The Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Fellowship Training Program at UC Davis Health System is two years with an emphasis on clinical endocrinology and research. The educational objectives of the training program are to develop clinical competence in endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism in order to diagnose and manage patients in the inpatient and outpatient settings. The fellowship program has 2 training sites at the UC Davis Medical Center and at the nearby VA Mather Medical Center. During their training, fellows are expected to:

• Learn appropriate and cost-effective means to diagnose and treat patients with endocrine, diabetes, metabolism and clinical nutrition disorders.
• Learn how to be a consultant in endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism in inpatient and outpatient settings.
• Learn biochemical and physiological aspects of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolic disorders.
• Develop experience in the performance and interpretation of clinical laboratory tests including immunoassays.
• Gain experience in conducting ultrasonography and ultrasound guided fine needle aspirations of the thyroid gland.
• Participate in and learn from a multidisciplinary diabetes education and treatment program.
• Learn how to read, analyze and critique journal articles relevant to endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism including statistical analysis, study design, power statistics, and writing clinical research protocols.
• Participate in research under the mentorship of an experienced scientist in order to learn the principles and practice of scientific inquiry. 

During their training, fellows will be provided opportunity to achieve cognitive knowledge, psychomotor skills, interpersonal skills, professional attitudes, and practical experience required of an endocrinologist.  The training program emphasizes scholarship, professionalism, self-instruction, development of critical analysis of clinical problems and the ability to make appropriate decisions.  Fellows will be encouraged to participate in professional organizations, community programs, and institutional committees.  
 
At the end of the training program, fellows will develop expertise in the evaluation and management of endocrine disorders including disorders of the parathyroid, pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, and gonads, and endocrine function of the kidney, brain, and other "non-endocrine" tissues, lipid disorders and basic principals of nutrition. 

Endocrine Case Conference

Fellows decide on cases to be presented, with faculty guidance. During the conference, a case is introduced with supporting laboratory and radiographic studies, and the fellows provide their opinions regarding differential diagnosis and appropriate work-up. The presenting fellow provides a literature review of the topic discussed. 

Clinical Practice Course 

The core curriculum conference consists of lectures covering core topics in the field of Endocrinology. Clinical faculty provides lectures on their areas of subspecialty expertise and guest lectures provide talks on key topics in the field of Endocrinology. This lecture series is linked to board review sessions. During these sessions, In-Training Exam questions and answers are also reviewed, and Board Review topics are covered.  

Fellows Training Series 

All fellows are registered for and have access to all modules offered in the Fellow Training Series created by the Endocrine Society. Modules can be covered independently and reviewed with core faculty at teaching sessions throughout the year. Prior In-Training Exam questions are also provided through this resource. 

Research Conference 

During the fall of their first year, the fellows complete a formal research design course. It is expected that the fellows will begin a research project at this time, and continue the research project throughout the two years of fellowship. Bi-annually, each fellow provides a review and status of their research and quality improvement projects. This conference is designed to provide an interactive forum for the fellows to update the division regarding their projects and to receive feedback. 

Journal Club 

Endocrine Journal Club occurs monthly. The objective of the journal club conference is for fellows to acquire skills in evalulation of scientific publications, review and discuss the article with the clinical faculty, and present and critique the article. 

Adrenal Clinic Conference and Tumor Board 

This multidisciplinary conference is scheduled every third Thursday. Attending physicians from Endocrinology, Endocrine surgery, and Radiology as well as fellows and residents review adrenal cases. Cases presented are those of patients undergoing evaluation of an adrenal concern with Endocrinology and/or Endocrine surgery.  The conference is an interactive forum for real-time case discussion, adrenal imaging and lab review and problem solving. 

Thyroid Clinical Conference and Tumor Board 

This multidisciplinary conference is scheduled every fourth Thursday. Attending physicians from Endocrinology (adult and pediatric), ENT, Endocrine surgery, Medical Oncology and Radiation Oncology as well as fellows and residents review thyroid and parathyroid cases. Cases presented are those of patients undergoing evaluation of thyroid and/or parathyroid concerns with Endocrinology and/or ENT and/or Endocrine surgery.  The conference is an interactive forum for real-time case discussion, thyroid imaging and lab review and problem solving. 

Pathology Conference 

Division faculty and the fellows meet quarterly to biannually with an attending pathologist to review clinical cases in which endocrine division members have been involved, and a cytologic or pathologic sample has been obtained. 

