainee will be expected to attend weekly divisional conferences including:
- Wednesday afternoon systemic board review
- Wednesday afternoon allergy and immunology seminar in which sessions by outside speakers and senior staff members are alternated with seminars given by the fellows on a wide range of basic and clinical topics and a monthly journal club
- Friday morning immunology rounds reviewing current patients and a journal club focused in reviews of recent topics in scientific literature
During the first year, the trainees will also audit the Department of Immunology course for first year graduate students, which consists one hour lectures on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons in the fall semester. The fellows also have the opportunity to attend Pediatric House Staff conferences and Grand Rounds. First year fellows also have a one month laboratory rotation to learn basic allergy and immunology clinical tests and begin planning their second year research project. Fellows are also invited to attend the Department of Immunology guest lecture series every Tuesday afternoon.
Second Year
The second year is designed to allow trainees the maximum opportunity to participate in a research project of their choosing. Fellows may also enroll in graduate courses or degree programs directly related to their research projects if approved by the chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology. Program offerings include the Research Fellowship Training Program of the Duke Clinical Research Institute, and MPH degree programs at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Trainees may work in the laboratory of a senior member of the division, or in an approved laboratory in another department at Duke or outside the institution. Fellows spend only 22% of their effort in patient care during the second year that consists of a one half day fellow continuity clinic each week, one month clinic coverage and 10 weekends of at home inpatient call. Second year fellows will continue to participate in the same teaching conferences attended by first year except for the Department of Immunology graduate student course. Second year fellows are also responsible for organizing monthly division journal clubs and seminars. Satisfactory completion of two years of training in our program will lead to eligibility to sit for the written examination of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology.
Third Year
This optional year will be used to obtain further basic training, research, and teaching experience in preparation for a career in academic pediatric allergy and immunology. Fellows will have no clinical duties during this year.