Pediatric Neurocritical Care Fellowship
Pediatric Neurocritical Care Fellowship
The Pediatric Neurocritical Care Fellowship offers a comprehensive training experience with a diverse clinical service, a structured research experience and a thorough academic curriculum.
The mission of the Pediatric Neurocritical Care Fellowship Program at Nationwide Children's Hospital is to train the next generation of well-rounded pediatric neurointensivists and future leaders of our field. This one-year fellowship will allow the advanced trainee exposure to a diverse patient population with a wide range of neurologic illness or injury. We focus on collaborative and multi-disciplinary care to provide our patients with outstanding patient-centered care and the best outcome possible.
The Intensive Care Units at Nationwide Children's Hospital includes 54 Pediatric ICU beds and 20 Cardiothoracic ICU beds, combining for approximately 3,000 admissions per year.
This one-year fellowship program is divided into 11 clinical months and 1 research month and can be tailored to focus on the needs/interests of the neurocritical care trainee. Each year, one trainee will be accepted for one of three tracks (Critical Care – designed for board certified/board eligible pediatric intensivists, Neurology track – designed for board certified/board eligible pediatric neurologists, or Neurosurgery track – designed for board certified/board eligible pediatric neurosurgeons). The clinical months will include, but will not be limited to, rotations with the ICU neurology consult team, neuroradiology, neurosurgery, rehabilitation, and the adult neuro-intensive care unit. Additional opportunities may include: neuro-anesthesia, neuro-oncology, neuro-muscular, and palliative care depending on participant interests. The trainee will be expected to participate in the institutional fellow-focused research curriculum, will have the opportunity to contribute to existing research projects, and will develop their own focused project with neurocritical care mentorship.
What You Need to Know
Outcomes
Nationwide Children's Hospital has consistently held the lowest severity-adjusted mortality rate among our peer institutions in a national benchmarking database. This means many children who would be predicted to die—by their initial illness severity—don't. There are many reasons for this, including outstanding multidisciplinary teamwork; innovative yet evidence-driven practice; and a culture of quality and safety that permeates the PICU.
Creating a safe day every day is a core value in our everyday work. Patient safety is especially important. Our PICU nosocomial infection rates are among some of the lowest in the country despite the size and acuity of our unit.
Training and Experience
Proposed Tracks (with flexibility to support the trainee's interests)
| Tracks | Critical Care | Neurology | Neurosurgery |
| ICU Neurology Consults |
20 weeks |
16 weeks | 20 weeks |
| Neurosurgery |
4 weeks |
4 weeks | 2 weeks |
| Neuroradiology |
4 weeks |
2 weeks | 2 weeks |
| Adult Neuro ICU | 6 weeks | 4 weeks | 4 weeks |
| Research |
4 weeks | 4 weeks | 4 weeks |
| Palliative Care Medicine | 2 weeks | 2 weeks | 2 weeks |
| Neuroanesthesia |
2 weeks |
2 weeks | 2 weeks |
| Electrophysiology |
2 weeks | 2 weeks | 2 weeks |
| PICU |
4 weeks | 4 weeks | |
| Cardiac ICU | 2 weeks | 2 weeks | |
| Rehabilitation |
2 weeks | 2 weeks | 2 weeks |
| Neuro-Oncology |
2 weeks | 2 weeks | 2 weeks |
| Neuro-muscular |
2 weeks | ||
| Neuro-interventional | 2 weeks | 2 weeks | 2 weeks |
| Vacation (to be taken during ICU Neurology consults/research) | 2 weeks | 2 weeks | 2 weeks |
Didactics
The fellow will be expected to attend focused didactics for their current rotation (i.e. when on the neurosurgery rotation would attend tumor board, epilepsy surgery conference, etc). They will be expected to participate in all neurocritical care focused educational sessions and will be expected to lead one neurocritical care educational session and/or relevant morbidity and mortality conference.
Research
Pediatric neurocritical care faculty have a broad range of research interests and are active in the Pediatric Neurocritical Care Research Group (PNCRG), the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the Neurocritical Care Society, and the International Pediatric Stroke Organization. Dr. Nicole O’Brien is a global expert on cerebral malaria and uses Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound as a focus of her research. Dr. O’Brien has served as the site primary investigator (PI) for the ADAPT (Approaches and Decisions in Acute Pediatric TBI) trials. Dr. Marlina Lovett’s main area of interest is in non-invasive neuromonitoring for critically ill children in the pediatric intensive care unit and she currently serves as the site PI for the P-ICECAP (Pediatric Influence of Cooling Duration on Efficacy in Cardiac Arrest Patients) trial. Dr. Melissa Chung is a global expert in pediatric stroke management and has served as the site PI for the POCCA (Personalizing Outcomes After Child Cardiac Arrest) study.
In addition to the work mentioned above, faculty within the Neurosurgery and Neurology Divisions have ongoing work to improve the care for children with acute neurologic illness or injury. We have experts who are national leaders in epilepsy research, pediatric brain tumors, and traumatic brain injury.
Faculty, Fellows and Alumni
Research
Research education and training are vital to the mission of Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital. As a top-ten free-standing pediatric research center and an academic affiliate of The Ohio State University, The Research Institute has an outstanding faculty, dedicated to training and mentoring the next generation of scientists in pediatric research.
Research at Nationwide Children's Hospital
Advocacy
Advocacy training fosters and encourages interest in child advocacy by early involvement and exposure to its many aspects such as addressing social determinants of health, community collaboration, health finance, health policy and legislative advocacy.
Application and Selection
There is currently no match process for Pediatric Neuro-Critical Care.
The following items are required for application into the Pediatric Neuro-Critical Care Fellowship Program:
- Nationwide Children's Hospital Common Application
- CV
- personal statement
- photograph
- USMLE Parts 1, 2, and 3 score transcripts
Must complete a ACGME accredited residency in pediatrics and fellowship in pediatric critical care, child neurology residency, or neurosurgery residency and pediatric neurosurgery fellowship.
Three letters of recommendation are required. All applicants must be board certified or board eligible.
Applications are due by August 15, 2023.
If you have specific questions relating to the application process, please feel free to contact our program coordinator:
Tricia Brown
Program Coordinator
Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellowship
Nationwide Children's Hospital
700 Children's Drive
Columbus, Ohio 43205-2696
Phone: (614) 722-3436
Email: Tricia.Brown@NationwideChildrens.org
Contact
For more information, please contact:
Nicole O’Brien, MD
Program Director
Marlina Lovett, MD
Associate Program Director
Tricia Brown
Program Coordinator
Email: Tricia.Brown@NationwideChildrens.org
Phone: (614) 722-3436
