Overview
Thank you for your interest in the Cleveland Clinic Children's Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship! Our 2-year, ACGME-accredited fellowship is one of the most established in the country. The program exposes future pediatric hospitalists to both common and complex medical conditions in a culture of evidence-based quality, safety and wellness.
Why choose Cleveland Clinic Children’s?
Cleveland Clinic has cared for children since opening its doors in 1921, and our history of pediatric caregiving has blossomed into Cleveland Clinic Children’s. Cleveland Clinic Children's is consistently ranked as one of the Best Children's Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report.
Our Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship was established in 2012 and received ACGME accreditation in 2020. Fellows are integral members of our team, and we strive to provide high-quality, dynamic education throughout fellowship. Our goal is for fellows to graduate with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to pursue a life-long fulfilling career.
Fellowship mission statement
The mission of our fellowship program is to provide advanced clinical and non-clinical training to encompass broad and evolving opportunities for academic pediatric hospitalists. These skills include, but are not limited to, a strong clinical acumen, collaborative and compassionate practice, leading and teaching a multidisciplinary team and contributing to the future of medicine through research and quality improvement.
Fellowship aims
Our fellowship program aims to train fellows in:
- Providing safe, effective, compassionate and holistic management of the spectrum of pediatric disease in a team-based learning environment.
- Incorporating critical thinking and evidence-based medicine into the care of hospitalized children.
- Developing expertise in medical education, research, quality improvement and leadership.
- Refining skills that support life-long learning and a fulfilling career in pediatric hospital medicine.
Fellowship training sites
Pediatric hospital medicine fellows work closely with our experienced team of over 30 pediatric hospitalists and 20 advanced practice providers at Cleveland Clinic main campus, Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital for Rehabilitation and Fairview and Hillcrest hospitals, our two community hospitals. We take pride in the diversity of experiences that we offer through these sites.
The fellowship's primary clinical setting is at Cleveland Clinic Children’s main campus, a high-volume tertiary referral center. Our PHM department aims to be a leader in family experience, quality of care, operational processes, scholarly activity, medical education, and provider wellness within the children’s hospital.
At our community hospitals, fellows see patients on the inpatient wards, intermediate care unit, newborn nurseries, and newborn deliveries. Fellows also consult on the inpatient psychiatry unit, see patients on the intermediate care unit, and care for adolescents with eating disorders. Our fellows gain full exposure to full array of clinical experiences of a pediatric community hospitalist.
Just minutes away from Cleveland Clinic Main campus, Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital for Rehabilitation affords fellows a unique clinical experience as the only pediatric rehabilitation hospital in Northeast Ohio. Fellows work with patients in multiple inpatient service lines, including intensive rehabilitation, complex medical care, and multidisciplinary pain management.
We offer a myriad of opportunities for both clinical and nonclinical elective rotations to support individual interests. Examples include anesthesia and procedures, integrative medicine, simulation, informatics, infectious diseases, medical operations, inpatient psychology, inpatient psychiatry, medical education, clinical pharmacology, bioethics, radiology, surgery, and palliative care. Fellows can also develop new electives to explore evolving career goals.
Diversity & Inclusion
We believe that diversity enriches our teams. Our fellowship program values and welcomes individuals of diverse backgrounds, interests, and experiences in an inclusive and team-based learning environment. Similarly, our faculty represent broad backgrounds, interests, and roles, mirroring the diversity of the greater Cleveland Clinic.
- Explore diversity at Cleveland Clinic.
- Learn about Cleveland Clinic's culture.
- Diversity and Inclusion in Cleveland Clinic Graduate Medical Education..
We welcome your questions! Please reach out any time.
Dana Foradori, MD, MEd
Associate Program Director
foradod@ccf.org
How to Apply
At Cleveland Clinic Children's, we welcome candidates with diverse interests and experiences. We match fellows based on qualification, regardless of race, ethnicity, visa status, gender, sexual preference, marital status, physical or mental disability or pregnancy.
