All pediatric fellows participate in both in-person and online courses in Evidence-Based Medicine and Clinical Research Methods during their dedicated research months. In addition, fellows are expected to attend and participate in regular journal club meetings, during which critical review of current literature pertinent to pediatric nephrology is conducted. MUSC and the GME office also offer regular conferences pertinent to fellows and their development in these areas.
Fellows are expected to design and implement a research project during their three-year fellowship, satisfying the “Meaningful Accomplishment in Research” requirement of the American Board of Pediatrics in order to sit for the Sub-board examination in Pediatric Nephrology.
Fellows entering the training program are not assigned to a research project. Through discussions with faculty, educators, and clinicians, the fellow identifies a research question and a mentor to assist in addressing it. We firmly believe that a project must be of genuine interest to the fellow, or it is not worth pursuing. The mentor is responsible for providing the ongoing formative feedback that is essential to the trainee’s attainment of competence in clinical care, teaching, and scholarship.
The first block of the first year is protected for this purpose. A project does not have to be identified during that block; rather, the time is intended to give the fellow room to meet with potential research mentors and to work out which direction of research they may be most interested in pursuing.
Each fellow will have a scholarship oversight committee (SOC) with appropriate expertise in scholarly research endeavors; the SOC is appointed during the first year of fellowship. The mentor and SOC together ensure scholarly progress and success. We expect that fellows will submit their completed research projects to a national meeting for presentation, and fellows whose work is accepted are supported by the division to present at the conference.
In addition to their scholarly project, each fellow is expected to participate in a quality improvement project over the course of fellowship. Fellows have access to institutional QI resources and mentorship, and QI work frequently intersects with divisional priorities in dialysis, transplant, and inpatient care.
Research Opportunities
MUSC is home to the Darby Children’s Research Institute, a dedicated pediatric research facility that supports investigators across the Department of Pediatrics and provides fellows with access to laboratory space, core facilities, and basic science mentorship. Fellows interested in bench research can pursue projects there in collaboration with faculty whose work spans kidney development, transplant immunology, and mechanisms of kidney injury.
There are also ample opportunities for clinical and translational research within the division and across the institution. Active areas include kidney transplantation, glomerulonephritis, quality improvement work through collaboratives such as SCOPE in dialysis care, and educational research. Fellows are encouraged to explore the area that interests them most and are supported in identifying a mentor whose work aligns with that interest.
Fellows also have access to institutional research infrastructure through the South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research Institute, including biostatistical support, study design consultation, and regulatory guidance.
