Overview

The USC Neonatal Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program has trained over 150 clinical and research fellows in neonatology over the past 30 years. Many of these fellows have advanced to develop neonatal units in the United States or continued to work in academic settings at medical centers throughout the US and abroad.

The USC Neonatal Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program had a two-year training a until 1990, after which it was extended by the American Board of Pediatrics and the Sub-board of Perinatal-Neonatal Medicine to three years. We expanded to 18 fellows over 3 years in the program since 2014. This expansion was fueled by the presence of the unique and novel training opportunities offered by our established Institute for Maternal and Fetal Health, the Developmental Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research Programs, the Functional Neonatal Echocardiography Course, the Developmental Translational Epidemiology Program and the expanding Basic Science Research Program. The two major reasons for expansion are the unparalleled depth and breathe of our patient population and the structured and rigorously mentored clinical, translational and basic science research opportunities for the fellows. In addition, our program offers specialized courses in functional echocardiography, high-fidelity neonatal simulation, biostatistics, quality improvement, NRP/PALS/S.T.A.B.L.E. and ECMO. As described, the extremely high-risk, complex and high-acuity patients cared for in our NICUs offer a unique opportunity for the fellows to master the clinical skills as well as offer outstanding clinical and basic research opportunities. A large number of our fellows present at the annual American Pediatric Society/Society for Pediatric Research Meeting and the Western Society for Pediatric Research meeting every year.

Dr. Ramanathan, as the Director of the Fellowship Program with the strong support and involvement of the entire faculty, is responsible for program planning for the fellows. Dr. Ramanathan’s special research interests include non-invasive ventilation, and surfactant therapy. Dr. Ramanathan is frequently invited to speak at national and international meetings. He is a recipient of numerous teaching awards from Pediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynecology departments.  Our objective is to keep the fellowship program individualized to fellow’s professional goals.

The USC Division of Neonatal Medicine and its faculty seek earnestly, as a primary objective of the Neonatal Fellowship Program, to provide the environment and guidance for the neonatal fellows to develop into a superbly skilled clinicians. With this earnest effort we also seek to provide a comprehensive and individualized training experience that fosters an interest in research and academia with the aim being the development of a degree of expertise therein. These goals are accomplished by guaranteeing opportunities for growth in clinical decision-making and for leadership development; and by providing instruction on technical and basic research skills through the exposure to superb researchers in the areas of both clinical and bench research.

Los Angeles General Medical Center and USC have agreed to provide opportunities for Fellows to enroll in USC’s Masters Programs during the Fellowship training beginning in 2013, which has added tremendous value to our training program.

Application Process

Interested candidates for the Neonatal Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program are advised to send their Fellowship Application using Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS).

Information to Applicants applying to our Program:

  1. We follow ERAS July Application Cycle Time Line.
  2. Interviews: We interview from July 16 to October 31 each year. Interviews are scheduled Monday to Friday. Typically, interviews start at 7:30 AM and ends by 5 PM. Applicants meet faculty from both sections and fellows during their interview. Applicants also have opportunity to visit the USC NICUs (Los Angeles General Medical Center and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles NICUs) where fellows receive their training.
  3. Visa Requirements: USC does not accept H-1 B visas for fellowship training. We do accept applicants with J-1 Visa.
  4. Letters of Recommendation (LoRs): We require at least 3 LoRs and one of the letters should be from the current Residency Program Director.
  5. Residency Training Requirements: 3 years of pediatric residency training from an ACGME accredited program in USA is required.
  6. Licensing requirement: California license or approval letter from California Medical board is required PRIOR to start of the Fellowship training.