Cleveland Clinic's Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement
The Pediatric Hospital Medicine fellowship is currently seeking applicants for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Applications are accepted through ERAS from early July through early August 2024 and must include the following:
- CV
- Personal statement (not to exceed 500 words)
- Three (3) letters of recommendation (one by residency program director)
- USMLE or COMLEX scores
- ECFMG certificate, if applicable
Application review will begin July 2024. Interviews will be offered on a rolling basis beginning in August 2024. Interviews will be conducted September-October 2024.
For more information, please reach out at anytime to:
Dana Foradori, MD, M.Ed
Associate Program Director
foradod@ccf.org
Alice Ewida
Administrative Program Coordinator II
ewidaa@ccf.org
Benefits & Resources
Vacation
- 15 vacation days per academic year.
- Additional paid time off for 2 major holidays and 2 minor holidays per year.
- 5 board preparation days in PGY-4.
- 5 career preparation days in PGY-5.
- Generous parental and family leave policies.
Conference attendance
Fellows may apply to attend the AAP Section on Hospital Medicine Fellows’ Conference. Additionally, up to $2,500 for travel and logistical support is provided to each fellow once per year when presenting at a regional or national meeting.
Insurance
Cleveland Clinic offers comprehensive and competitive medical, vision, and short-term disability insurance coverage. Learn more.
Salary
As a trainee, you are compensated at the graduate level required to enter your fellowship program, regardless of the past training experience. Learn more.
Paid fees
- Ohio Medical Licensure
- PALS and NRP
- Cleveland Clinic lab coats and scrubs
- Food allowance for on-call shifts
Additional benefits*
- iPhone, which is also used for work-related communication and library access.
- Annual educational stipend for training-related materials.
- Free, confidential, and unlimited counseling through the Cleveland Clinic Caring for Caregivers program.
- Discounted annual on-site Pediatric board review course.
- Moonlighting opportunities at Cleveland Clinic sites.
- Access to a weekly on-site farmer’s market spring through autumn.
- Multiple on-site dining options to support dietary restrictions and preferences.
- Access to Cleveland Clinic fitness facilities.
- Annual fitness grants through the Cleveland Clinic House Staff Association.
- Opportunities for engagement in quality, safety, professional development, and diversity and inclusion events through the Cleveland Clinic House Staff Association.
- Partner and child engagement events through the Cleveland Clinic House Staff Spouse Association.
- Cleveland Clinic discounts (dining, computers, entertainment, and more).
- AAP membership as training fellow (including PREP Hospital Medicine access).
Curriculum
Cleveland Clinic Children's provides a unique community for career development, education, and foundations of research, leadership, quality improvement, and personal growth. Our program balances structured, advanced clinical experiences with individualized flexibility to meet fellows’ needs and interests.
Fellowship highlights include:
- Seminars on leadership, communication, and career development.
- Distinguished Trainee Educator Certification through the Cleveland Clinic Education Institute Essentials Program for Health Professions Educators.
- Coursework in research fundamentals at Case Western Reserve University.
- Research support staff and mentors for consultation through our research center.
- Mentored peer abstract and workshop reviews of national conference submissions.
- Numerous opportunities for resident and medical student education (see below).
Clinical experience
Fellows gain ongoing clinical experience that reflect diverse career opportunities in PHM. Rotations are completed across:- Cleveland Clinic main campus: Tertiary PHM and subspecialty electives. On the PHM service, fellows lead an interprofessional team that includes pediatric residents, acting interns, medical students, pharmacists, pharmacy students, a social worker, and a discharge coordinator. Fellows routinely engaged with medical and surgical subspecialists to create comprehensive care plans for patients with high complexity and acuity.
- Fairview and Hillcrest hospitals: community pediatric hospital experiences. Both sites include pediatric wards, newborn nursery, and delivery attendance. At Fairview Hospital, pediatric hospitalists also serve as primary caregivers for patients on the intermediate care unit and consultants on the pediatric psychiatry unit. At Hillcrest Hospital, pediatric hospitalists are the primary providers for patients on the PHM service, as well as patients with eating disorders. Fellows work closely with nurse practitioners, pediatric and family medicine residents, and medical students.
- Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital for Rehabilitation (elective): One of the few freestanding pediatric rehab hospitals in the US and home of the first pediatric specialty pain rehabilitation program in the world to be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). Fellows see patients on all inpatient service lines, including acute rehabilitation, complex medical care, pain rehabilitation, and the minimally aware program. Fellows work in an interprofessional team of hospitalists, physiatrists, nurse practitioners, nurses, respiratory therapists, dieticians, pharmacists, social workers, care managers, speech language pathologists, and occupational, physical, and recreational therapists. Learn more about this unique facility.
Curricular highlights
| Concentration | Weeks in PGY4 | Weeks in PGY5 |
|---|---|---|
| Research Training | 4 | - |
| Research, Education and Scholarship | 12 | 16 |
| Clinical (Tertiary and Community hospital wards, Nursery, Pediatric Emergency Medicine) | 16 | 16 |
| Individualized curriculum and electives* |
16 |
16 |
*Electives are based on individual interests, with the opportunity to design new elective experiences, as needed.
Didactic education & resources
Fellows learn side-by-side with faculty and pediatric fellows throughout training.
- PHM conferences:
- Fellow-led clinical case conferences (mentored).
- Fellow-led journal clubs and “top articles” presentations (mentored).
- Board Learning in Groups (BLING): expert-led sessions focused on ABP content specifications for PHM.
- Reflections about Practice (RAP): expert-led quarterly sessions focused on humanism in medicine and provider well-being.
- Professional and Academic Development (PAD) conference: monthly meetings featuring local and national academic speakers and a PHM-focused educator development series.
- Department Business Meeting: monthly meetings discussing administrative topics. Examples include billing, coding, and quality improvement initiatives, such as early discharge initiative and the PHM wellness project.
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Pediatric Fellows Core Curriculum: monthly shared learning among all subspecialty fellowships. Examples of topics include quality improvement, leadership, mentorship and coaching, professionalism, wellness, ethics, job search, and CV building. Sessions also provide an opportunity to form relationships with other pediatric subspecialty fellows.
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Advanced healthcare communication training through Cleveland Clinic R.E.D.E. to Communicate® courses.
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Online training opportunities in health systems science, including courses on implicit bias, healthcare policy, informatics, and emotional intelligence.
Numerous specialty-specific conferences are also available based on the fellow's interests.
Committee Involvement
Fellows are encouraged to contribute to administrative committees to explore their interests. Committee examples include patient safety, EHR steering committee, quality council, bioethics, and patient experience.
Fellows as Educators
Fellows have broad opportunities for involvement with mentored teaching for medical students and residents through didactic, bedside, and simulation-based teaching. Additional educator development opportunities include the Cleveland Clinic Distinguished Trainee Educator certification, simulation educator workshop, medical education electives, debriefing resident mock codes, teaching resident lectures, mentoring 2nd year medical students in the Acute Care Preceptor Program, and co-leading the Pediatric clerkship orientation.
Scholarly Activity
Each fellow completes one primary mentored scholarly project and additional projects as time allows. Our faculty provide expertise in medical education, quality improvement, and clinical research. We work closely with fellows to identify additional research mentors within Cleveland Clinic Children’s and the greater Cleveland Clinic based upon interests.
Our research curriculum begins with 4 weeks of half-day research training at Case Western Reserve University. During this time, fellows also orient to the clinical learning environment and brainstorm scholarly projects. Fellows work with the research director to solidify project ideas, identify a research mentor, meet with a statistician, finalize a project proposal, and develop a scholarly oversight committee. The research director and project mentor guides the fellow through IRB review, data acquisition and analysis, and scholarly output planning.
Each fellow is required to comply with the ABP fellows' scholarship activity. We offer world-class resources to our fellows to achieve scholarly requirements.
