Pediatric Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship
General Overview of the Program
The Division of Neonatology at the Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit offers a three-year Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship program that is accredited by the ACGME.
The mission of the Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program is to produce compassionate and scholarly physicians who will become leaders in academic neonatal-perinatal medicine. Goals include teaching trainees the clinical skills for the diagnosis and management of disorders arising in the perinatal and neonatal periods and early infancy as well as the skills needed to perform basic science and clinical research that contributes to improvements in the heath care of neonates, to inculcate in fellow trainees the attributes of compassionate, family-centered and interdisciplinary care, to foster life-long learning and education and to passionately advocate for disadvantaged and disabled children.
This is accomplished by providing the fellows with a comprehensive teaching curriculum, exposure to a broad range of clinical experience and opportunity to learn and conduct clinical and laboratory research under the guidance of world-renowned faculty.
Clinical Experience
Pediatric Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship
The nine (three in each year of training) fellows receive their clinical training at a Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Children's Hospital of Michigan (CHM) and another Level III NICU at Hutzel Women's Hospital, both located within the premises of the Detroit Medical Center and connected via an underground tunnel.
The NICU at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan is a single private room 39-bed NICU. It provides the highest level of neonatal care for the most critical infants. This Regional Level IV NICU has the capability to provide surgical repair of complex congenital or acquired conditions and has a comprehensive range of pediatric medical and surgical subspecialists including pediatric anesthesiologists on site. Neonatal ECMO and repair of congenital heart disease are also offered. It is a leader in cooling therapy for infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, repair of abdominal wall defects and care of infants with chronic lung disease. The Children’s Hospital of Michigan Metabolic Disease Program is the state-designated referral center for all positive newborn screens. The hospital has fellowship programs in most other subspecialties, offering an opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration among trainees. Hutzel Women's Hospital (HWH) is the integrated delivery hospital. It is also home to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Perinatology Research Branch and Center for Advanced Obstetrical Care and Research (CAOCR) — a state-of-the-art facility that utilizes advanced ultrasound and surveillance techniques. The levels II and III NICUs at HWH offers additional training for fellows, particularly for attending and coordinating deliveries.
The neonatal fellows are involved in resuscitation of high-risk infants, post-resuscitation stabilization, management of all forms of mechanical ventilation (including high frequency oscillator and jet ventilation), whole-body cooling for hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, inhaled nitric oxide use and ECMO. Fellows develop the knowledge and leadership skills to become independent neonatologists through clinical patient care, multidisciplinary teamwork, teaching the residents and medical students, and leading the code team. In addition, fellows also participate in antenatal consultation and developmental follow up of high-risk infants. The fellows serve as medical controls for a specialized neonatal and pediatric transport team which performs ground, fixed wing and air transport.
Research
Pediatric Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship
Fellows have broad range of opportunities to pursue clinical, basic science and translational research under the supervision of a faculty mentor. All fellows are provided with 19 blocks (4 weeks each) of research time to pursue a hypothesis driven research project. The fellows are required to complete an in-depth scholarly activity before the end of third year. In addition, fellows are expected to engage in the departmental and divisional quality improvement initiatives. Institutional funding is available to fellows through the Ashok and Ingrid Sarnaik Endowment for Resident and Fellow Research for projects and potential travel expenses. Senior fellows are expected to present their research at a national meeting.
Contact Us
Shirley Louis, MD
Program Director, Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
Children’s Hospital of Michigan
3901 Beaubien
Detroit MI 48201
313-966-0577
[email protected]
Brittany Watson
Pediatric Fellowship Coordinator
Children's Hospital of Michigan
Pediatric Education
3901 Beaubien Blvd.
Detroit, MI 48201
Phone: 313-745-7496
Main number: 313-745-5533
Fax: (313) 993-7118
[email protected]
Pediatric Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship
Pediatric Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship
The three-year fellowship seeks physicians who will have completed three years of training in an accredited U.S. residency program in Pediatrics. The fellowship program participates in the NRMP. Interested candidates should apply through ERAS universal application process. Please visit their web site at www.aamc.org/eras for an application.
