Pediatric Endocrinology Demand

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Hi everyone, I am strongly considering applying to MD/PhD programs in the future and am looking for fields of medicine that would best align with my research interests. I see myself doing graduate studies in biochemistry or pharmacology and am very interested in metabolic disorders such as Type 1/Type 2 diabetes, PKU, bone diseases, etc. Endocrinology seems like a good fit with what I would like to study; my concern is that most pediatric fellowship programs I have looked at accept only 1 fellow each year. Is this a very competitive specialty, or is there simply not as much interest in endocrinology as there is in other programs? Out of curiosity, are adult endocrinology fellowships like this as well?

Personally speaking I would prefer to do fewer procedures and have more time to do research (basic and/or clinical). Money isn't the most important factor for me, although I would like to have enough career options after I complete training. Of course I have a long time to think about things before I am ready to apply for med school in a couple years, but I would love to start getting some ideas. I greatly appreciate everyone's insight!

 

[FlowLimited]

As a whole, pediatric subspecialties are relatively noncompetitive when compared to their adult counterparts. That is not to say that there isn't competition for the most well regarded programs within each subspecialty because there certainly is. You can look at the NRMP match data and see that in 2016 about 65% of pediatric endocrinology fellowship positions filled. You can also look at the state specific data to show the detailed breakdown of which programs filled and which didn't.

Work hard and do well in residency. If you can manage that, you'll have a great shot.

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[mvenus929]

The reason there are relatively few slots per year is that you need sufficient population to sustain a training program for peds endo, and those tend to be more at Children's Hospitals. You get to the larger hospitals with a larger patient base, you'll see more fellows per year. But Charlottesville, for instance, has a wide geographic range, but relatively few patients compared to, say, Denver, so UVA only has 1 fellow, while Denver has 2 per year.

 

[BigRedBeta]

Not competitive. Yes, most places take only a limited number of fellows per year. No not like adult medicine fellowships. All peds fellowships (and the ABP sub board) will expect research in some form or fashion which won't be true of all adult fellowships (but those programs will be clear if they're research vs clinical heavy).