Mentorship
Our program believes that fellows benefit from supportive mentorship circles, which expand throughout fellowship. Former fellows routinely keep in touch with mentors after graduation.
Our PHM faculty mentors have broad interests, leadership experience, and ongoing faculty development in medical education, quality, patient safety, research, medical operations, simulation, palliative care, Medicine-Pediatrics, and wellness. Fellows begin to identify mentors during the first month of fellowship, when they meet one-on-one with faculty to become acquainted with each other’s backgrounds and roles. Fellows later select a primary fellowship mentor and are encouraged to identify additional mentors within the division, Cleveland Clinic, and national PHM community.
Throughout the fellowship, fellows meet monthly and as needed with their PD/APD to discuss fellowship progress, as well as evolving career goals.
Opportunities through Cleveland Clinic Graduate Medical Education (GME)
As a large, world-class training institution, Cleveland Clinic GME supports additional training opportunities for fellows, such as an administrative elective, educator skill development, safety training, and career guidance.
Collaborating with the National Pediatric Hospital Medicine Community
We encourage fellows to engage with the national PHM community. Prior fellows have collaborated on multi-institutional workshops, webinars, special interest groups, listservs, and publications through the Academic Pediatric Association, American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Hospital Medicine, Society of Hospital Medicine, and Pediatric Academic Societies.
Fellows
Current Fellows
Jessica Boerner, MD, PGY-4
Residency: Children's Mercy Kansas City, Kansas City, MO
"Throughout my medical training, I feel like I've always struggled to decide exactly what I want to specialize in, and for me the beauty of pediatric hospital medicine is that you get a little bit of everything! There is variety not only among the patients we see and treat, but also within other aspects of clinical work like medical education, clinical informatics, research, global health, etc. I've always been passionate about medical education, but during residency, I realized my list of professional interests kept growing. I'm excited to use my fellowship experience to learn more about opportunities within quality improvement and clinical informatics. I look forward to starting my career in PHM and seeing where it takes me!”
Current projects:
- Teaching Telephone Triage: A National Needs Assessment of Pediatric Resident Education and Experience with Admission & Triage Calls
- Who is My Child's Main Doctor?: Caregiver Perceptions of Teaching Teams
Awards:
- Pediatric Fellow of the Month for Sept 2023 and Feb 2024
Catherine "Catie" Brown, MD, PGY-5
Residency: West Virginia University, WVU Medicine Children's Hospital, Morgantown, WV
"I love the variety of patient experiences that come through the pediatric hospital medicine service-- from observational visits for minor illnesses, to new diagnoses, to management of chronic illnesses. I'm excited to continue to grow my knowledge and experience with high quality inpatient care over the next few years in fellowship. I'm also excited to learn more about the other "hats" that hospitalists commonly wear. I hope to use my background as a chief resident expand my understanding of hospital administration, systems-based practice, quality improvement and medical education. I look forward to the opportunities to come!"
Current projects:
- The Association of Pain and Psychosocial Factors on Hospitalization for Children with Severe Neurologic Impairment Admitted for Irritability of Unknown Origin
- Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Learning for third year medical students
- Multidisciplinary case report: A neurological conundrum: Motor Neuron disease in a patient with syndromic features
- Case report: Can exclusive nut milk diets cause encephalopathy?
- Co-author on two chapters in upcoming PHM High-Value Care textbook
Awards:
- Distinguished Educator Level 1 Certificate
- Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine Educator Award 2022-2023
- Scholarship in Teaching award 2023: Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Learning for third year medical students.
- Cleveland Clinic Children's Caregiver Celebrations awards
- Excellence award in teamwork, June 2023 and January 2024
- Excellence award in empathy, October 2023
- Excellence award in teaching, April 2023
- Excellence award for appreciation: Code Leadership, November 2022
- Excellence award for appreciation: Handoff, October 2022
Recent Graduates
We are thrilled to announce a 100% PHM board pass rate for graduated fellows who took the PHM boards at their initial offerings in 2019 and 2022!
