The University of Michigan Pediatric Surgery Research Fellowship is designed for trainees interested in pursuing a career in academic medicine. Fellows focus on analysis of health care outcomes, database analysis, quality improvement, cost effectiveness of care, and clinical trials for pediatric surgical conditions, especially appendicitis, congenital anomalies, inflammatory bowel disease, and extracorporeal life support (ECLS/ECMO). Our research fellows are usually between their 3rd and 4th year of surgical residency or have completed their training in General Surgery and want to focus on getting into a Pediatric Surgery Fellowship.
Fellows are expected to coordinate multi-center studies, to complete several research publications (goal of 5 first author/year), and to present at national (e.g., APSA, AAP, ACS, ASC) and regional (e.g. Michigan ACS, Moses Gunn, Michigan Trauma) meetings. Formal training includes courses at the University of Michigan CSCAR, or IHPI in biostatistics, survey design, clinical trials, or quality improvement.
There is a research conference for fellows twice a month where various topics in pediatric surgery and clinical research are discussed. Fellows are closely mentored by Faculty Pediatric Surgeons on their projects and are given multiple opportunities throughout the year to present their findings to an internal group of surgeons for feedback. It is extremely common at University of Michigan to build collaborations with research fellows from several disciplines to complete clinical research projects. Many of these projects ultimately have led to independent funding from foundation, industry, private donor, university, or government sources.
