Message from Program Director
Dear Applicant,
Thank you for your interest in the Fellowship Program in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at Westchester Medical Center. Our program, which is accredited by the ACGME, accepts two fellows per training year.
Westchester Medical Center is the flagship hospital of the WMCHealth Network, and serves as the major referral center for a seven-county region in New York’s Hudson Valley. Our picturesque 600-acre campus, which is also home to New York Medical College, is situated only 15 miles north of New York City.
During their two years of training, our fellows are given progressive responsibility and independence in providing care for patients with the full array of endocrine and metabolic disorders. The opportunity to work with a highly diverse patient population is a cornerstone of the program, and we place a strong emphasis on evidence-based management approaches. The curriculum is enhanced by weekly didactic and case-based conferences, as well as participation in clinical research and quality improvement projects.
On this website, you will find comprehensive information regarding our clinical training program, as well as profiles of our faculty and current fellows. We hope that your goals and interests will find a good fit at Westchester Medical Center. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or need additional information.
Sincerely,
Michael D. Goldberg, MD, FACP
Chief of Endocrinology
Director, Fellowship Program in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Westchester Medical Center
Message from Chief Medical Officer
Program Overview and Curriculum
Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Westchester Medical Center
The Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism fellowship program is based at Westchester Medical Center (WMC), the flagship hospital of the WMCHealth Network. WMC is the major tertiary referral center for a seven-county region in New York’s Hudson Valley. The hospital is situated on a 600-acre campus that also includes New York Medical College.
Graduate Medical Education Programs at Westchester Medical Center
Click here for additional information about Graduate Medical Education programs at Westchester Medical Center.
Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
The Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at WMC provides care for patients with a wide variety of disorders including diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, disorders of the pituitary, thyroid, and adrenal glands, disorders of calcium metabolism, and disorders of female and male reproductive hormones. A very active inpatient consultation service at WMC assists other services with the management of endocrine and metabolic disorders, especially diabetes mellitus. Ambulatory settings, including hospital-based clinics and a faculty practice, provide longitudinal and consultative care learning opportunities. The Division comprises four faculty members, all of whom practice general endocrinology.
Clinical Training Program
The fellowship program in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism is a comprehensive, two-year, ACGME-accredited training program. The program accepts two fellows per training year.
Our fellows manage a diverse population of inpatients and outpatients, thereby gaining exposure to the full array of endocrine and metabolic disorders.
Inpatient Consultation Services
The inpatient endocrinology service provides consultative care for patients admitted to Westchester Medical Center (WMC). Under the supervision of the attending physicians, our fellows see patients on the general medicine, cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, neurology, oncology, transplant, obstetrical, trauma, burn, behavioral health, and rehabilitation services. Daily hospital rounds have a strong academic component, and fellows participate in the teaching of rotating medical residents as well as rotating medical students from New York Medical College.
The inpatient service is divided into two teams, with one fellow assigned to each team. The fellow on the main team follows the majority of the patients, spending full weekdays in the hospital. The fellow on the secondary team sees a smaller number of patients, devoting half days to the inpatient service.
Outpatient Clinics
The outpatient clinics represent a key educational component of the training program. Our hospital-based clinics provide care for patients regardless of their insurance status. They are located in the 19 Bradhurst Avenue building, a modern, full-service medical facility with laboratory and radiology services, within a five-minute drive of the hospital campus. Throughout their two years of training, the fellows participate in the following clinics:
- Continuity Clinic – General Endocrinology. Each fellow builds up a panel of patients that they will continue to see throughout their training. These may be patients with thyroid disease, osteoporosis, primary hyperparathyroidism, obesity, polycystic ovarian syndrome, infertility, pituitary tumors, adrenal adenomas, and other endocrine disorders. The clinic provides care for a large number of patients with thyroid cancer, and fellows gain in-depth exposure to the management of this disease, working closely with our colleagues in the departments of Endocrine Surgery and Nuclear Medicine.
- Continuity Clinic – Diabetes. Each fellow cares for a second panel of patients in the weekly Diabetes Clinic. There is a strong focus on diabetes self-management training and medical nutrition therapy, and certified dietitians staff the clinic alongside the fellows. Fellows learn how to initiate and manage insulin pump therapy, and utilize continuous glucose monitoring systems.
