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A Fellow's Perspective

A 3rd year fellow in the pediatric track talks about her experiences regarding the Allergy / Immunology fellowship program.

Benefits of the Program

The Allergy / Immunology Fellowship at theCincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine is a great place to be an Allergy / Immunology (A / I) fellow for many reasons.

Our fellowship program offers an outstanding, wellrounded
training experience in all areas of A / I, including asthma, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, atopic dermatitis, food and drug allergy, anaphylaxis, eosinophilic disorders, acute and chronic urticaria / angioedema, and primary immunodeficiency.

Sub-Specialties

Cincinnati Children's is a pediatric A / I tertiary referral center with nationally recognized sub-specialists. The allergy clinics are very busy as we receive outpatient consultations from both community pediatricians and from other centers around the country. Therefore, our fellows become proficient in working-up and treating patients with problems ranging from "bread and butter" allergic diseases, to unknown, puzzling disorders. We become proficient in interpretation of pulmonary function testing, blood work, and radiologic scans, and prescribing and managing immunotherapy.

The immunodeficiency clinic is staffed by five physicians with specialized training in immunodeficiency and bone marrow transplant. In this clinic, we learn to work-up and treat patients with relatively common immunodeficiency disorders, as well as very rare diseases such as chronic granulomatous disease, hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis and severe combined immunodeficiency.

We also spend two weeks in the immunology lab gaining hands-on experience in performing and interpreting labs that are commonly used in the work-up of immunodeficiency. On the inpatient service, we follow our regular clinic patients admitted for severe asthma and immunodeficiency, and we are asked by community pediatricians and other sub-specialists in the hospital to consult on inpatients with asthma, drug allergy, food allergy, anaphylaxis, and patients needing work-up for immunodeficiency.

Built into the second and third years of our fellowship training is cross-training in adult A / I at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine where we train with nationally recognized A / I attendings who are experts in the management of diseases common to both pediatric and adult allergists, and who also have specific expertise in areas such as occupational asthma and non-aeroallergen, environmental triggers of rhinitis, wheezing and dermatitis seen in adults. The outpatient clinics and inpatient consults at UC and a number of hospitals in the Cincinnati area provide exposure to a diverse spectrum of typical and rare, adult A/I diseases.

Rotating Call Schedule

Our rotating call schedule is very manageable, involving patient phone calls at night and inpatient consults after weekday working hours. The faculty member on call personally staffs all consults and is always more than willing to help out with any patient phone calls if fellows need advice. I am confident that upon completing my fellowship, I will be well equipped to diagnose and treat any patient who calls or walks through the door.

Research

In addition to our clinical training, there are abundant opportunities to participate in groundbreaking research in areas such as eosinophilic disorders, asthma, food allergy / anaphylaxis, and immunodeficiency, to name a few. All of the faculty members in our program are physicianscientists and conduct basic science, translational or clinical epidemiologic research. Many of the 11 fellows in our program had no experience with basic or translational research prior to starting the fellowship, but through extensive faculty support have been able to design and carry out excellent projects resulting in quality publications. In the basic science laboratories, there are also many PhD and pre-doctoral students who are very supportive and take an active interest in the fellows' research.

Didactic Sessions

Another important aspect of our fellowship education is the strength of our didactic sessions. We have organized a number of different conferences to cover clinical topics, to learn basic science, and how to conduct research. There are numerous other weekly lectures given that fellows are encouraged to attend - namely grand rounds, immunobiology seminars and clinical research methods seminars. At the beginning of my fellowship, the amount of information I knew I had to learn seemed overwhelming, but step by step, through attending these didactic sessions, I have developed a very thorough understanding of the necessary topics. Additionally, these core didactics prepared me very well for the A / I board exam.

Faculty and Staff

The faculty and staff are a pleasure to work with. The attendings are excellent "hands on" educators in the clinics, conferences and laboratories. The faculty members are receptive to our questions and concerns, however large or small, regarding changes that could further improve our fellowship experience. I feel that we are appreciated, respected, and treated as colleagues.

The Cincinnati Area

The fellowship is challenging and busy, but I have found that I have more than enough free time to enjoy Cincinnati with family and friends. Cincinnati is a mid-sized, friendly city with a very affordable cost of living. The hospital is easily and quickly accessed from many suburbs and multiple areas of town. Cincinnati and nearby northern Kentucky areas offer theater, arts, music, restaurants, parks, outdoor recreational activities, and spectator sporting events, Bengals football, Reds baseball, UC and Xavier basketball. Fellows with children will find many family-friendly activities, such as the Newport Aquarium, Cincinnati Zoo, Paramount Kings Island, and children's museum, and excellent school systems.