Pediatric Rehabilitation Fellowship

The ACGME-accredited Pediatric Rehabilitation fellowship at the University of Michigan provides a broad perspective in the evaluation and management of various disorders encountered in inpatient and outpatient pediatric rehabilitation practices. The University of Michigan Health System is a medical home for many patients with complex care needs, including rare genetic conditions and all of the more commonly encountered diagnoses in pediatric rehabilitation.  The pediatric rehabilitation fellows become familiar with management of cerebral palsy, spina bifida, neuromuscular disorders, and traumatic injuries including spinal cord injury, brain injury, amputations and burns. We address transition concerns and have a CP clinic for adults as well as an adult home ventilator program. Fellows will have the opportunity to participate in other settings, such as school clinics and a weeklong camp for children on home ventilation. Every effort will be made to tailor the program to suit the fellows’ specific interests while still maintaining focus on the core curriculum needs.

The Department of PM&R already has a longstanding, well-recognized core residency training program and an accredited fellowship program in Spinal Cord Medicine along with a non-accredited Spine Fellowship program.  Additionally, it has trained numerous Pediatric Rehabilitation fellows over the years in our previous non-accredited PRM fellowship and T32 Research Training Program. Research is part of the fellowship curriculum with opportunities for the fellow to compete for scholarship in medical education as well as research training.
 
The University of Michigan Health System, housed in the charming and very livable city of Ann Arbor is a renowned academic institution that boasts of a brand new Children’s and Women’s Hospital with state of the art facilities. The pediatric rehabilitation physicians are well-respected and integrated into many different treatment teams within the health system including pediatric brachial plexus program, home ventilator management program, spina bifida, pediatric palliative care etc. PM&R faculty include 36 physicians, among them five of whom are pediatric rehabilitation trained physicians with two being PRM board certified. The department also has 26 PhD faculty, 4 of whom have a pediatric focus.  There is excellent camaraderie within and between departments which makes it a very pleasant work environment. 

For more information about living in Ann Arbor, please visit the Resident Life section

Fellowship Resources & Benefits 

House Officer Association

As part of an ACGME accredited fellowship, pediatric rehabilitation fellows have access to all of the benefits of the University of Michigan House Officers Association. Salary and benefits are provided according to the HOA agreement.

“The Mission of the University of Michigan House Officers Association is to represent and advocate for its member physicians in obtaining the following:

  1. A professional workplace where neither patient care nor the well-being of the resident physicians are compromised through unsafe work conditions, hours, or environments; and​
  2. Fair compensation for the resident physicians, recognizing their collective and extensive education, the level of responsibility, and hours of providing care to their patients; and
  3. Respect and support for the ongoing continuing medical educational needs of the resident physicians; and
  4. Justice and due process in all interactions between resident physicians and the clinical departments, hospitals, attending physicians, or any others who seek to have an influence on our members; and
  5. Knowledge, skills and information that may be useful to our members either now as resident physicians or later as attendings, especially regarding our contract provisions and benefits, financial matters and planning, or any other personal or professional issues viewed as helpful to our member physicians, and
  6. Fellowship among its members.”

Resident Assistant

Brian Risner-Santiago, our resident assistant, is a crucial part of every inpatient team and provides administrative support to the physician team. .  The resident assistant optimizes learning by taking responsibility for a huge number of administrative tasks that traditionally were assigned to trainees.  Trainees, therefore, spend more time on direct patient care and education.  Some of the resident assistant responsibilities include: scheduling patients for follow-up appointments; obtaining lab results and medical records from referring institutions; calling pharmacies and sending in prescriptions; obtaining radiology studies and placing them into our computer system; ensuring families have appropriate discharge planning; coordinating specialty nursing escorts for our patients; and much more.

Educational Funds

At the start of fellowship, fellows are provided with a copy of a pediatric rehabilitation textbook. Funding is also available to attend one conference per year.  