Nuclear Medicine Conference 

Division faculty and the fellows meet quarterly to biannually with an attending Nuclear Medicine physician and residents to review clinical cases in which endocrine division members have been involved, and a nuclear medicine study (PET/CT, WBS, Thyroid uptake and scan, DXA, Sestamibi or MIBG) has been obtained to review imaging and discuss the clinical case for which the imaging was obtained. 

2019-2021 Class

2020-2022 Class

Jun Beom Park, M.D.

Medical School: The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences

Toledo, OH

Residency: St. Vincent Hospital

Indianapolis, IN

Deepti Pujare, M.D.

Medical School: New York Medical College

Valhalla, NY

Residency: Kaiser Permanente

Santa Clara, CA

Ushaanthy Ravindran, M.D.

Medical School: Ross University School of Medicine

Miramar, FL

Residency: The Wright Center

Scranton, PA

2021-2023 Class

Aaron-Ross Jimenez, M.D.

Medical School: St. George's University School of Medicine

Grenada, West Indies

Residency: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

New York City, New York

Minhthao Nguyen, D.O.

Medical School: A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine

Mesa, AZ

Residency: UH Regional Hospitals

Cleveland, OH

Our Past Fellows: Where Are They Now

Kearnan Welch, D.O.

2018-2020

Montage Medical Group

Monterey, CA

Arta Zowghi, D.O.

2018-2020

Sutter Health

Roseville, CA

• Sonal Phatak, M.D., Program Director
• Dana Sheely, M.D., Program Director
• Sidika Karakas, M.D. , Chief of Endocrinology
• Jameson Azul, M.D.
• Aili Guo, M.D.
• Deborah Plante, M.D.
• Pamela Prescott, M.D. 
• Prasanth Surampudi, M.D.
• Ajay Sood, M.D., Chief of Endocrinology, VA Mather
• Arthur Swislocki, M.D., Chief of Endocrinology, VA Mather
• John Yoon, M.D.
• Seleda Williams, M.D.

Fellows have two continuity clinic sessions per week, on Tuesday morning (VA clinic) and Friday morning (UC Davis Health). The fellows have their own schedules and emphasis is placed on continuity of care. In the continuity clinic, the fellows see patients with a variety of endocrine disorders, including thyroid disease, adrenal disease, osteoporosis, pituitary disorders, PCOS and diabetes mellitus. Click here for more information about the UC Davis Health Endocrine clinical services.

While on outpatient rotations, fellows participate in attending clinics specializing in Type 1 Diabetes, Male infertility & Hypogonadism, Pituitary disorders, Obesity, Gestational Diabetes and Pediatric Endocrinology. A multidisciplinary team at the outpatient clinic for diabetes care includes Certified Diabetes Educators and Registered Dieticians who work together to provide comprehensive diabetes care, education, nutritional advice, and support. In addition to the variety of diabetes and clinical services, UC Davis Health offers self-management educational programs and quality improvement research opportunities.

During FNA clinic, fellows learn formal neck ultrasonogram techniques in order to visualize thyroid nodules, parathyroid glands, and neck lymph nodes for 1) post-operative thyroid cancer surveillance, 2) fine needle aspiration (FNA) of thyroid nodules and suspected parathyroid adenomas, and 3) suspicious lymph nodes in patients with a prior history of thyroid cancer. Three to four FNA biopsies are typically performed during each half day clinic. Fellows learn to prepare specimens using both air dried and alcohol-fixed slides for standard cytologic examination, as well as for gene expression classification when indicated. First year fellows will attend a formal training course in addition to training sessions with faculty to hone skills in neck ultrasonogram & FNA techniques.

First and Second year fellows rotate through Endocrine surgery clinic, nuclear medicine, podiatry wound clinic and have the opportunity to observe thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal and pituitary surgeries.

1. To provide a meaningful, supervised research experience. 
2. To learn the design and interpretation of research studies, responsible use of informed consent, and research methodology and interpretation of data. 
3. To provide instruction in the critical assessment of new therapies and of the medical literature. 

Fellows are also expected to be involved in Quality improvement projects during the course of their fellowship. The fellow will work with core faculty members on an ongoing project of one of their own design over the course of their fellowship.  

During the fall of their first year, the Endocrine fellow will participate in a research design course over 2 weeks. This intensive 34-hour course in clinical research methods will cover issues related to developing a research question, synthesizing the literature, study design, data collection, questionnaire design, data management, sample size planning, data analysis, presentation and publication. It is designed to meet the requirements for research methods training in ACGME-accredited fellowship training programs. 

Bi-annually, each fellow provides a review and status of their research projects. This conference is designed to provide an interactive forum for researchers to update the division regarding their projects and to receive feedback as well.