Rheumatology is predominantly an outpatient specialty, and the continuity clinic experience we provide throughout our Rheumatology Fellowship is a cornerstone of the training. The outpatient clinic service consists of three continuity clinics per week in the first year and two per week in the second, far exceeding the outpatient clinical training requirements of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

First-Year Outpatient Clinic Service

As a first-year fellow, you attend three required continuity clinics a week, with each clinic running half a day. The required outpatient clinics are general rheumatology, lupus, and arthritis. You also attend subspecialty clinics, with clinic assignment based on your current inpatient consultation service (your hospital rotation). The outpatient clinic service emphasizes orientation and initial learning under close supervision. You are trained to perform procedures, particularly joint aspirations and soft tissue injections.

In addition to the continuity clinics, you spend one month on a specialty rotation at NYU Langone Orthopedic Center, an ambulatory care center where you observe how our faculty members care for their own patients in a specialized outpatient setting.

Second-Year Outpatient Clinic Service

During the second year, you typically cut back to two continuity clinics per week, so you have more time for research, and continue your training uninterrupted in the lupus and arthritis clinics but forgo the general rheumatology clinic. You can continue to attend subspecialty clinics by request.

Required Continuity Clinics

Our required continuity clinics are listed below.

General Rheumatology Clinic

This busy clinic at the Manhattan campus of the VA NY Harbor Healthcare System offers broad exposure to rheumatic conditions such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and crystal arthropathies. The general rheumatology clinic is an excellent place for you to hone procedure skills and learn about musculoskeletal ultrasound.

Lupus Clinics

The lupus clinic at NYU Langone Ambulatory Care—23rd Street operates exclusively to treat lupus patients, many of whom participate in ongoing observational studies, and investigator-initiated and registrational clinical trials. At the NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue lupus clinic, you see and learn to manage some of our most acutely ill patients, as well as patients with long-standing or stable lupus.

Arthritis Clinics

At the arthritis clinic at NYU Langone Ambulatory Care—23rd Street, you help care for patients with a wide range of non-lupus arthritic conditions. Several attending physicians also see patients at this clinic, thereby enriching the fellowship training experience and making the clinic an excellent place to learn musculoskeletal examination and soft tissue and intra-articular injections. At the Bellevue arthritis clinic, one of our busiest, you and our attending physicians see patients with all types of arthritis. Patients with non-lupus autoimmune diseases (such as myositis and vasculitis) also receive care here, so you learn joint and soft tissue aspiration and injection.

Subspecialty Clinics

All subspecialty clinics are held once weekly unless otherwise noted.

Pediatric Rheumatology Clinic

The fellow assigned to the Bellevue inpatient consultation service attends the pediatric rheumatology clinic, which is held at the hospital. Alongside pediatric residents, you learn to care for children with a wide range of rheumatic diseases.

Connective Tissue Diseases Dermatology Clinic

The connective tissue diseases dermatology clinic, staffed primarily by dermatology residents, at NYU Langone’s Skin and Cancer Unit of the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology (in the NYU Langone Ambulatory Care Center East 38th Street building) provides invaluable experience with the skin pathology seen in rheumatic disease. The fellow assigned to the Tisch Hospital inpatient consultation service attends this clinic.

Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Clinic

Held once a month at the Skin and Cancer Unit in conjunction with the dermatology and psoriasis service, the psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis clinic provides an excellent opportunity for you to review the interaction between inflammatory skin disease and arthritis.

VA NY Harbor Healthcare System Fellows Clinic

Held at the Manhattan campus of the VA NY Harbor Healthcare System, the clinic sets aside designated time slots for the fellow currently assigned to the inpatient consultation service at the VA NY Harbor Healthcare System to see urgent outpatients.

Osteoporosis and Metabolic Bone Disease Clinic

Overseen by our osteoporosis specialist Stephen Honig, MD, the osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease clinic is held at NYU Langone Ambulatory Care—23rd Street. You see patients alongside the specialist, who offers important instruction in the interpretation of bone density tests and approaches to osteoporosis treatment. The fellow assigned to the VA NY Harbor Healthcare System inpatient consultation service attends this clinic.