Classical Hematology Track

Beginning Academic Year 2023-24, we will be hosting an ASH sponsored track of the Hematology-Focused Fellowship Training Program (HFFTP). For the subsequent 5 years, the track will matriculate 2 fellows who are interested in pursuing careers in classical hematology. Each fellow will receive at least 3 years of support to complete 12 months of clinical training (to meet ACGME requirements for hematology board certification) and at least 24 months of research.

Fellows will choose from among 5 tracks: genome engineering, medical education, biomedical informatics, health disparities, and traditional clinical or lab research.

Each track integrates diverse clinical training representing the breadth of classical hematology practice and tailored research experiences that draw on areas of institutional strength.

• Genome engineering. UCSF has partnered with UC Berkeley (UCB) to advance genome engineering to improve human health. The science and technology for CRISPR-based gene editing was pioneered at UC Berkeley and the ongoing evolution of methods and applications is the work of over 100 investigators brought together by the Innovative Genomics Institute (Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) at UC Berkeley and UCSF) and the Berkeley Stem Cell Center (The Berkeley Stem Cell Center). The latter has an existing postdoctoral training program with resources that will be integrated into the training of a fellow interested in genome engineering.
   
• Medical Education. This track integrates existing training opportunities with practical application for teaching and curriculum development of existing or novel hematology course content. The work fellows do on this track may be applied towards a Master’s degree in education at UCB (Master's Program in Education | UCSF Medical Education).
   
• Health care disparities. This track incorporates resources of the DREAM lab (a disparities research group at UCSF Home | DREAM Lab (ucsf.edu)), relevant course work offered by the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and exposure to diverse populations at UCSF training sites.
   
• Traditional basic, translational, or clinical research. This path capitalizes on the breadth of lab-based and clinical research at UCSF. It is an alternative track for fellows whose interests do not reside with the other novel tracks. Fellows interested in clinical research may choose to participate in externships at Genentech or Global Blood Therapeutics. Notably, both companies have a track record for developing drugs for hemophilia, sickle cell anemia, and rare blood disorders and have ongoing pipelines in these areas.
   
• Biomedical informatics. Fellows will apply “big data” to hematology research in one of 3 informatics domains in which UCSF has unique strength: clinical, clinical research, and translational. Large biomedical and EHR databases developed and maintained at UCSF provide the entire spectrum of big data for research—from the scalable precision medicine open knowledge engine (SPOKE Home | Scalable Precision Medicine Open Knowledge Engine (ucsf.edu)) database to the UC Data Warehouse (5 million patients in over 100 million encounters).

Clinical training in multidisciplinary classical hematology:

-Classical hematology consult service at either a quaternary academic center or Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Interdisciplinary rounds occur with laboratory medicine and hematopathology.

-Symptom management service and palliative care. Multidisciplinary service integrated with our malignant hematology clinics.

-Transfusion and lab medicine.

-Hematologic malignancies, bone marrow transplant, and cellular therapies. Multidisciplinary rounds weekly with nursing, social work, hematopathology.

-Specialized classical hematology outpatient clinic block (one continuous 5-month block). These clinics include sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, vascular anomalies, hemophilia, hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, anticoagulation, pediatric hematology, and iron disorders. The multidisciplinary and specialized nature of these clinics is such that a traditional 2-to-4-week immersion experience would not offer sufficient exposure. Extended exposure promotes longer term relationship-building with patients, staff, and faculty, lengthens the ramp for progressive knowledge and skill building, and creates cognitive space for research ideas to emerge from clinical experiences in these sub-specialty areas.

Formal didactics and conferences:

-Weekly didactic conference. Faculty presentations on core hematology topics.

-Biweekly “teaching point application” sessions (“TPA with the APD”). The purpose of these sessions is to apply key teaching points from the weekly didactic conference. In preparation for these sessions, fellows will complete a case reflection (see J2.pdf) where they apply a key point to the care of a patient they have seen. During the session, reflections will be discussed, and relevant literature reviewed. The APD will provide insight from her case histories and experience.

-Weekly division conference. Three faculty or fellows present either a case presentation or journal article (30 minutes each). Fellows are assigned to present four times per year (2 clinical cases, 2 journal articles). Prior to their assigned presentation, fellows select a faculty advisor who guides the development of the presentation and provides feedback on structure, content, visuals, and presentation style.

-Monthly classical hematology conference. Faculty and fellows from adult hematology, pediatric hematology, internal medicine, and laboratory and transfusion medicine attend and are assigned to present a clinical case, a journal article, or their research.

-Monthly fellows research conference. This conference is tailored to fellows in the research phase of fellowship but other fellows are welcome. Each conference has two components: a seminar on a topic of general interest presented by a faculty member and a works-in-progress seminar presented by a fellow.

-Weekly Laboratory Medicine Conference. This conference run by Laboratory Medicine faculty presents a current adult or pediatric hematology case involving laboratory medicine testing.

Academic Resources

• Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Offers courses in epidemiology, biostatistics, clinical trials, cost-effective analysis, implementation science, intervention research design, and health disparities. TICR Public Site (ucsf.edu)
• Clinical & Translational Science Institute. Provides infrastructure, services and training to support clinical and translational research including a K-grant writing workshop for fellows 3 times per year. UCSF Clinical & Translational Science Institute | Clinical & Translational Science Institute 
• Data.ucsf.edu. A centralized resource for data and analytics tools and services that support informatics training and research.
• UCSF Office for Postdoctoral Scholars. The following are offerings relevant to trainees of this program: workshops on CV and cover letter preparation for faculty positions, developing an elevator pitch, presentation skills, strategies for visual communication, intentionally building your professional brand, and a five-part seminar series on funding your research (fine tuning your research proposal, writing clear, specific aims, responding to reviewers, a better approach to grant writing). UCSF Postdocs | Office for Postdoctoral Scholars
• Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center Office of Education and Training. Connecting the UCSF cancer community with education, mentoring and career development across all trainee levels. Office of Education and Training | UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center