Program Overview
Brian Alverson, MD
Pediatric Residency Program Director
Vice Chair, Department of Pediatrics
Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware
Message From Dr. Brian Alverson, Program Director
Welcome to the Pediatric Residency Program of Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University/Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware. Thank you for your interest in our Pediatric Residency Program.
Our Hospital, Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware, began as a small orthopedic facility and it has grown to become a major health care provider for the mid-Atlantic region and beyond. The hospital is frequently recognized by US News and World Report as “among the best”. We are very fortunate to work at an outstanding, modern pediatric facility located in a beautiful setting. The hospital is dedicated to making children and families of all backgrounds feel comfortable and reassured whenever they need routine or sophisticated medical care. The hospital recognizes that its mission depends on the residents who care for the children, and we are most proud of those who train with us.
Our program offers a unique opportunity to work at a stand-alone, busy children’s hospital. We have providers for every specialty and we offer care to numerous healthy children and those with very complex, chronic illnesses. We know that pediatric residency can be difficult at times. The demands are great, the patients are complex. However, residency will also be stimulating and fun! We pride ourselves in our longstanding success at nurturing residents and supporting them through the good and difficult times of residency training. Our devoted team of educators and leaders will help you succeed no matter what personal or professional obstacles you may face. With daily interactive conferences, out of hospital retreats and direct care of patients, you will master all aspects of pediatric care. You will be carefully supervised and learn to manage a variety of patients with increasing autonomy as you progress in your training.
Our faculty are dedicated and enthusiastic teachers. You will have numerous opportunities to work closely with experts in their fields. Many are academic leaders in their specialties. Our general pediatricians are wonderful role models. Our superb specialists provide cutting edge medicine to those who need intensive care, bone marrow transplants, liver or cardiac transplants and other live-saving procedures. Our faculty will guide you if you choose to get involved in research projects or advocate for children in the communities we serve. You will get to know the faculty well, and many will even invite you to their homes for our monthly journal clubs!
Our patients are diverse and offer unmatched opportunities to learn. Since Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware is the only children’s hospital in the state of DE, we serve low-income families from the city of Wilmington, and more affluent families from the suburbs of Delaware and Pennsylvania. We also care for numerous children from nearby rural areas, who have an array of unique medical problems, including rare metabolic diseases, farm related illness and injuries and more. You will also have the opportunity to train at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, with patients from underserved communities of south and southwest Philadelphia. Finally, you will manage newborns at Jefferson, which has one of the busiest birthing centers on the east coast. Almost all of the patients in your Continuity Clinic are from medically underserved communities. You will also have opportunities to work with our global health experts and care for patients in many countries. The range of pathology and diversity that our program offers is truly astounding.
Our residents are superb. We have been very fortunate to attract residents from all over the United States. They recognize how important it is to work as a team. No one can get through 3 years of challenging pediatric residency without working well together. Your fellow residents will become your ‘second family.’ Our trainees always support each other and very much enjoy working together. They have fun here at the hospital and after work. They are a close-knit group that often gets together outside of the hospital, taking full advantage of all that Philadelphia and Wilmington have to offer.
Our graduates have gone on to achieve their goals in very rewarding careers. Our board pass rate exceeds the national average. About half of our graduates continue on for specialty training and match in outstanding fellowship programs all over the country. About half of our graduates enjoy satisfying careers as general pediatricians in offices and clinics in our region and beyond.
We hope you will consider joining us for your pediatric training. We are sure you will meet the challenges ahead and you will always know that you are supported and appreciated.
Brian Alverson, MD
Pediatric Residency Program Director
We have pooled the considerable resources of two major institutions to create exciting, high-quality programs in patient care, biomedical research, and, in particular, resident training. With the strong financial backing of Nemours, the broad patient bases of the Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware, and the rich academic heritage of Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University (TJU), we have developed a unique educational program. As you read the following information, we believe you will share our enthusiasm and excitement for our dynamic pediatric residency program.
About Our Program
Gain a wealth of experience working with nationally-recognized physician-educators in a variety of pediatric disciplines and with patients in hospital, clinic and private practice settings. You’ll receive exposure to several hospitals serving distinct communities:
- Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware, (primary teaching hospital) Wilmington, Del.
- Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa.
More Information
Our Pediatric Residency Program
Learn more about our program at Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware.
Curriculum by Year
We’re pleased to offer a truly unique pediatric residency program that combines the leading pediatricians and surgical specialists of the Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware with the outstanding academics of Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University (TJU).
