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Neuroendocrine Clinical Clerkship
Mission: This course is recommended for medical students with interest in endocrinology, neuroendocrinology, neurosurgery, neurology, neuro-oncology or neuro-ophthalmology.
Program: 1-month rotation for third- and fourth-year Harvard Medical School students.
Learning Objectives: To understand a multidisciplinary approach to the diagnosis and management of pituitary disorders; to communicate with a range of clinical subspecialists and their patients with pituitary disorders, including neuroendocrine, neurosurgery, radiation oncology, neuro-oncology and neuro-ophthalmology; to acquire knowledge of neuroendocrine disorders seen in the outpatient clinic and in the hospital; to determine how social and/or economic background affects a patient’s journey through transsphenoidal surgery including preoperative evaluation, surgery, and postoperative care.
Curriculum: Students will be provided with the Clinical Neuroendocrine Syllabus, which includes clinical reviews on hypopituitarism, Cushing’s syndrome, hyperprolactinemia and nonfunctioning tumors, and surgical and radiation treatment of pituitary tumors. Additional references will be provided based on students’ individual interests. Material will be reinforced by case-based learning in the clinic and hospital and through a variety of neuroendocrine lectures and conferences. Students will be expected to attend at least two weekly conferences including: 1) Neuroendocrine Clinical Case Conference, which is one hour in length and is attended by neuroendocrine faculty and fellows, radiation, oncology, neuro-oncology and neurosurgery and includes in depth multidisciplinary discussion of complex and challenging neuroendocrine disorders, and 2) Neuroendocrine Journal Club, which is one hour in length and focuses on review and analysis of recent neuroendocrine literature. Students will be encouraged to observe a transsphenoidal surgery, inpatient and outpatient neuroendocrine consultation, neuroendocrine dynamic testing, and stereotactic radiosurgery.
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