Clinical Center Hosts Its First Graduation for Clinical Fellows

Inaugural Event Marks New Spirit of Unity Across 30 Training Programs

BY THE NIH CATALYST STAFF

Within the NIH’s extensive postdoctoral training program portfolio is graduate medical education, a lesser-known jewel in the NIH training crown coordinated by the NIH Clinical Center (CC) that provides residencies and unique clinical fellowships to approximately 300 physicians, some of them fresh out of medical school.

And on June 14, the CC held its first graduation ceremony, which recognized more than 70 fellows who completed their various training programs. Although the CC has coordinated training for decades, this inaugural event celebrates a deepening sense of unity among the 30 fellowship and residency programs that participated in this year's ceremony.

The graduation idea was conceived by Joyce Chung, executive director for graduate medical education (GME) in the CC Office of Clinical Research Training and Medical Education (OCRTME), and Nitin Seam, associate chief and director of fellowship of the CC’s Critical Care Medicine Department, who chaired the GME graduation committee.

“One of my goals has been to forge more cross-program communication and larger-scale events…and break down silos across ICs,” said Chung, who joined the OCRTME in 2022 after serving as NIMH deputy clinical director and program director for clinical fellowships since 2010.

Chung noted that CC CEO James Gilman agreed that a graduation would further help build community among NIH medical fellows, particularly post pandemic.

The simple ceremony included opening remarks from Gilman, prerecorded remarks from NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli, and clinical fellows’ graduation speeches by Mian Khalid and Hanna Blaney, both gastroenterology fellows at NIDDK. Cheers rang out, some more raucous than others, as each graduate walked across the stage of Masur Auditorium to receive their certificate.

The festivities continued with a lively reception on the FAES Terrace, at which more than 100 current and graduating fellows met together, mostly for the first time, along with their family and friends.

In the United States, before a medical school graduate enters medical practice, they are expected to participate in residency training to learn a specialty, such as pediatrics or internal medicine. Some medical school graduates may opt for an additional fellowship in a subspeciality such as cardiology or oncology.

As the world’s largest hospital dedicated to clinical research protocols, the CC is a sponsoring institution to support this system. Through the OCRTME, the CC coordinates three residency programs and 20 fellowship programs, all accredited through the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

 The CC also supports 30 nonaccredited training opportunities in niche fields, such as cancer immunotherapy or movement disorders.

The novelty of an NIH clinical fellowship, Chung said, is the proximity to NIH intramural labs. Most NIH clinical fellows train here with an eye on translational research or a career in academic medicine.

The three NIH clinical residency programs are pathology and psychiatry, which are four-year programs, and neurosurgery, a seven-year program. The clinical fellowship offerings run the gamut from pediatric and adolescent gynecology to critical care medicine to hospice and palliative medicine.