Harbor-UCLA Pediatrics

Description of the Postdoctoral Fellowship Training Program in Endocrinology and Metabolism

The Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism of the Harbor UCLA Medical Center offers a three year research and clinical training program for MDs with appropriate residency training who intend to pursue a career in academic medicine (academic track). The program provides comprehensive clinical training required for board eligibility in Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism. In addition, this program is designed specifically to develop high level investigative skills essential for individuals wishing to pursue a research oriented academic career. The Program is supported by an NIH Training Grant (T32) which is jointly administered with the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism of the Internal Medicine Department. Other fellowship programs supported by the same training grant include the Endocrine and Metabolism Fellowship Program of the Department of Internal Medicine (Academic Track), and the Research Fellowship Training Program in Endocrinology and Metabolism for PhDs. Visit http://gcrc.labiomed.org/endocrinology for more details.

Hospital Facilities and Clinics

Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is a Los Angeles County facility with 500 beds and state of the art diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities and high quality housestaff. There is an active endocrine consult service that provides the trainee with the opportunity to see, learn about, diagnose, and manage all categories of endocrine disease. All fellows attend the following clinics: Endocrine, Diabetes, Pituitary, Thyroid Fine Needle Biopsy, and Reproductive Endocrinology. Fellows also enjoy the opportunity to attend Genetics Clinic.

Conferences and Seminars

MD fellows (in both internal medicine and pediatrics) attend the Endocrine Grand Rounds and the Endocrine Clinical Conference. They participate in presenting cases and review recent developments in the diagnosis and management of endocrine disorders and multi-disciplinary conferences on patients with endocrine tumors such as thyroid cancer who need surgical management for their diseases. All fellows attend the following regularly scheduled conferences: Basic Science Seminar Series, Research in Progress Lab Group Meetings, Introduction to Clinical Research, Ethical Conduct of Research, and Biostatistical Methods Seminar Series. Additionally, fellows take the NIH sponsored graduate level courses under UCLA K30 Graduate Training Program in Translational and Clinical Investigation for certification in translational and clinical research.

Research Environment and Resources

Faculty laboratories and offices are housed in a modern 20,000 square foot building designed specifically to meet the research needs of the investigators. Common resources include tissue culture facilities, a biomedical mass spectrometry facility, a sperm function laboratory, molecular biology facilities, morphology facilities (including electron and confocal microsurgery), an animal surgical suite and vivarium, and all other instrumentation for state of the art endocrine and metabolic research.

The UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UCLA CTSI) supports two Clinical Research Facilities at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, one for older children and adults and the other for mothers and infants. These facilities are available to facilitate clinical research at the medical center. These units employ specially trained nurses and staff who are accustomed to working with complex research protocols on a daily basis.

Several of our faculty are recipients of NIH research grants and are conducting ongoing research in the areas of childhood obesity and diabetes, androgen and estrogen steroids metabolism, and the management of thyroid cancer with kinase inhibitors. Research support is available for pediatric fellows from the Department of Pediatrics in the form of seed grants.

Faculty (in alphabetical order)

Andrew Gianoukakis, M.D.
Associate Professor
Director of Endocrine and Thyroid Clinics
Department of Internal Medicine

Uzma Haider, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Diabetologist
Department of Medicine

Eli Ipp, M.D.
Professor
Head, Section of Diabetes and Metabolism
Department of Internal Medicine

W.N. Paul Lee, M.D.
Professor and Chief
Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism
Department of Pediatrics

Catherine Mao, M.D.
Associate Professor
Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism
Department of Pediatrics

Ronald S. Swerdloff, M.D.
Professor and Chief
Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
Department of Internal Medicine

Christina Wang, M.D.
Professor and Program Director
General Clinical Research Center (CTSI, UCLA)
Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
Department of Internal Medicine

Jennifer Yee, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism
Department of Pediatrics

Inquiries and resumes may be sent to:

Professor of Pediatrics
Postdoctoral Pediatric Endocrine Training Program
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Box 446
1000 West Carson Street
Torrance, California 90509-2910
Ph: 310-222-6729
Fax: 310-222-3887
E-mail: endocrine@labiomed.org