Fellowship Overview
The overarching goals of the Pediatric Critical Care Medicine fellowship training program are to train pediatricians to become competent in the independent practice of pediatric critical care medicine, be prepared to create new knowledge that promises to inform future practice, be competent and qualified teachers, and serve as a consultant to physicians in the community. With advancement through the training program, fellows assume progressively increasing levels of autonomy and responsibility. Throughout the fellowship program, fellows interact closely and collegially with the faculty charged with supervising the patient care, research development, and education that training necessarily entails.
The critical care medicine fellowship is an accredited 32-year training program with 3 fellows per year, for a total of 9 fellows. The fellowship is overseen by the Program Director, Dr. Deborah Franzon, and Associate Director, Dr. Courtenay Barlow. Clinical training is performed at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital on the Stanford University campus.
In keeping with guidelines by the American Board of Pediatrics, as well as recommendations from the ACGME for Pediatric Subspecialities, all fellows engage in scholarly activities and actively participate in meaningful research during their fellowship. With assistance from the program director, all fellows spend >65% of their time dedicated to scholarly activity. Progress throughout fellowship is monitored semi-annually by individualized scholarly oversight committees, with the expectation of a finished work product by the conclusion of the fellowship.
The goals of this program include:
1. To adequately educate and provide the background that is necessary for a trainee to diagnose and manage critically ill pediatric patients.
2. To prepare the trainee to conduct research in an area relevant to pediatric critical care diseases, and to pursue discovery-based careers in academic medicine.
3. To enable the trainee to become a competent educator of pediatric critical care illnesses.
The first year of fellowship training is focused primarily upon the acquisition of a strong clinical foundation such that by the conclusion of the first year, trainees will be able to generate comprehensive differential diagnoses, outline data-driven treatment plans and be able to direct the management of the full spectrum of patients with critical illness. To accomplish these goals, trainees will have extensive clinical exposure through rotations in both the Pediatric Intensive Care (PICU) and Cardiovascular Intensive Care Units (CVICU). The PICU provides critical care services for very active programs in medicine, neurosurgery, general surgery, solid organ transplantation, craniofacial reconstruction, orthopedics, otolaryngology and trauma. In the CVICU fellows care for the full spectrum of pediatric cardiac disease, including more than 500 postoperative patients per year following cardiopulmonary bypass, as well as patients requiring mechanical support including left ventricular assist devices, such as the Berlin Heart, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
During the early research rotations, the pediatric critical care medicine fellow will explore potential research opportunities within the remarkably rich Stanford University community of biologic and non-biologic scientists (e.g. policy, economics, medical humanities, engineering). In the second year, clinical service time decreases significantly and dedicated, protected, research rotations increase. During the third year, clinical responsibilities will be further circumscribed to facilitate the publication of research findings and grant preparation.
For additional information pertaining to the Critical Fellowship Program please visit http://picued.stanford.edu.
The program is designed to foster greater responsibility and increasing leadership opportunities concomitant with increasing seniority. We are committed to the creation and maintenance of a fellowship training program that provides a collegial, supportive environment, while still ensuring that fellows are able to realize even their loftiest career aspirations. We look forward to your application.
If you are interested in this program, please contact:
Deborah Franzon, MD
Fellowship Director
dfranzon@stanford.edu
Courtenay Barlow, MD
Associate Fellowship Director
cbarlow@stanford.edu
You may also receive details on the program by contacting:
Linda Young
Fellowship Coordinator
lzarate@stanford.edu
(650) 723-8325
Pediatric Critical Care accepts applications through ERAS and participates in the Match through the NRMP.
