GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION Pediatric Surgical and Subspecialty Fellowship Programs
The University of Connecticut School of Medicinesponsored graduate medical education (pediatric surgical and subspecialty) fellowship programs at Connecticut Children’s continue to graduate exceptionally trained specialty physicians who enter practice throughout the country. Our fellows continue to be awarded funding for exciting research projects with numerous accepted presentations at national scientific meetings in addition to travel grants and awards. The success of our fellowship programs would not be possible without the dedication and efforts of our associate chair of education, Andrea Orsey, MD, MSCE, and our exemplary administrative fellowship team. Dr. Orsey was accepted and completed her first year of the Masters in Medical Education Program through Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Institute of Health Professions. She is applying her acquired knowledge and skills to improve the quality of all educational initiatives at Connecticut Children’s. ACGME accreditation was received in April 2020 for a new fellowship program in Pediatric Otolaryngology. In 2020, the fellowship coordinators and program directors administered 11 pediatric and surgical subspecialty fellowship programs and supported 24 fellows. The coordinator team demonstrated exceptional flexibility and ingenuity to preserve program quality and compliance in the Covid-19 era. Over a short period, the fellowship team successfully organized the development of vital recruitment materials including new and improved websites for each fellowship program, nine fellowship program videos and a virtual tour video. The team pivoted quickly, launching from in-person to virtual recruitment, and effectively mobilized 131 applicant interviews across 57 days. The pediatric fellowship programs graduated seven fellows and successfully filled eight of 10 available fellowship positions.
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ANNUAL ACADEMIC REPORT 2020
PEDIATRIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE Led by Dr. Matt Laurich, the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship is in its 21st year. It is a three-year fellowship with two fellows per year. Jacob Greenberg, MD, graduated from the fellowship in June 2020 and accepted a Pediatric Emergency Medicine attending position with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Greenberg joined our fellowship in July 2017, arriving from the Maimonides Infants and Children’s Hospital of Brooklyn, NY. During fellowship, Dr. Greenberg presented several of his research projects regionally and nationally. “Emergency Department Resource Utilization in the Management of Croup,” “Improving the Nutrition of Infants with Bronchiolitis Admitted to the Hospital,” “Does Crisis Prevention Training Impact the Use of Seclusion and Restraint for Pediatric Emergency Department Behavioral Health Patients?” and “Can Point-of-Care Ultrasound Be Used to Confirm Nasogastric Tube Position?” were each presented as platform presentations at the Eastern Society of Pediatric Research and as posters at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting. Prina Patel, MD, graduated from the fellowship in June 2020 and accepted a faculty appointment as Pediatric Emergency Medicine attending at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital in Stony Book, NY. Dr. Patel joined the program in July 2017 from Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, NY. Her research project, “Pointof-Care Influenza Testing in the Pediatric Emergency Department,” was published in Pediatric Emergency Care after having been presented at the meetings of the Eastern Society of Pediatric Research and the Pediatric Academic Society. Ruchika Jones, MD, is currently a third-year fellow. Her research on “The Use of High-Fidelity Simulation with Pediatric Advanced Life Support Training to Improve Resident Choreography of Codes” was presented virtually at the Pediatric Academic Society Annual Meeting in May 2020, the American Heart Association Team Training National Conference in June 2020, and the Eastern Society for Pediatric Research meeting in March 2020.
Rahul Shah, MD, is currently a third-year fellow. His case report on “Ocular Point-of-Care Ultrasound: Description of Intermediate Vitritis in an Adolescent Female” was accepted and credited for presentation at the Eastern Society for Pediatric Research meeting in March 2020, despite the meeting’s cancellation due to the pandemic. He has two ongoing research projects: firearm safety practices and perceptions among parents, and studies related to Free Open Access Medical Education (FOAM). His research on “Improving Capnography Use for Critically Ill Emergency Patients: An Implementation Study” was published in March 2020 in the Journal of Patient Safety. Candice Jersey, DO, is a second-year fellow. Her case report on a “6-Year-Old With an Infected Urachal Cyst Identified on Point-of-Care Ultrasound” was accepted for publication by Pediatric Emergency Care. Owen Kahn, MD, is currently a second-year fellow and is conducting research on the effect of elbow-toelbow coaching on electronic health record (EHR) use efficiency. The fellowship program welcomed two excellent new fellows in July 2020. Prior to joining us, Kathryn Schissler, DO, completed her pediatric residency at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, FL. Shaheen Andreas, DO, completed her pediatric residency at the University of Connecticut Pediatric Residency Program at Connecticut Children’s in Hartford, CT. In December 2020, the program successfully matched two future fellows who will start in July 2021. Dr. Edgar Flores completed his residency at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital in Stony Brook, NY, in 2020, and continues to work there as an attending general pediatrician in the Pediatric Emergency Department. Dr. Susana Collazo will complete her pediatric residency at Goryeb Children’s Hospital at Morristown Medical Center in Morristown, NJ, before joining our team.