The primary teaching hospital for the program is the Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware, located in Wilmington, Del. The other hospitals in the program are the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, just 30 minutes away in Philadelphia, and the Christiana Hospital, located right nearby in Newark, Del.
We accept 22 pediatric residents each year into the program. Throughout this 3-year training period, you’ll progressively gain more responsibility, not only in patient care but in the teaching and supervision of students, junior residents, and other health care professionals. And we offer the entire spectrum of pediatric medical and surgical subspecialties, with multiple physicians represented in each.
Curriculum by Year
Begin to Develop the Skills You'll Need
Begin to Care for Patients With More Complex Needs
Become a Manager and Educator
A Day in the Life
Here’s what you can expect, in general, when you come to Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware’s Pediatric Residency Program:
6:30-8:30 a.m. Sign-In & Bedside Work Rounds on Inpatient Units
The intern will get sign-out from the outgoing night team and then collect vital signs and examine each patient being cared for by their team.
8:30-9 a.m. Morning Report
The house officers and attendings will discuss an interesting case presented by an upper-year resident. This is one of the highlights of our program, as it always leads to great discussions between the house staff, general pediatric attending, and subspecialty attendings. The morning report also is well-attended by the faculty.
9 a.m. to noon Family-Centered Rounds & General Patient Care
Bedside rounding is performed on each patient and involves medical students, house staff, nursing staff, and families. Our computer order entry system and portable computers allow most orders to be entered while the team is rounding. However, there is time after bedside rounds to complete notes, call consults, and handle any other patient care-related work.
Noon to 1 p.m. Protected Teaching Conference
Faculty members from the general pediatric division and subspecialties present lectures to the house staff and medical students. Each month, the house staff also attends seminars on ethics, case conferences, and morbidity and mortality conferences during this one-hour time period. This time is protected for the residents’ education.
1-5:30 p.m. General Inpatient Care or Continuity Clinic
This time is for residents to perform any additional work on their patients and to admit new patients to the hospital. This is also a good opportunity for you to receive even more instruction, by speaking with consultants who may have been called in that morning.
One half-day per week each resident works in one of our five local primary care centers. During this time, residents provide acute and well-child care to a group of patients with whom they build a relationship over the 3 years they’re assigned to that center.
5:30 p.m. Sign-Out to the Night Team
Education
A variety of conferences, seminars, lectures and Grand Rounds add to your educational experience here at Nemours, depending upon your program of interest.
You’ll also be encouraged to pursue clinical research activities under faculty supervision.
Weekly Schedule for Formal Teaching
Teaching is the primary focus of our program. Each day you will have protected time to learn in a variety of ways both formally and informally. Conferences are teleconferenced to Thomas Jefferson University so that you will never miss an opportunity to learn.
Morning Report
Monday, Tuesday & Thursday mornings
Morning report is a case-oriented conference led and presented by an inpatient team, critical care team, or a resident assigned to a subspecialty. A morning report audience will include medical students, residents, fellows, general and subspecialty pediatric attending, and radiologists, all of whom come together to contribute to the learning environment. The Chief Residents follow up by researching the topics discussed and e-mailing links and articles.
Grand Rounds
Wednesday mornings
Grand Round lectures are presented weekly by faculty, as well as local and nationally known speakers on a variety of topics.
Chiefs Conference
The Chief Residents present conferences biweekly.
Evidence-Based Medicine
You’ll be mentored by our faculty members during your electives or as part of the Teaching Admitting rotation, leading to your presentation at a teaching conference.
Bedside Teaching Rounds
The supervising attending leads Daily Bedside Rounds — multidisciplinary rounds that include medical students, residents, fellows, social work, nursing, and parents. These are supplemented by monthly bedside teaching rounds with the Chief Residents.
Noon Conference
Daily conferences are scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. Over the course of three years all subspecialty divisions contribute to presenting the noon conference. Topics include basics of patient care, neonatology, genetics, pulmonary, emergency medicine, infectious disease, dermatology, allergy/immunology, endocrinology, adolescent/gyn, GI/nutrition, rheumatology, hematology/oncology, nephrology/urology, development, respiratory diseases, surgical subspecialties. Lunch is served daily. Pagers and iPhones are held by the residency office so you can concentrate on the topic presented.
Radiology Rounds
Radiology rounds occur daily. Teams meet with radiologists at appointed times to review studies for all patients on the team. The residents have an opportunity to ask questions and learn from the radiologists.
Monthly Conferences
Monthly conferences include Morbidity and Mortality, Ethics, Neurology, Hematology/Oncology, and Trauma.