- Thyroid Clinic. In this weekly procedure-based clinic, fellows learn to perform diagnostic neck ultrasound and ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy of thyroid nodules. Most patients are referred from our own General Endocrinology clinic, or from the Primary Care clinic. For our patients with thyroid cancer, both preoperative neck ultrasound and postoperative surveillance scans are integrated into a system of comprehensive clinical care. Molecular genetic analysis is available for FNA specimens with indeterminate cytology.
Additional Outpatient Activities
- Faculty Practice. Fellows attend half-day sessions at the faculty practice on a regular basis, working alongside the endocrinology attendings and gaining exposure to the private practice setting. The faculty practice is also located in the 19 Bradhurst Avenue building.
- Obesity Medicine Rotation. Each year, fellows spend one block on the division’s outpatient obesity medicine service. Working with our medical director of obesity medicine, the fellows gain expertise on the evaluation and medical management of patients with obesity. This service is part of the faculty practice at 19 Bradhurst Avenue.
- Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic. In their second year of training, fellows spend several sessions with a pediatric endocrinologist, where they learn about the care of young patients with type 1 diabetes, growth hormone deficiency, pubertal delay, and other common conditions. This office is also located at 19 Bradhurst Avenue.
Academic Conferences
- Endocrine Grand Rounds. Formal presentations on endocrine topics, with in-depth literature reviews, are given by attendings from the Division, outside speakers, and the fellows, on a rotating basis.
- Case conferences and Journal club. Case conferences consist of 30-minute case-based discussions of common and uncommon issues in the management of endocrine diseases. At Journal club, a recent article from the endocrine literature is analyzed in depth, and fellows gain an understanding of clinical trial design and how to interpret statistical results. Again, both attendings and fellows participate in the presentations.
- Board review. Each week the fellows meet with the Program Director to work through questions and answers from the annually-updated Endocrine Self-Assessment Program (ESAP).
- Seminars for first-year fellows. In July, a special series of seminars is provided for the new fellows. High-yield topics in clinical endocrinology are presented by our faculty members in small, interactive sessions.
Rotation Schedules
Year 1: 13 Four-Week Blocks
Fellows spend four non-consecutive blocks on the main consultation service, during which they attend the weekly General Endocrinology Clinic and all academic conferences.
Another three non-consecutive blocks are spent on the secondary consultation service; in addition to the General Endocrinology Clinic and the academic conferences, fellows also attend the Diabetes Clinic and Faculty Practice during these blocks.
During the remaining six blocks of the year, fellows devote time to scholarly activities, and attend all clinics and academic conferences, Faculty Practice, Obesity Medicine Service, and Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic.
Year 2: 13 Four-Week Blocks
Fellows spend two non-consecutive blocks on the main consultation service, during which they attend the weekly General Endocrinology Clinic and all academic conferences.
Another four non-consecutive blocks are spent on the secondary consultation service; in addition to the General Endocrinology Clinic and the academic conferences, fellows also attend the Diabetes Clinic and Faculty Practice during these blocks.
During the remaining seven blocks of the year, fellows devote time to scholarly activities, and attend all clinics and academic conferences, Faculty Practice, Obesity Medicine Service, and Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic.
Scholarly Activity
Fellows submit at least one abstract each year for poster or oral presentation at a major annual endocrine meeting. They also design and implement a quality improvement project. In addition, opportunities are available for publishing review articles and participating in clinical research projects. All scholarly activities are closely supervised by members of the Division faculty.
On-call
Weekend calls are distributed evenly among all four fellows. On average, each fellow is on call every fourth weekend. Fellows are also on-call each night during the week leading up to their weekend call. In the evening, calls are taken from home; occasional emergencies may require the fellow to return to the hospital. The on-call attending is always available.
National and Local Meetings
During each year of their training, all fellows will attend at least one national meeting of a major endocrinology professional organization (The Endocrine Society, American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, American Diabetes Association, American Thyroid Association). WMC provides financial support for meeting registration and travel costs for fellows whose first authored work is accepted for presentation at national meeting. Fellows also attend the Endocrine University conferences which are sponsored by AACE, and the semi-annual meetings of the New York Thyroid Club.
