History

The pediatric hematology fellowship at UT Southwestern and Children's Medical Center Dallas (CMCD) was first established in 1984. Since that time 46 fellows have graduated and 10 remain in training. 67% of graduates remain in academic positions. The program is currently under the direction of Dr. Patrick Leavey.

Duration of fellowship

Minimum 3 years, as required by the Pediatric Residency Review Committee (RRC) of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).   Fellows have the option to do a fourth fellowship year to focus on and complete their research projects. This strategy has been very successful and is supported by the fellowship program as a way to enhance future career development. Funding may be identified within program resources, but fellows must seek some external salary support for this extra year.

Number of fellows in program

We continue to participate in the National Residency Matching Program and have matched three positions for 2008.   As of July 2007 we have 10 fellows in the program (3 first-year, 4 second-year, 3 third-year).

Financial support

The hematology-oncology fellowship program at UT Southwestern has a sound financial base.   First and foremost, since 1990 the program is been supported by a T32 NRSA Training Grant from the National Cancer Institute.   This training grant was successfully renewed in 2005 for another 5 years. This provides to us a total of four complete stipends each year to be used for fellows with a demonstrable commitment to an academic career.   We also receive support directly from Children's Medical Center Dallas for the fellows' clinical activities and from our two local fund-raising groups, Children's Cancer Fund and Wipe Out Kids Cancer.  Individual grants from foundations and other sources - often in response to research solicitations from fellows and their mentors - provide valuable supplemental assistance.  An example of the wonderful foundations that provide support to our fellowship program is St. Baldrick's Foundation, which currently provides stipend support through 2008 for third-year fellow Dr. Jason Litten.   Fellows staying on for a 4th year must apply for grant support for part of their stipend and research expenses.  A number of mechanisms are available to assist them with these activities.

Accreditation

The hematology-oncology fellowship program received a strong letter of endorsement from the RRC in November 2002, indicating full approval of the program through October 2007. We undertook an extensive internal review of the program in 2003. This evaluation has led to several improvements, including a novel mentoring system, a more individualized recruiting process and a comprehensive review and restructuring of several teaching conferences. In June 2005 we received a strong endorsement from the UT Southwestern Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC) internal audit. Since that time two further improvements have been introduced: the first annual faculty, fellow and administrative meeting to discuss the fellowship program took place in June 2006 (23 attendees) and the first bi-annual fellowship steering committee took place July 2006. Both of these forums will enhance the oversight of the program in general and help the program director to continue to make adjustments to the curriculum and program to improve the learning environment provided to fellows.