Procedure Days
The program encourages residents to fine-tune their procedural skills by scheduling a procedure day for every resident. You’ll spend time with Day Medicine, phlebotomy, and sim labs. If interested, you may schedule additional time in the sim laboratory with an attending.
Board Review
Monthly board review sessions are offered at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware. Our residency program also works with Penn State Hershey Medical Center to offer a comprehensive three-day board review course in the fall. The conference is free of charge to our house staff.
Rotations
Adolescent Medicine
In this rotation, you’ll get training in the full range of adolescent general medical and surgical issues, including birth control, prenatal care and counseling, drug and alcohol abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, and adolescent mental health. You’ll see teenagers and young adults in community-based clinics, as well as high school and college health centers. You’ll also get exposure to the adolescent eating disorders and weight management programs at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware.
Ambulatory Pediatrics
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and the Ambulatory Pediatrics Unit at Wilmington Hospital (part of the Christiana Care Health System) are the educational centers for General Ambulatory Pediatrics. Between the two facilities, approximately 30,000 patients of all ages are seen annually for well-child care, acute illness, emergencies, and chronic conditions.
A large group of full-time pediatric faculty in the Division of General Pediatrics supervises resident education and clinical care. During all sessions, faculty members are available to counsel and advise residents and medical students. Following a daily conference or journal club, you’ll care for approximately four to six patients in each afternoon session. To develop teaching skills, as a senior resident you’ll function as a clinical preceptor for the medical students and junior residents.
Continuity clinics will give you longitudinal experience with your own panel of patients and take place at multiple sites, including Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Wilmington Hospital, Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware, and several of the Nemours primary care clinics. Because patients are primarily from lower socioeconomic groups, you’ll learn to manage problems typically associated with them. You’ll also assign patients cared for on inpatient, NICU, well-baby nursery, and ambulatory block rotations to continuity clinics.
In addition, you’ll spend week-long sessions in the offices of community-based pediatricians. This will give you the chance to care for suburban, urban, and rural patients in an office setting that’s a more realistic preparation for private practice than the traditional hospital clinic. Community pediatricians serve as excellent role models who can demonstrate how various legal, social, financial, and governmental factors affect a private office practitioner.
Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
During this rotation, you’ll work closely with developmental pediatricians, psychologists, and psychiatrists at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware. You’ll learn to differentiate between normal and abnormal behavior, administer and interpret basic developmental screening tests, identify learning problems and developmental delays, provide anticipatory guidance for families with common concerns related to development, and manage certain psychological problems and child abuse.
You’ll also be exposed to problems such as cerebral palsy, autism, learning, attention, and conduct disorders. Visits to preschool, elementary, and special-needs schools in the surrounding community will ground you in school readiness and community education resources.
Global Health Outreach
The residency program recognizes the value of learning pediatrics in unique environments. This includes practicing and learning among professionals in varied settings both nationally and internationally. Our residents have had the opportunity to experience how pediatrics is practiced in countries such as Haiti, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Nepal, Egypt, India, Australia, England, The Gambia, Honduras and many others.
We have a Global Health Outreach track available to interested residents. This track allows for dedicated Global Health academic and clinical time and the opportunity to travel abroad to apply what residents learn in the track. Residents will take part in clinical care in a number of different settings within the Nemours community (i.e. Adoption Clinic, Refugee Clinic, HIV Clinic, etc) and are expected to produce a Global Health academic product by the end of residency training. The Global Health residency track provides mentorship for participants and various opportunities to present clinical and academic work.
Every year, a group of trainees and faculty travel to a developing country to further the clinical and educational work being done in that location. Prior work has been focused on General Pediatric clinical care and the Helping Babies Survive program. We work to establish meaningful partnerships with healthcare systems to provide a lasting relationship for continued support once we return home.
Many residents will participate in an international experience and as part of their general outpatient rotations, residents will work in the Nemours Pediatric Refugee Clinic located on the Sidney Kimmel Medical College campus. There they will become the medical home for various populations seeking a new life in the United States.
The residency program schedule affords time to participate in such experiences. In addition, residents are encouraged to work with the Global Health advisors in developing an international experience of their own.
Inpatient Pediatrics
The inpatient curriculum at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is designed to give you broad-based experience in managing children of all ages with conditions that require hospital care. This experience combines exposure to general pediatric and subspecialty problems — the common as well as the rare — at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware.
You’ll gain experience with full-service inpatient programs in pediatric oncology, pediatric cardiology, sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis, renal dialysis and transplantation, infectious diseases, neuromuscular disorders, gastroenterology, rheumatology, asthma, diabetes, liver transplantation, and congenital heart disease, among others.