Michael "Cory" Lever, MD - 2023 Graduate
Current Employment: Pediatric Hospitalist, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Jennifer Kaczmarek, MD – 2022 Graduate
Current Employment: Pediatric Hospitalist, Cleveland Clinic Children's
Marc Miller, MD – 2021 graduate
Current Employment: Pediatric Hospitalist, University of Chicago
Chionye Ossai, MBBS – 2020 graduate
Current Employment: Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Emory University, Pediatric Hospitalist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Cory Henson, MD – 2019 graduate
Current Employment: Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, Fellowship Program Director, Children’s Hospital of San Antonio
Jane Im, MD – 2018 graduate
Current Employment: Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Frank Netter School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University, Pediatric Hospitalist and Medical Director of Interoperability, Connecticut Children’s
Oloruntosin “Tosin” Adeyanju, MD – 2017 graduate
Current Employment: Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Co-Director of MS4 Capstone Course, Associate Pediatric Residency Program Director, Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine
Prabi Rajbhanadri, MD – 2016 graduate
Current Employment: Associate Professor of Pediatrics at North Ohio Medical University, Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship Program Director and Division Lead for Quality Improvement, Akron Children's Hospital
Tatiana Gurevich Panigrahi, MD – 2015 graduate
Current Employment: Board Certified in General Pediatrics and Hospital Pediatrics, Akron Children's Hospital at Wooster
Justen Aprile, MD – 2014 graduate
Current Employment: Assistant Professor for Pediatrics and Humanities, Penn State University, Associate Pediatrics Residency Program Director, Penn State Health Children's Hospital
Additional examples of scholarly activity during our fellowship:
- Medical education
- Resident perceptions of their role as student educators.
- Residents-as-teachers educational curriculum.
- Does implementation of resident sign-out tool decrease PMETs and SERS?
- Clinical research
- What's your plan? Evaluating the use of a written asthma action plan prior to hospitalization for asthma exacerbation.
- Pediatric Hospitalist Evaluation and Management of Unexplained Agitation and/or Irritability in Children with Severe Neurological Impairment.
- Informatics
- Association of Parental Use of Patient Portals with Breastfeeding Rates in Infants.
- Quality improvement
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Improving documentation of inpatient problem list in Electronic Health Record: a quality improvement project.
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Cleveland Clinic Children's fellows have received several awards such as Cleveland Clinic Distinguished Educator, Cleveland Clinic Excellence in Teaching, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine Educator, Cleveland Clinic Caregiver Celebrations, and Case Western Reserve University Scholarship in Teaching awards. Fellows have presented locally, regionally, and nationally and have published in peer-reviewed journals.
About Cleveland
Located approximately 2 miles from the Cleveland Clinic campus, downtown Cleveland features a host of cultural and recreational attractions for an ethnically diverse mid-sized city. Many of Cleveland's neighborhoods such as Ohio City, Tremont, Lakewood, and Cedar-Fairmount are overflowing with cultural heritage, as well an eclectic offering of restaurants and nightlife.
Take advantage of all this beautiful city has to offer! Champion sports teams, culture, museums, an internationally renowned orchestra, and the largest theater district outside NYC. Take advantage of all this beautiful city has to offer! The food scene is outstanding, with multiple James Beard award-winning restaurants. Outdoor activities are plentiful, with an extensive citywide metro park system and lakeside activities. There really is something for everyone here in Cleveland.
Building a local community
Fellows develop relationships with their co-fellow, faculty, nurse practitioners, and administrative staff in the division of pediatric hospital medicine. In addition, our Cleveland Clinic Children’s fellows meet and network with each other during orientation and throughout the longitudinal common fellowship curriculum. The Cleveland Clinic House Staff/Spouse Association also offers opportunities for networking and socializing with trainees throughout Cleveland Clinic Graduate Medical Education.
Fellows also develop relationships with other pediatric hospital medicine fellows through regional conferences, national conferences, and virtual professional development series through the AAP Section on Hospital Medicine. Fellows are also invited to PHM social events and Children’s Institute Great Outdoors events.
