Rheumatology Fellowship Program

We are excited to announce the merging of the Rheumatology Fellowship Programs of MedStar Georgetown/Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center and MedStar Washington Hospital Center, starting in July 2025. The integrated program will allow for further enhancement of an already exceptional fellowship training experience by leveraging the full breadth and depth of teaching faculty, clinical experiences, and learning opportunities across the principal sites. The integrated program will welcome nine fellows in total, across the 2-year curriculum. Preparations are under way for a single, integrated recruiting platform this summer in anticipation of the Fall Fellowship Match.

Clinical rotations will occur across the D.C. hospital sites, including continuity of rotations at the MWHC, GUH, and D.C. VAMC. Fellow block schedules in the inaugural years will maintain a level of flexibility to reflect the format of the legacy programs, while simultaneously providing an expanded palette of opportunities for fellows.

Both programs have a strong history of training clinical rheumatologists, clinical educators and independent investigators for successful careers in both academia and private practice. Over the last 20 years, approximately 50% of our fellows have chosen careers as clinical educators in academic settings. Some of our graduates have become division chairs, program directors, and chairs of ACR national committees across the country. We have received the American College of Rheumatology, Rheumatology Research Foundation’s Fellow Grant all but one year since its initiation in 2001.

Fellows will work in a variety of clinical settings, both inpatient and outpatient, with robust exposure to different patient populations in D.C. As the major referral hospitals for the MedStar system, Georgetown University Hospital and Washington Hospital Center's inpatient rheumatology consult service expose trainees to a wide range of disorders, including rare and complex cases. On outpatient rotations, fellows rotate through specialty clinics in lupus, scleroderma, vasculitis (at the NIH) and pediatric rheumatology. At the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, fellows work closely with their own panel of continuity patients and serve as the primary consult team for both inpatient and outpatient joint procedures. Fellows have dedicated time for research and spend time in outpatient orthopedic, dermatology, and pulmonary clinics.

Most members of the Division have active research or educational interests at the clinical and/or translational level; fellows have the opportunity to participate in these efforts, and it is expected that all fellows will participate in some scholarly activity. Primary research interests include database studies and clinical trials in rheumatoid arthritis, spondylarthritis, systemic sclerosis, vasculitis, pregnancy in autoimmune disease, gout, and database studies through the cooperative VA rheumatology database.

Fellows will spend approximately 1/3 of their time at MedStar Georgetown, 1/3 of their time at the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical center (VA), and 1/3 of their time at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center (WHC). Each site has one inpatient rotation and two outpatient rotations, so at any given time there are 3 fellows per site. Fellows have their continuity clinic ½ day per week, either at WHC or the DC VA, every week no matter what rotation they are on.

Summer Series Introductory Lectures: In July and August, fellow trainees attend 3-4 hours/week of lectures given by faculty at Georgetown, VA, Washington Hospital Center, and NIH. Topics include approach to joint pain, rheumatology lab analysis, and rheumatologic emergencies, along with disease-specific topics like lupus, osteoporosis, myositis, etc.

Rheumatology Grand Rounds: This is a weekly conference, attended by all fellows, rotating residents and students, faculty from Georgetown, the VA, WHC, as well as several community rheumatologists. Lectures include fellow case presentations, critical evaluation of the literature, and a wide range of visiting speakers.

Fellow Didactics: A fellow-specific didactic session follows grand rounds each week. Topics include biopsy interpretation, CT chest radiology review, PFTs review, neuro exam and EMG review, interpretation of PFTs, DEXA scans, billing and coding etc.

Seminal Article Review: Each week, 3-4 practice changing articles from the rheumatology literature are reviewed with the fellows. This is so that our fellows understand the rationale for many of our clinical decisions and become familiar with common outcome measurements in rheumatology.

Radiology Conference: One of the most long standing and popular teaching sessions, this weekly 90 minute session, attending by all fellows on Thursday afternoon, focuses on developing skills necessary to interpret musculoskeletal radiologic images. It is co-taught by a musculoskeletal radiologist and one of the VA rheumatologists.

Ultrasound Training: While at Georgetown, fellows attend twice weekly hands on ultrasound sessions with experienced faculty. Three faculty are USSONAR trained. Fellows have access to their own ultrasound at all three sites.

Pulmonary-Rheumatology Conference: A bi-monthly conference attended by both divisions, where mutual cases are presented and discussed.

Neuromuscular Conference: A twice-year conference of Neurology, Pathology, and Rheumatology in which interesting cases are discussed, and detailed pathology is reviewed.

Renal Pathology Conference: An additional optional monthly conference attending by Nephrology, Pathology, and Rheumatology where complex cases are reviewed and treatment plans discussed.

CARE Question review: Multiple choice, board-style practice questions from the American College of Rheumatology are reviewed weekly

Advocacy: Fellows participate in monthly modules from American Women in Rheumatology (developed by our previous fellows), and all fellows are encouraged to attending the ACR Advocacy for Arthritis Day in the Spring.

DC Rheumatism Society: The D.C. Rheumatism Society holds a monthly dinner meeting featuring a nationally known guest speaker, attended by fellows, faculty, and private rheumatologists from throughout the Washington D.C. area.

Conferences: Some stipend money is provided for conference travel. All 2nd years attending the ACR convergence in the fall, and first year fellows are expected to attend the ACR's State of the Art Education Conference in the Spring. Most 2nd year fellows attend the American Women in Rheumatology (AWIR) Conference as well as the Congress of State Rheumatology Organizations (CRSO) annual conference.

Fellows are expected to participate in a scholarly activity over the course of the two years. In the past, fellows have participated in projects exploring a variety of diseases.

Over the past several years, fellows have pursued original research projects, literature reviews, quality improvement projects, and published a variety of case reports and book chapters. Fellows have presented at both the ACR and EULAR annual meetings. The ongoing research of various faculty members and our participation in several national registries through the VA provide multiple opportunities for scholarly projects. Fellows are expected to present posters each year at the Department of Medicine Research Day and D.C. Rheumatism Fellow’s Forum, but many also present at other local and national meetings.