On daily rounds, you’ll learn from a team approach to family-centered patient care and interact directly with attending physicians. These dedicated pediatricians will assist you as teachers, advisors, mentors, and advocates, helping to foster interaction between you, other faculty members and ancillary staff.
Neonatology
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and the nearby Christiana Hospital are both regional high-risk perinatal centers, with large active neonatal intensive care units. Combined, there are 1,300 admissions annually. These state-of-the-art facilities, along with a recently developed surgical NICU at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware, share a fully accredited neonatology fellowship training program.
Ongoing research projects focus on ECMO, liquid ventilation, respiratory physiology, neonatal infectious disease, SIDS, fluid and electrolyte abnormalities, lipid metabolism, and the long-term effects of prematurity on neurologic development.
In addition to your work in the NICU, you’ll gain experience in the delivery rooms and with neonatal transport. Board-certified neonatologists and fellows carefully supervise our residents and make teaching rounds on a daily basis. You’ll be certified in the Neonatal Resuscitation Program at the beginning of your training.
Pediatric Critical Care
The PICU rotation takes place in the 22-bed unit at the Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware. PICU experience will expose you to a full range of acute medical and surgical problems, and will help you become skilled in important technical procedures, including life-support monitoring, respiratory therapy, and parenteral nutrition. You’ll gain practical experience with evidence-based medicine and access didactic sessions that include mechanical ventilator management, pharmacology of sedatives, analgesia, inotropes, vasopressors, and approach to the pediatric airway, etc.
You’ll participate in mock codes and learn to counsel parents of critically ill children. You’ll also become certified in Pediatric.
Advanced Life Support (PALS) at the beginning of your residency training. In addition, you can elect to participate in transports of critically ill children.
Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Emergency Medicine rotations are done at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware, which has a Level I Trauma Center (and the only pediatric trauma center in the state of Delaware) designed exclusively for the care of pediatric patients. The emergency department logs approximately 50,000 visits annually. It’s staffed by first-, second-, and third-year pediatric residents, and is supervised 24 hours a day by full-time faculty members who are board-certified in pediatric emergency medicine.
You’ll gain experience with a broad range of acute problems and frequent mock codes. Interactive conferences are held weekly, with special training sessions in various procedures. In addition, you’ll interact frequently with surgeons and subspecialists, and you’ll have the opportunity to become involved in emergency medicine-related research projects.
Pediatric Surgery
Upper-year residents rotate through many of the duPont pediatric surgery clinics, with pediatric surgery and surgical subspecialty attending physicians. We’ll encourage your exposure to routine operating room cases, as well as participation in all outpatient general surgery, urology, otolaryngology, orthopedics and ophthalmology clinics. You’ll benefit from frequent interaction with general pediatric surgeons and surgical subspecialists in our Emergency Department and all inpatient rotations.
Rehabilitation/Orthopedics
Before its major expansion in the 1980s, the Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware primarily served children with orthopedic and chronic conditions. Although the scope of the Hospital has broadened widely, it still maintains its excellence in long-term rehabilitative care. Here, the rehabilitation unit cares for children and adolescents with brain and spinal cord injuries, acquired central nervous system disorders, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, prosthetic limbs, postencephalopathies and other rehabilitation needs. You’ll be exposed to our interdisciplinary team management approach — in which physicians, nurses, and psychologists work together with speech, physical, occupational and child life therapists.
The Applied Science and Engineering Laboratories, one of the research departments at the hospital, is at the forefront of research in rehabilitation robotics, speech synthesis and other adaptive technologies. This allows a unique on-site interconnection between engineer, clinician and patient.
Resident as Teacher
The ACGME requires that pediatric residents be effective teachers and develop skills in the education of patients, families, students, residents and other health professionals. The RAT rotation is our effort to meet these goals. Highlights of the program include: learning specific strategies and techniques to improve teaching skills, opportunities to practice in real-time with direct observation and feedback, meeting with Kids Health, giving feedback during bedside rounds, and small group sessions with medical students and sub-I’s.
Subspecialties
We have a full complement of pediatric medical and surgical subspecialty faculty members with extensive teaching experience. A full-service pediatric cardiothoracic/cardiology program at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware includes 13 cardiologists and the cardiothoracic surgery team. The hospital also has skilled pediatric transplant team.
You’ll interact with subspecialists and surgeons while assigned to inpatient services during medical/surgical specialty rotations and elective rotations. In these rotations, you can choose from a wide variety of ambulatory clinic experiences.
