Metabolic Bone Disease and Osteoporosis
Fellowship
Department of Medicine
Women’s College Hospital
University of Toronto
The Department of Medicine at Women’s College Hospital invites applications for our fellowship in
Metabolic Bone Disease and Osteoporosis. This program is open to applicants with completed specialty
training in Internal Medicine and its Subspecialties and licensed to practice in Ontario.
The program is intended to provide individuals trained in the fields of internal medicine with an
opportunity for advanced training in the specialty area of metabolic bone disease and osteoporosis.
CLINICAL STREAM
The Multidisciplinary Osteoporosis Program at Women’s College uses a "one stop" patient-centered
approach, which assists individuals to participate in all aspects of their care. Individuals access the full
team of specially educated professionals, rotating through each health discipline for a private
consultation, and receive an individualized, in-depth assessment. A complete program is developed
along with the individual in order to promote a healthy, active lifestyle, and to minimize risk of future
potential complications related to bone loss. Patients also learn about the treatment and management
of their osteoporosis. Health professionals that our patients meet with an occupational therapist,
physiotherapist, dietician, pharmacist, physician and clinical nurse specialist. This program in unique
– there are no others in Canada.
The Osteoporosis Program has at least 5 new patient and 5 follow up clinics per week. The Fellow
would be expected to participate in these clinics assessing patients and formulating a multidisciplinary
treatment plan. Attending physicians that participate in our program include rheumatologists and
endocrinologists thus the fellow will have a broad exposure to specialists who treat osteoporosis. In
addition, our fellow will be expected to interact with all members of the multidisciplinary team.
The Osteoporosis Program at WCH sees predominantly postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.
Other patient groups include men with both primary and secondary osteoporosis and women with
secondary osteoporosis due to a variety of causes including: eating disorders, inflammatory bowel
disease, breast cancer treatments. In addition we see a large group of patients with metabolic bone
disease such as osteogenesis imperfecta, chronic kidney disease - metabolic bone disease (CKDMBD) and hyposphatasia.
The OP program also has 3 International Society of Clinical Densitometry (ISCD) certified bone
density technicians. The bone fellow will spend at least one day reviewing techniques of bone density
assessments and how to interpret bone density scans. As well, the bone fellow will have the
opportunity to attend an ISCD training course during the bone fellowship.
In addition to seeing patients at WCH the metabolic bone fellow will have the opportunity to see
patients at the University Health Network with post organ transplant bone disease and oncological
bone disease (under the supervision of Dr Angela Cheung) and if he/she wishes patients at St
Michaels Hospital who include men and women with osteoporosis or metabolic bone disease (under
the supervision of Dr Robert Josse).
Finally, all fellows in the clinical stream will be required to conduct a project - based on clinical data - that
addresses a topic related to an osteoporosis or metabolic bone disease clinical management issue, such as
a literature review or quality of care project, that is simple enough to be completed within the one year
fellowship.
RESEARCH STREAM
For fellows that are interested in pursuing graduate training we are also offering a research stream.
Prior to entry into the research stream the fellow must apply for Master’s level of training (with
potential for PhD level training) in either Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research in the
Dept. of Health Policy Management and Evaluation, or a Master’s degree in Education through the
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Fellows are encouraged to begin to formulate a research question applicable to a Master’s or PhD
program with appropriate literature review, prior to the commencement of their training in conjunction
with Dr Jamal. The question should be relevant and original, well defined, and simple enough to be
answerable within the one year fellowship period. Note that while the fellowship provides funding
for one year - further funding will be considered based on progress after the first year. The first two to
three months of the training will be devoted to the formulation of a formal study protocol related to
the fellows’ research question and submission for REB. Potential projects include a quality
assessment project using data from our clinics, a systematic review on a topic concerning metabolic
bone disease or osteoporosis, or a secondary data analysis using data collected as part of our CKDMBD study cohort.
Dr Jamal will supervise the clinical stream. Supervisors for the research stream will be based on the
fellow’s particular research interest.
In addition to clinical and research duties, our fellow will be expected to attend medical grand rounds
on a weekly basis, endocrine rounds (both city wide and WCH) on a weekly basis and attend the
monthly osteoporosis and endocrine journal clubs.
Applicants for this position should include:
1. Curriculum vitae.
2. 1-page proposal outlining the training expectations and long-term career goals.
3. Names, addresses and telephone numbers / email addresses of three references.
Applications must be received by Monday February 14th, 2011. Interviews will take place in March
2011.
Applications should be sent by mail to:
Dr Sophie A Jamal
C/o Ms. Vaughn Gillson, Education Administrative Assistant
Women’s College Hospital
76 Grenville Street, 8th floor, Room 841
Toronto, Ontario Canada, M5S 1B2
Fax: 416 323 6129; E-mail : vaughn.gillson@wchospital.ca