Rheumatology Fellowship Program

Renowned Faculty: The Emory Division of Rheumatology is a large division with many experienced, dedicated medical educators and leaders in the field of rheumatology.

Unparalleled Clinical Experience: Rotations include four different tertiary care hospitals, each with unique and diverse patient populations. Fellows are exposed to some of the most complex and rare rheumatologic cases, preparing them for a wide range of clinical scenarios.

Fellow Continuity Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital: Fellows develop long-term relationships with their patients in a hands-on environment. The fellow’s clinic occurs on Mondays and offers a complex rheumatologic disease case mix.

Comprehensive Learning: Our robust didactic schedule includes journal clubs, musculoskeletal radiology conferences, board review, and a musculoskeletal ultrasound clinic and curriculum. Fellows also rotate in the pediatric rheumatology clinic.

Specialized Clinics: Fellows rotate in SLE, vasculitis, myositis, and scleroderma specialty clinics.

Research Opportunities: Faculty offer multiple research opportunities and mentorship with optional protected time for fellows.

Rheumatology fellows rotate through four clinical sites:

• Emory University Hospital/The Emory Clinic
• Emory University Midtown Hospital
• Grady Memorial Hospital
• Atlanta VA Medical Center

Each fellow completes at least one project during fellowship. Project examples include clinical research, translational or basic science research, medical education, quality improvement, involvement in clinical trials, or a global health project.

At the start of each academic year, the division holds an annual “research meet-and-greet” for fellows to learn about ongoing projects and pick a research mentor. Fellows can take four weeks of dedicated research block time each year during any rotation at The Emory Clinic. Fellows also receive a half day/week during every rotation for research or educational time.

For candidates further interested in research training and experience, we can provide an additional fully-funded training year. This OPTIONAL third year would provide further insight into a career as a physician-scientist.

Division Research Highlights: 

• Over $19,000,000 in federal and non-federal research funding in 2023
• Over 30 ongoing clinical trials in SLE, myositis, IgG4-RD, and vasculitis
• The Georgia Lupus Registry, led by S. Sam Lim, MD, MPH: A large, population-based registry of validated SLE patients with many ongoing clinical studies
• Lowance Center of Human Immunology, led by Ignacio Sanz, MD: An Autoimmune Center of Excellence with the goal of understanding the immunological and molecular mechanisms responsible for human autoimmune and allergic diseases
• Current clinical studies in SLE, vasculitis, connective tissue disease-associated ILD, IgG4-RD, and myositis

Fellow didactics include the Summer Series, Wednesday morning conferences, Thursday case conferences, and monthly Friday musculoskeletal radiology conferences. To see how these are related, view this diagram HERE.

Summer Lecture Series
At the beginning of the academic year, in July and August, our Wednesday morning conferences are dedicated to introductory lectures for the new fellows. During the Summer Series, fellows are exposed to lectures covering physical exam skills, laboratory evaluation, medications used in the rheumatic diseases, and disease topics. We also hold an annual cadaver injection-teaching lab for fellows to practice joint injections.

Wednesday Conference

Our main didactics occur on Wednesday mornings from 8 -11 a.m. and consist of the following rotating sessions:

• Journal clubs (both landmark and current research articles)
• Chapter reviews
• Guideline reviews
• Immunology
• Evidence-based medicine
• Musculoskeletal ultrasound hands-on sessions
• Board review

Grand Rounds
Division grand rounds occur on Wednesdays at 9 a.m. and are comprised of invited guest speakers, case conferences, morbidity and mortality conferences, research conferences, and multi-disciplinary conferences.

Thursday Case Conference
Thursday noon conference is a case conference with the goal for fellows to receive real-time teaching and advice on complex inpatient cases.

Musculoskeletal Radiology Conference
We offer two different radiology conferences, both taught by radiologists at Emory and the VA:

• Monthly Friday morning musculoskeletal radiology conference
• Bimonthly Thursday noon conference dedicated to musculoskeletal radiology 

Multidisciplinary Conferences
The rheumatology division participates in weekly ILD and monthly sarcoidosis multidisciplinary conferences along with other Emory departments. Fellows have the option to join these conferences based on their area of interest.