The following information should be uploaded into this program:
- Completed on-line application
- Current photograph (released only after interview is offered)
- Personal statement
- Medical school transcript
- Parts 1, 2 and 3 of the USMLE
- If a graduate of a medical school outside the United States, Canada or Puerto Rico, a valid ECFMG certificate is required
- Three letters of recommendation
- We accept J-1 visa holders
Pediatric Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship
The education curriculum is divided into 13 blocks (4 weeks each) per year. During the 3 years, fellows do 13 blocks of NICU clinical service at the level IV NICU at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan , and level III and level II NICU at Hutzel Women’s Hospital. Besides this, fellows do two elective rotations in the fields of their interest. They have the opportunity to choose from Maternal-fetal medicine, Pharmacology, Radiology, Anesthesia, Palliative care, Cardiology, Pediatric surgery and Cardiovascular surgery.
A multi-faceted didactic program has been incorporated into the fellowship curriculum, that includes one hour education activity every Monday-Thursday. These educational activities include:
- Journal club
- Research Seminar
- Board review
- Physiology core lecture
- Complex case conference
- Quality Improvement Initiative presentations
- Clinico-pathological conference
- Business meeting
- Peer review conference (Review of mortalities)
- Neuromonitoring conference (multidisciplinary conference in collaboration with neuroradiologists and neurologists)
- Ethics conference
In addition, every Thursday there is a joint conference with obstetrics where the maternal fetal medicine fellows and neonatology fellows jointly present mortality and morbidity, complex cases and topics that are of interest to both divisions.
Every Wednesday, there is a hospital wide weekly Fellowship Research and Education Seminar which concentrates on scholarship areas common to all fellowships such as statistics, grant and scientific writing skills, and medical ethics. This also serves as a forum for presenting fellow research projects for valuable feedback early in the project design.
Every Friday, Pediatric Grand Rounds are held where internationally recognized researchers give talk on topics related to different fields of Pediatrics.
Pediatric Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship
2026 1st Year Fellows
Muhammad Zaid Hamid Hussain, MBBS
Rahul Arora, MBBS
Lillian Rose Howard, MD
Andrea Luna Romero, DO
2026 2nd Year Fellows
Luis Berrios Pagan, MD
Hiba Elkarib, MD
Krisha Patel, MD
2026 3rd Year Fellows
Kushagra Chaudhari, MD
Jenny Impemba, MD
2026 Grads
Matthew Toma, MD
Kristy Patel, MD
Jeremiah Olabiyi, MBBS
2026
Matthew (Matt) Toma, MD
Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI
Jeremiah Olabiyi, MBBS
Carilion Children’s Hospital / Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Roanoke, VA
Kristy Patel, MD
Henry Ford Hospital -Southfield/Novi, Mi
2025
Bridget Dillon, DO
Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit Mi
Nupur Assudani, MD
Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit Mi
Sameh Elshahawy, MD
Valley Children’s Healthcare / Kaweah Health Medical Center
2024
Dafne Sanabria Garica, MD
Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit Mi
Basma Dahash, MD
Rana Muhammad Usman Khan, MD
Le Bonheur Children's Hospital , Memphis, Tennessee
West Tennessee Healthcare Jackson-Madison County General Hospital, Jackson Tennessee
2023
Praveen Boddu, MD
Riley Children’s Hospital, Indiana University Health
Helen Martinovski, MD
Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit Mi
Saima Sharif, MD
Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit Mi
2022
MinKyung Choe, MD
Hurley Children’s Hospital, Flint, MI
Carl Tabs, MD
Henry Ford Health – Neonatology, Ascension Providence, Southfield, MI
Cindy Agu, DO
Valley Children’s Healthcare / Kaweah Health Medical Center, Visalia, CA
2020
Ralph Ariss, MD
St. John’s Ascension, Grosse Pointe MI
Marina Migliore, DO
Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak MI
Pravesh Sangwan, MD
UPMC Pinnacle, Harrisburg PA
2019
Dhruv Gupta, MD
Mednax; Hospitals of Providence, El Paso TX
Maheshwar Mahaseth, MD
Mercy Health, Toledo OH
Amit Sharma, MD
Memorial Hospital, Carbondale IL
2018
Paola Huaynate, MD
Mednax; Providence Memorial, El Paso TX; Memoral Medical/Mountain View Medical, Las Cruces NM
Esther Kisseih, MD
Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge MA
Grace Lin, MD
Valley Childrens Hospital, Madera, CA
Deepak Yadav, MD
Memorial Medical/Mountain View Medical, Las Cruces NM
2017
Kitti-Kaye Bodley, DO
Hurley Medical Center, Flint MI
Monica Nafsou, DO
Hurley Medical Center, Flint MI
Nischala Rajegowda, MD
Baptist Health Corbin, Corbin KY