Northwestern McGaw offers a two-year fellowship in pediatric surgery. Approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, the program is based at and uses the facilities of Children’s Memorial Hospital.
Fellows are exposed to the complexities and difficulties of caring for neonates, children with cancer, and young victims of trauma, respiratory failure, and end-stage organ disease leading to transplantation. Fellows may schedule one month each year for vacations and meetings.
In addition to rotations on anesthesiology, neonatology, and urology, fellows in the program may elect time on otolaryngology, pathology, pediatric critical care, radiology, or any other surgical subspecialties in which they are interested. The bulk of the training is on the pediatric surgery service and includes intensive care of neonatal and older patients as well as children requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or trauma care.
Fellows assume major responsibility for clinical teaching of junior housestaff members and participate in the educational programs of the service. In the second year, the chief pediatric surgery fellow is appointed an instructor in surgery at the medical school and is responsible for clinical teaching and supervising most neonatal surgical cases.
Successful completion of the fellowship allows participants to seek the Certificate of Special Qualifications in Pediatric Surgery offered by the American Board of Surgery.
Children’s Memorial Hospital is the primary pediatric teaching hospital of the Feinberg School. Children’s Memorial has 265 inpatient beds, 13 operating rooms, large and busy neonatal and pediatric intensive care units, an emergency room with Level I trauma service, and the standard inpatient units of a metropolitan pediatric referral center.
Candidates must complete an approved residency in general surgery and satisfy all other requirements to sit for the board examination in general surgery. Fellows should take this examination during the pediatric surgery residency program.
One position in the pediatric surgery fellowship program is offered each year through the National Resident Matching Program.
In addition, Children's Memorial requires a curriculum vitae, a brief personal statement, and three letters of recommendation from mentors who know the candidate well.
Interviews are conducted on one day each month from January through March. Each interview includes a visit with the chief of pediatric surgery, attending staff members, and residents in the program plus a tour of Children's Memorial.
Appointments for interviews are scheduled after December 1 by contacting the Division of Pediatric Surgery. Because only 15 interviews are held on any date, candidates should register as early as possible.
One position in the pediatric surgery fellowship is offered each year through the National Resident Matching Program. The fellow is selected through the Match each February to begin the program in July of the following year.
Marleta Reynolds, MD
Professor of Surgery
Head, Division of Pediatric Surgery
For more information, contact the Division of Pediatric Surgery, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Children's Memorial Hospital, 2300 Children's Plaza, Box 63, Chicago, Illinois 60614-3394, 773/880-4912; fax 773/880-4588 or visit the Department of Surgery Web site.
E-mail: vrodr@childrensmemorial.org
Pediatric Surgery