2012 Fellows' Track
The 2012 Clinical Fellows' Track at the recent ATA Annual Meeting was a great success. 148 clinical fellows from 22 countries registered, including 30 surgical fellows. This year's Clinical Fellows' Track—the 8th such program—built on the successes of the previous programs and aimed to provide fellows with the chance to interact directly with ATA faculty with a range of expertise and experience—not only endocrinologists, but also endocrine surgeons and pathologists. These interactions occurred with active fellow participation either through case presentations to expert faculty panels or in interactive discussions on topics such as "Career Tracks," "How to Start a Thyroid Practice," "How to Communicate with Your Surgeon and Pathologist," and 'How to Get Your Paper Published." In addition, the specialized track provided fellows with the rare opportunity to experience thyroid ultrasonography hand-on—one of the highlights of the program. It was pleasure to see the fellows interact with experienced, nurturing faculty. We would like to thank the Clinical Fellows' Track faculty for their thoughtful participation and guidance throughout the program. We would also like to thank the ATA for their financial and administrative support. Finally, we are truly indebted to the members of the ATA Fellows' Advancement Task Force Committee for their help with the program and are especially appreciative of Sharleene Cano and Adonia Coates for their stellar administrative support. We are looking forward to the 9th Fellows' Track in San Juan, Puerto Rico! Stephanie Fish MD,
The Basic Fellows' Sessions at the 82nd Annual ATA Meeting was a terrific success and a great learning experience for the 44 fellows who participated. The Basic Fellows Sessions provided a range of career development topics that would interest fellows at all stages of their career. For example, "Selling Your Science" was an interactive sessions where volunteer fellows (Thanks Maziar Rahmani, Akshay Jain, and Jose Eduardo Santos!) presented short talks on their research topics to a general audience. Following their presentations, the session's chairs and attendees provided feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of their presentations. In a second session, newly hired tenure-track Assistant Professors David Sharlin and Brian Kim gave attendees tips on navigating the academic job market in "Finding your First Academic Position." A third session featured an open discussion, led by Tony Hollenberg, on "Starting and Managing a Basic Science Lab. " Attendees had the opportunity to ask questions on how to pick the right people to be in your lab, where to focus your research money, and how to manage your start-up package. As a planner of these sessions, I was pleased with how much we were able to learn during the week and hope everyone who attended found the sessions as valuable as I did. To the fellows, we welcome and encourage your feedback so we can further shape the program. See you next time! Kristen Vella, PhD |
