PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Current Acting Fellowship Director Michael O'Shea
Current Neonatal Fellows [Pictures and Information]
To receive an application please contact:
Brenda Barron via email or by phone:(336)716-4663.
The Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Training Program is a three-year, ACGME-accredited program affiliated with the Pediatric Residency Training Program at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. A committed faculty, rich curriculum of multidisciplinary conferences, seminars and workshops, a large and diverse clinical service and strong research mentorship assure that our trainees complete the fellowship competent clinicians, teachers and researchers.
CLINICAL TRAINING
Clinical training takes place at Brenner Children’s Hospital, a facility of Wake Forest University/Baptist Medical Center, and at Forsyth Medical Center. Our intensive care nurseries have among the largest number of admissions of any program in the nation. Upon completion of the fellowship, graduates have had substantial exposure to the full range of diagnostic and treatment issues facing practicing neonatologists. Our three-year curriculum, reinforced by our large clinical service, stresses normal development and pathology during the prenatal, intrapartum and neonatal periods. The educational curriculum and clinical training is supported by a full complement of pediatric medical and surgical subspecialists. Our high volume clinical service provides our trainees with experience in the management of clinical problems, from routine newborn care to the most intensive of critical care, including ECMO and cardiothoracic surgery. The number and variety of high-risk obstetrical patients ensure that our fellows become knowledgeable in identifying high-risk pregnancies and evaluating fetal well being and maturation. Our training program is closely aligned with the Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Obstetrical Residency Programs at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
The 37-bed Intensive Care Nursery (ICN) at Brenner Children’s Hospital admits 550-600 neonates per year. The recently completed 15,000 square foot unit serves as the tertiary referral center for the 20-county Northwestern Perinatal Region of North Carolina, a geographic region with over 27,000 deliveries annually. A well-equipped neonatal transport system with ground, helicopter, and fixed-wing aircraft capabilities is responsible for transfer of babies to our unit from other hospitals in our region. Pediatric residents and neonatal nurse practitioners staff the ICN at Brenner Children’s Hospital.
Forsyth Medical Center is located approximately two miles from Wake Forest University/ Baptist Hospital Medical Center. It is the high-risk obstetric referral center for the Northwestern Perinatal Region, delivering more than 6,300 babies each year. The 40-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) admits more than 1,200 infants annually. The Unit is directed by faculty neonatologists and is staffed by the pediatric house staff and neonatal nurse practitioners.
Clinical experiences in both nurseries are designed to provide graduated increases in responsibility for the fellows as competence is achieved in patient management and resident education. The clinical experience of the fellow is supplemented by an extensive series of formal and informal conferences, seminars, workshops and journal clubs, taught by the faculty neonatologists and subspecialists. We are fortunate to have excellent faculty in every pediatric medical and surgical subspecialty. An active neonatal follow-up program is an essential part of our division. It provides both diagnostic and referral services to infants after discharge, and research opportunities for those interested in this avenue of investigation.
RESEARCH TRAINING
We are proud to offer varied opportunities for our fellows to participate in clinical, epidemiological and laboratory research projects with established and respected investigators. Fellows are expected to complete projects under the guidance of a faculty mentor and prepare the results for presentation at national meetings and for publication. We recognize that graduates of pediatric residencies entering fellowships rarely have substantial experience in research. Consequently, a curriculum and mentorship program is devoted to research training, including regular research conferences and didactic sessions in study design, data analysis, manuscript preparation and grant writing. A lecture series on biostatistics and epidemiology for the neonatologist is taught every other year by Drs. O'Shea and Block. A formal course in biostatistics, offered through the Department of Public Health Sciences at the Medical Center can be taken for credit or audit.
LABORATORY RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
Several NIH-funded laboratories offer training opportunities for fellows in basic science research. Active areas of laboratory investigation include the pulmonary microcirculation and control of pulmonary vascular resistance, the cerebral circulation and regulation of cerebral blood flow, molecular genetics and the inherited predisposition to disease sequelae of prematurity, such as chronic lung disease, and the neuroendocrine development in the fetus and newborn.
CLINICAL RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
Fellows in our program have constant exposure and ample opportunity to participate in clinical research. We have a long track record of participation in multi-center and single site clinical trials on broad and diverse topic relevant to neonatology. These include ventilator management, nutritional management, pain management, management of chronic lung disease and epidemiological studies of preterm sequelae including cerebral palsy and chronic lung disease. In 2001, we became a member of the National Institute of Health NICHD Neonatal Network, further expanding our opportunities for collaborative clinicals trials. Both nurseries are members of the Vermont-Oxford Neonatal Database.
MASTER’S IN SCIENCE PROGRAM
The Medical School’s Department of Public Health Sciences is nationally regarded for its leadership in clinical, epidemiological, and health outcomes research. Fellows in our program are eligible to apply to the Department of Public Health Sciences for admission to the Master’s Program in Science - Clinical Epidemiology and & Health Services Research. The fellowship and the course work for the master’s degree can take place simultaneously, permitting completion of both programs in four years.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Preparing the neonatologist for an ever-changing practice environment is an important aim of the program. A curriculum addressing such topics as NICU design, organization, and management allows the fellow to deal with such issues effectively after completing our program. A structured approach to exploring career choices, evaluating practice positions, learning interviewing and negotiating techniques helps our fellows obtain positions which best meet their goals. Finally, an introduction to practice management permits the fellow to understand an increasingly complex world of managed care, integrated health care systems, capitated systems and the variety of other issues facing the neonatologist entering into academic or private practice.