On-Call

Inpatient call is taken by the PM&R residents. Pediatric rehabilitation fellows are not part of an overnight or weekend call rotation.

Holidays

Per the House Officers Association contract

  • Independence Day
  • Labor Day
  • Thanksgiving Day
  • Day after Thanksgiving
  • Christmas Eve
  • Christmas Day
  • New Year's Eve
  • New Year's Day
  • Memorial Day
  • Resident Birthday,

Vacation

4 weeks of vacation/year. 

Moonlighting

PM&R House Officers are permitted to engage in extracurricular medical practice that is not part of their training program if they have a permanent medical license and if the total hours worked per week (fellowship commitments and moonlighting) does not exceed 80 hours per week.

Salary and Lump Sum Bonus

The total compensation package is composed of salary and benefits. The salary component includes a contract increase and a promotional increase. The benefits include the payment to encourage savings ("lump sum payment"), long-term disability insurance, life insurance, Holiday Pay, and health insurance.  The lump sum is added to the November pay stub. Please see the HOA website above for details.

Fellowship Curriculum

Inpatient

Pediatric PM&R fellows spend up to 50% of their training months assigned to the pediatric inpatient service in C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. This includes management of inpatients and consult patients within a nationally ranked quaternary care center. During this time, fellows co-manage the service along with a PGY-2 or PGY-3 resident and an attending physician. Opportunities to participate in rounds and care conferences with other services, such as the pediatric intensive care unit, are encouraged. 

Outpatient

Fellows spend the remainder of their training months assigned to outpatient clinics. The Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation has a variety of multidisciplinary programs and clinics available for pediatric patients, some of which are listed here. Fellows have ample opportunities to participate in all of these clinics and more within PM&R. Additionally, the curriculum includes time in general pediatric clinics, pediatric palliative care, and many specialty clinics within Michigan Medicine. 

Continuity Clinic

Each fellow is scheduled for one to two half days per week in his or her own clinic at the Pediatric Rehabilitation Center. This provides the fellow with the opportunity to take primary responsibility for each patient’s rehabilitation care, while being staffed by a faculty member in pediatric rehabilitation.  

More Experiences

Fellows will have the opportunity to learn in settings outside of the health system, such as school clinics and a camp for children on home ventilation. Every effort will be made to tailor the program to suit the fellows’ specific interests while still maintaining focus on the core curriculum needs.  

Fellowship Interview Day  

Visiting Ann Arbor 

Your interview day will begin at the Pediatric Rehabilitation Center. A map to this location is available at the website below.
2205 Commonwealth Blvd
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
http://www.uofmhealth.org/our-locations/mott-pediatric-rehabilitation-center  

The nearest airport is Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW). More information about ground transportation can be found here.  

Several hotels are available near the Pediatric Rehabilitation Center. The Hampton Inn- Ann Arbor North and the Red Roof Plus Ann Arbor are both within walking distance. Lodging is not provided for applicants.  

What to Expect 

The interview day will include one on one meetings with our pediatric PM&R faculty members, a tour of the Pediatric Rehabilitation Center and C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, and lunch with current fellows. The day will conclude before 5pm. 

If interested in applying to this program, please submit an application through ERAS.
 
For more information about our program, please take a look at our candidate website here!
 
Questions/Comments? Contact:
Anna Johnson
Coordinator, Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Fellowship
University of Michigan
Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
325 E. Eisenhower, Suite 200
Ann Arbor, MI  48108-0744
(734) 615-6722 - phone
 

Current Fellows

Previous Fellows

Britney Papp, DO (2022)

Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wisconsin

Marianne Mousigian, MD (2021)

Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Ian Gonzales, MD (2020)

Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Saginaw, Michigan

Angeline Bowman, MD (2019)

University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Alecia Daunter, MD (2018)

University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Cristina Sanders, DO (2017)

Regional Health Neurology and Rehabilitation in Rapid City, South Dakota

Lisa Voss, DO (2016)

Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Hope Voto, DO ( 2015)

Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska