General Academic Pediatric Fellowship

Fellows will develop expertise in primary care pediatrics through outpatient work at one of our community health centers. The health centers are all affiliated with Children’s National as part of the Goldberg Center for Community Health and have been recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance as Level III Patient-Centered Medical Homes. Fellows are expected to spend 40 percent of their time in clinical practice throughout their three years of training. Fellows participate in all aspects of the clinical care team including on-call responsibilities, attendance at clinic site staff meetings and quality improvement activities. In addition to patient care, fellows help precept residents and medical students assigned to their clinic sites. Additional clinical training in the care of medically complex children, obesity management, adolescent teen-tot care management and quality improvement are also available.

Over the course of the program, the fellow is expected to formulate a research question relevant to addressing the needs of under-resourced patients and communities. Fellows will receive instruction on research methodology, particularly community-based research as well as educational research. Through the completion of an individual scholarly project, the fellow will acquire familiarity and experience with key elements of academic scholarship. This project will be guided by an experienced senior mentor.

In addition, fellows will have coursework focused on research. Research fundamentals are taught through the Fellows Core Curriculum at Children’s National. More advanced coursework on research design, health services research, community-based research, statistical methods, manuscript preparation and grant writing can be taken through the Milken Institute of Public Health at The George Washington University. Additionally, fellows will attend weekly seminars combined with the General Pediatrics fellows at Johns Hopkins University that include journal clubs and research techniques.

Current Research From the Division of General Pediatrics

• Adverse childhood experiences
• Breast feeding
• Food insecurity
• Health equity education
• Immunization delivery
• Medical-legal partnerships to improve health outcomes
• Mental health access
• Safe sleep
• School absenteeism
• Social media in medicine

Fellows Learning Objectives

• Research design
• Responsible conduct of research
• Study implementation
• Statistical analysis
• Scientific communication

Fellows are expected to present their scholarly work at a regional or national meeting and submit them for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Examples of Research Projects from Fellows

• Affordable Care Act’s Pediatric essential health benefits
• Association between risky behavior engagement and opinions in urban youth
• Chronic absenteeism reduction
• Communicating with parents about their child’s sickle cell trait
• Food insecurity screening and referral practices
• Lethal means restriction for suicide prevention
• Resident experience of obesity-focused home visiting curriculum
• School-based asthma screening and student obesity

Recent Fellow Awards

• NIH/ National Medical Association Travel Award (to Hawaii!)
• APA RAPID (Research in Academic Pediatrics Initiative on Diversity) Award
• Children’s Nation CTSI Voucher Grant
• APA RAPID Mentoring and Career Development Conference Selected Attendee

Medical education is one of the cornerstones of academic medicine. Our fellowship employs a wide range of learning experiences for fellows to hone their teaching skills including formal coursework, direct observation of teaching, and mentorship. Fellows will participate in monthly seminars on educational topics including adult learning theory and feedback in the clinical setting. Additionally, fellows will gain an appreciation for the challenges of teaching in a community-based practice setting versus a hospital-based academic practice. They will receive training in the development of distance education tools, the use of electronic media and electronic health systems as tools for education, community-based teaching, and cultural competency.

In the clinical setting, fellows will work directly with and supervise medical students from the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and residents from the Children’s National Pediatric Residency Program. Fellows also have the chance to participate in a variety of educational opportunities for medical students and residents outside of the clinical setting. In addition, fellows are expected to give at least one large group lecture yearly to residents or medical students.

Pediatricians play an integral role in advocating on behalf of children. Fellows will spend 10 percent of their time in the first year of training in an advocacy preceptorship learning skills to promote health on the population level. This portion of the fellowship is supervised by faculty from the Children’s Health Advocacy Institute (CHAI). CHAI is a partnership between pediatricians, lawyers, public health and data experts that work to develop outreach programs and champion policies that build healthier lives for children. Active areas of work are early childhood development, school health, reproductive and sexual health, mental health and substance abuse, obesity and asthma.

Through CHAI, fellows will be placed with a community-based organization where they will plan and implement actions in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team to bring about systemic public health changes. Recent examples of fellowship advocacy partnerships include work with Moms Demand Action against Gun Violence in America, the Food Resource and Action Center and the American Academy of Pediatrics Washington Office.

We will not be recruiting for a fellow for July 2022. Please check back in the future for information about July 2023.

Contact Information

For questions about the General Academic Pediatric Fellowship, please email Nathalie Quion, M.D.