Neonatal Perinatal Medicine Fellowship

About the Fellowship

This fellowship program is operated under the auspices LAC+USC Medical Center and the Division of Neonatal Medicine at Keck School of Medicine of USC.

The USC Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program has trained over 150 clinical and research fellows in neonatal-perinatal medicine over the past 25 years and currently trains 18 fellows over three years with six fellows admitted annually to the 3-year fellowship training program.

Why CHLA/LAC+USC?

Our training program is fueled by the presence of the unique and novel training opportunities offered by our:

Individualization

Our objective is to keep the program individualized depending on the given fellow's professional goals.

Philosophy and Goals

Faculty provide an environment that guides the neonatal fellow into performance at the level of a superbly skilled clinician. Faculty provide fellows with opportunities to:

  • Receive a comprehensive and individualized training experience
  • Foster an interest in research and academia with the aim being the development of a degree of expertise therein
  • Grow in clinical decision-making and leadership skills
  • Receive exposure to superb researchers in the areas of both clinical and bench research

Learn More About the Training Program

Mentorship

Each fellow is paired with a preceptor/mentor, who is a member of the faculty. Selection of the mentor-fellow pair is based upon mutually expressed interest and complimentary personality traits. The mentor oversees the clinical and research progress of the fellow. In addition, the fellow may choose an investigator to work with at the medical school, in another department, or at the hospital, for research specific to his or her interests. In addition, all fellows have and assigned “career mentor” from the senior faculty to help them navigate through the difficult but rewarding experience of our demanding training program and to keep the individual fellow’s long-term career goal in focus during the 3-year fellowship training.

Learning Activities in Service and Conferences

Fellows attend and help (with faculty supervision) direct daily bedside teaching- and work-rounds while on clinical service. At LAC+USC Medical Center (the primary fellowship program site) or at CHLA, the fellows attend a weekly mandatory 2-hour core-curriculum conference where the topics in the field of neonatal-perinatal medicine recommended by the Neonatal-Perinatal Board are being presented by faculty members. The fellows also attend the morning case conferences two times a week (Monday and Wednesday), where they present clinical cases and their management for review by faculty and for academic and research-associated discourse. Fellows also participate and present in our weekly physiology conferences (Tuesdays) and monthly journal club meetings; weekly neonatal-perinatal statistics rounds and high-risk OB conferences; bioethics and discharge planning conferences; and perinatal high risk clinics as well as follow-up clinics for premature infants under 1500 grams. In addition, fellows attend specific courses on research design and protocols and the writing of research papers during their training as part of the core curriculum series.

ECMO Course

Each fellow must attend a weeklong intensive ECMO training course at our hospital at least once during fellowship.

Functional Echocardiography Course and Training

Each fellow attends a weeklong functional echocardiography training course at least once during fellowship. Organized by Dr. Bijan Siassi, Director of Functional Echocardiography Course at USC Keck School of Medicine, this annual course is attended by neonatologists from the US and abroad. The course is given by faculty from USC Keck School of Medicine, CHLA Division of Cardiology and other programs.

In addition, fellows in our program are encouraged to spend 1-2.5 months of one-on-one teaching rotation with Dr. Mac Ebrahimi, the associate director of the functional echocardiography program.

Research Activities

Fellows develop a project plan in collaboration with a faculty member (most frequently his/her mentor) for basic, translational, clinical or epidemiology research, by the end of the first year. Each fellow spends at 6-12 weeks in the basic research laboratory to gain fan insight into basic research and critical thinking. Bench research in molecular biology is then available depending on the particular interests of the neonatal fellow. Fellows will be expected to have presentations at local and national meetings by the end of the second year; in addition, each fellow is expected to complete a minimum of one research paper by the end of the third year of his/her training.

Clinical Activities

The neonatal program consists of clinical service duties at: 

  • LAC+USC Medical Center
  • Children's Hospital Los Angeles 
  • Good Samaritan Hospital

Fellows spend a 2 to 4-week rotation in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit  at Children's Hospital Los Angeles to gain valuable experience in the pre- and post-operative management of neonates requiring cardiac surgery. With an attending neonatologist, they provide consulting clinical service for neonates in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit.

Patient Care

Three attending neonatologists direct the clinical care every two week block at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, two attendings at the LAC+USC Medical Center site, while one attending neonatologist directs the clinical care at Good Samaritan Hospital. They round daily with their teams consisting of neonatal-perinatal fellows and pediatric residents and/or neonatal nurse practitioners. Our units are equipped with state-of-the-art cardiac and general ultrasound equipment and the fellows utilize these imaging and diagnostic tools within the framework of the Developmental Cardiovascular Program. All three sites offer Therapeutic Hypothermia for neonates with HIE.

How to Apply

  • Applications are submitted via ERAS. For any questions about application, please contact Program Director
  • Note: Applications are submitted in July prior to fellowship start date
  • Applicants with H-1 B Visas are NOT eligible

Fast Facts

AGME Accredited 5 Years: Yes
Fellows per year: 6
Application Deadline: September 
Duration: 3 years
Postgraduate Training Required: Yes
U.S. Citizenship Required: Yes
Benefits Include: Health and dental insurance, 14 days paid vacation + 6 personal days, and yearly educational stipend