The Fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the University of Connecticut is a three-year program designed to prepare the physician to be able:

1.  To administer the highest level of care to all newborn infants based on the understanding of basic pathophysiologic processes.

2.  To understand and utilize the mechanisms of delivery of perinatal and neonatal care on a regional basis.

3.  To communicate effectively with the families of critically ill newborns, recognizing the primacy of their relationship with their infant and the importance of their contributions to the care of their babies.

4.  To identify the ethical and legal issues involved in perinatal and neonatal care and to apply these appropriately to the care of newborn babies and their families as well as to populations.

5.  To assess and monitor the neurological and developmental status of infants during hospitalization and at the time of post-discharge follow-up and to use community-based resources for their benefit.

6.  To design and complete through preparation for publication one or more research projects, either clinical or laboratory.

The program is administered by the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology.

Division Chief, Neonatology (JDH) Ted S. Rosenkrantz, MD (860) 679-4064  
Medical Director, NICU and Newborn Services Naveed Hussain, MBBS (860) 679-4331  
Fellowship Director (JDH), Aniruddha Vidwans, MD (860)679 2254 
Site Director at CCMC Leonard Eisenfeld, MD (860) 545-8950  
Program Administrator, Jacki Charette (860) 679-4496  
Program Assistant, Keiko Broyles (860) 679-3105  
Program Fax  (860) 679-1403

REQUIREMENTS FOR APPLICATION

All applicants must have completed an accredited U.S. or foreign pediatric residency training program.  Formal application must include a curriculum vitae, a statement of career goals, a recent 2” x 2” photo, and three letters of recommendation from pediatricians, one of whom should be the director of the most recent pediatric training program.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Patient Population

Clinical patient and research subjects will include newborns from the two neonatal intensive care units (NICU) which serve our regional pediatric training program.  The central regional NICU at the John Dempsey Hospital is comprised of 30 level III and 9 step-down beds.  This unit is staffed by seven University faculty neonatologists.  The newborn regional ground transport program is based in this unit.  Ten to twenty infants a month are transported to the Farmington facility from an area of approximately 15,000 deliveries per year. The inborn obstetrical program attracts high risk referral patients and receives 20-40 maternal transports a month.  Thus approximately 65% of admissions to the NICU are inborn. In addition to pediatric resident/s the unit is staffed everyday by 2-3 nurse practitioners who also perform transports and are involved in both educational and clinical research activities.

The Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC) NICU is located in Hartford hospital, a 900 bed teaching hospital in the downtown area serving greater Hartford, and located about 20 minutes by car from Farmington.  The NICU consists of 8 intensive and 18 intermediate care beds serving an active delivery service of approximately 5,000 births per year.  The unit also serves as the central cardiac referral facility for Northern Connecticut and Western Massachusetts, and is the location of the University Pediatric Cardiology Program.  This NICU is supervised by five full-time faculty neonatologists.  Pediatric housestaff and neonatal nurse practitioners provide primary clinical care.  Two full-time perinatologists oversee the high risk delivery service.  A helicopter transport program which supplements the regional newborn transport program is based at Hartford Hospital

Active library programs with copying services are available at each facility.  The John Dempsey Hospital Library is a regional center of the National Library of Medicine.  Fellows office in the UConn campus has a computer for each fellow with access to all electronic library services including online journals.  Conference rooms are adjacent to the nursery area in each hospital.

The Neonatal Follow-Up Clinic, based at CCMC, sees infants discharged from the NICU at Farmington who are felt to be at risk for developmental or neurological disability due to the events of their prenatal, perinatal or neonatal course.  Approximately half of the infants discharged from the NICU are seen in follow-up.  Infants have a complete developmental and neurological examination at 4, 8, 12, 18 and 24 months corrected age.  The clinical staff includes a neonatologist, a pediatric neurologist, a social worker, an occupational therapist, and a nurse coordinator.  An Infant Apnea Program and a unit for infants with chronic lung disease (BPD) are directed by the Division of Pulmonary Medicine and may be used for elective experience.

The research activities within the Division cover a broad base of interests.  A representative list of publications is available for download (http://neonatal.uchc.edu/Downloads/Rep_Pubs.pdf).  Major research interests within the Division center around neonatal nutrition and growth; calcium and phosphorus metabolism and the effects of diuretics on mineral balance; brain blood flow and metabolism; fetal lung development and the cellular mechanisms of surfactant synthesis and regulation; oxygen toxicity; immune development and white cell function.  Collaborative studies with other divisions and departments in the medical school are encouraged, e.g., neuroscience, otorhinolaryngology, cardiology.  Computerized patient databases are available at both hospitals for patient review and epidemiologic research.  Computer facilities for data management and analyses are available.

DUTIES

The three year fellowship is comprised of 4 basic rotations:

1.       Clinical supervisor, JDH NICU

2.       Clinical supervisor, Hartford Hospital NICU

3.       Laboratory or clinical research and specialty programs

4.       Neonatal Follow-Up

On most occasions there will be 5 fellows.  Over the three-year period, 6 to 8 months will be spent on each clinical service.  The remaining months (20-24) will be devoted to the fellow’s research program and specialty programs.  The specialty programs will involve structured exposure to Maternal-Fetal Medicine, genetics and statistics.  Additionally, fellows will participate in Neonatal Follow-Up Clinic during some of their non-clinical rotations.

During their clinical assignments fellows serve as primary consultants to the house staff in each of the participating nurseries.  Fellows are responsible for making rounds with the house staff and for teaching both house staff and medical students.  Rounds are made with the neonatal faculty members on a daily basis.  X-ray and additional specialty conferences are held at each facility on a weekly basis.  Fellows provide night coverage as consultants to house staff in the two NICUs.  Call is taken from home every fifth night and faculty supervision is always available.   Fellows serve as team leaders for evening and night transports.

During the research rotation, the fellows are expected to plan and complete one or more clinical or laboratory research projects.  Each project may be a part of an ongoing investigation within the program or a project of the fellow’s own design.  Generally one of the 12 division faculty members will be selected by the fellow as the project advisor.  Other sub-specialty faculty members are often intimately involved in these projects as well.  Basic laboratory projects can utilize the laboratory facilities at the medical school.  This includes over 1000 sq. ft. of bench facilities with warm and cold rooms, extensive laboratory equipment and a complete animal care facility.

The entire fellowship program meets together once a week to discuss cases, present research plans and material, or to review journal articles.  The fellows, in general, will rotate in responsibility for these presentations.  Attendance at other regional and national meetings is also encouraged and supported.

Four weeks of vacation are allowed each year with some restrictions as to timing to avoid conflict with major meetings.

PATIENT FLOW

Deliveries at UConn Health Center:  475/year

Deliveries at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center: 4800/year

The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Connecticut Health Center supports a Maternal-Fetal Fellowship Program.  Fellows are based at Farmington.  In addition to the normal clinical interaction, several monthly joint conferences are held.  Formal exposure to areas such as fetal heart rate monitoring, obstetrical ultrasound and high risk fetal medicine are part of the fellowship rotation on that service.  Four sub-board certified Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialists direct the program.

This fellowship program in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine fulfills the requirements outlined in the American board of Pediatrics document, “Special Requirements for Training Programs in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine”, and is fully accredited by the Board.  Annual stipends are based on an institutional scale which considers the number of previous years in training within sanctioned programs.