Current Fellows
Academic Year 2024-2025
Second Year Fellows
Sharmela Brijmohan, MBBS
Medical School: University of Guyana School of Medicine
Residency: Englewood Health
Englewood, NJ | 2020 – 2023
Izza Muneer, MBBS
Medical School: Rawalpindi Medical College
Residency: Montefiore Medical Center – Wakefield Campus
Bronx, NY | 2020 – 2023
First Year Fellows
Marwa Elsheikh, MBBS
Medical School: University of Khartoum Faculty of Medicine
Residency: Englewood Health
Englewood, NJ | 2021 – 2024
Allen Zeng, MD
Medical School: USF Morsani College of Medicine
Residency: Westchester Medical Center
Valhalla, NY | 2021 – 2024
Graduates - Recent Placements
In recent years, our fellows have accepted positions with the following employers:
| Optum Medical Care |
Fishkill, NY |
| Highland Medical / Montefiore Nyack |
Nyack, NY |
| LIJ-Forest Hills / Northwell Health |
Forest Hills, NY |
|
Englewood Health
|
Englewood, NJ
|
|
Albany Medical Center
|
Albany, NY
|
|
Accent Physician Specialists
|
Gainesville, FL
|
|
Hackensack Meridian Health
|
Westwood, NJ
|
|
Rutgers/RWJ Medical Group
|
Jersey City, NJ
|
Faculty
Maryam Bojarian, MD
Attending Physician, Westchester Medical Center
Board Certification: Internal Medicine
Board Eligible:Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Medical School: Azad University, Tehran Faculty of Medicine
Residency: Hackensack University Medical Center
Fellowship: Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
Gilbert Brovar, MD
Attending Physician, Westchester Medical Center
Board Certification: Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism; Internal Medicine
Medical School: SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Residency: Stony Brook University
Fellowship: University of Pennsylvania
Erika Brutsaert, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine, New York Medical College
Attending Physician, Westchester Medical Center
Medical Director of Research, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
Board Certification: Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism; Internal Medicine
Medical School: SUNY Downstate College of Medicine
Residency: Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Fellowship: Montefiore Medical Center
Michael Goldberg, MD
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, New York Medical College
Attending Physician, Westchester Medical Center
Chief, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
Board Certification: Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism; Internal Medicine
Medical School: New York University School of Medicine
Residency: NYU–Bellevue Hospital Center
Fellowship: Mount Sinai Hospital
Jamie Mullally, MD
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, New York Medical College
Attending Physician, Westchester Medical Center
Medical Director of Obesity Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
Board Certification: Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism; Internal Medicine; Obesity Medicine
Medical School: University of Rochester, College of Medicine & Dentistry
Residency: Weill Cornell Medical Center
Fellowship: Columbia University Medical Center
Associated Faculty and Staff
Rory Carroll, ANP
Angela Iovine, MS, RDN, CDN, CDCES
Clinical Nutrition
Perry Gerard, MD
Director, Nuclear Medicine
Simon Hanft, MD
Chief, Neurosurgical Oncology
Matty Mozzor, BA
Medical Physicist, Radiation Safety Officer
Vardhini Desikan, MD, MPH
Pediatric Endocrinology
How to Apply
Please access the Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database (FREIDA) for more information on our program. Click here to view our program listing on FREIDA.
Applications
Applications should be submitted through the Electronic Residency Application System (ERAS), which can be accessed using the following link: https://apps.aamc.org/myeras. Applications may be submitted starting July 3, 2024.
Applicants must have completed a residency in Internal Medicine by June 2025.
Please note that our program requires a minimum of three letters of recommendation, including one from the Internal Medicine Residency Program Director.
Interviews
Fellowship programs may begin reviewing applications in ERAS on July 17, 2024. Our program will notify applicants through ERAS as to whether they have been selected for an interview.
Interviews will take place in September/October 2024, and applicants will be provided with detailed information regarding the logistics of the interview days.
In accordance with recommendations from the Association of Program Directors in Endocrinology and Metabolism, and to ensure a uniform interview process that is equitable to all applicants, our fellowship interviews will be held exclusively virtually.
Match
The program participates in the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP). Our NRMP program code is: 2157143F0.
The deadline for submitting Rank Order Lists is November 20, 2024, and Match Day is December 4, 2024.
Visa Sponsorship
Westchester Medical Center will sponsor J-1 visas. Sponsorship of H1-B visas will be considered on a case-by-case basis for the most highly qualified applicants.
Contact Us
Brigita Avgustini
Program Manager
Brigita.Avgustini@WMCHealth.org