Well-Baby Nursery
Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals and Christiana Care hospitals deliver more than 10,000 babies annually. You’ll work in the well-baby nurseries while on a rotation that’s separate from the NICU blocks.
Attending rounds and didactic conferences are held daily. In addition to managing routine newborn care, you’ll be given extensive experience in counseling parents about their newborns and providing anticipatory guidance. Lactation programs are available at both sites. Full-time, experienced pediatricians will supervise and teach you on this rotation, with additional support by lactation specialists.
Electives
- Advocacy
- Allergy
- Anesthesia
- Breastfeeding
- Cardiology
- Child Advocacy
- Critical care
- Dermatology
- Development
- Endocrinology
- Emergency Medicine
- Gastroenterology
- Genetics
- Hematology/Oncology
- Hospitalist Medicine
- Infectious Disease
- International Medicine
- Outpatient Clinic (at Jessup Street in Wilmington, Del.)
- Neonatology
- Nephrology
- Neurology
- Ophthalmology
- Orthopedics
- Otolaryngology
- Pain Management
- Pediatric Physical Medicine
and Rehabilitation - Psychiatry
- Rheumatology
- Rural Pediatrics
- Sedation
- Special Babies
- Transport Medicine
- Weight Management
Resident Life
Activities
In your time with us, you’ll find a range of social activities organized to make it easier for you to meet other residents, fellows or students. From dinners and socials to outings and informal get-togethers, we want you to feel welcome and part of the team.
The personal needs of our house staff are important to our faculty. For that reason, we include a variety of activities in our program such as overnight retreats, stress reduction and career planning seminars.
Wellness
Our goal is to ensure our residents are happy and healthy. In 2015, we started a resident wellness program that focuses on strengthening the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health of our residents. The wellness program includes dedicated wellness didactic lectures throughout the year, gratitude initiatives, and wellness activities including mindfulness and meditation, call-free resident events and retreats, increased access to mental health professionals, a pastoral care partnership, and ensuring each of our residents receives one extra personal day a year.
Retreats
Our program recognizes the need to train not only great clinicians, but also outstanding leaders and teachers in the field of pediatrics. In the spirit of Nemours’ commitment to growing leaders and improving work performance and personal development, we have developed a curriculum that will provide our residents with the skills essential to becoming leaders in the medical system. A series of retreats, at the PL1, PL2 and PL3 level helps accomplish this goal.
The intern retreat’s theme is Self Awareness, aiming to explore unique aspects of the individual and provide basic teaching tools in the context of understanding varying personality types. This retreat lays the foundation for team building.
The second year retreat focuses on The World Around Us: Interpersonal and Group Dynamics; exploring group dynamics and how individuals work within groups. The goal is to improve teaching skills in the context of group and interpersonal dynamics by stressing feedback training.
At the final retreat, the seniors work towards Leading and Growing Beyond Residency. The focus is on exploring the aspects of successful leadership, professional and personal development, relying on past experiential training.
All retreats last two days and are held at the beach or shore. They offer an opportunity for residents to come together as a class and to form deeper relationships.
In addition to overnight retreats, several additional one-day events occur throughout the academic year. These are planned to supplement and further the leadership and educational training curriculum. Others address specific issues, including patient safety, career planning, patients with terminal care issues, and preparing for new responsibilities that come with promotion to the next level.
Spring Fling
A yearly event, this is a residency-sponsored get-together to break the monotony of the winter. You’ll even help select the location and entertainment for this annual celebration.
Happy Hour
You can be take part in the coordination of frequent hospital-wide Happy Hours designed to build a sense of camaraderie among nurses, respiratory therapists and faculty.
Senior Dinner/End of Year Prom
A senior resident dinner is held for graduating residents and their significant others in May. There is a festive graduation ceremony for resident’s family and friends to celebrate their accomplishments in June. This ceremony is also attended by the hospital community.
Residents and attendings celebrate a successful year at a formal dinner dance in June.
Nemours Children's Commitment to Diversity
Being a resident at Nemours Children's means working and learning alongside some of the most respected health care professionals in the industry. The outstanding quality of our health care for children is dependent upon and strengthened by our diversity.
Regardless of race, color, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, age, religion, national origin, disability, veteran’s status, military leave, or other characteristics protected by applicable federal, state, or local law, we stand together in our dedication to the health and well-being of all children, embracing their diversity as well.
We are challenging ourselves to identify, discuss, understand and address racism and its impact on children’s health, and to correct systemic racism and any resulting inequities within Nemours. Nemours is committed to addressing the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) in this country and the impact these factors, including racism, have on the health of children.
The Sidney Kimmel Medical College/Nemours A.I. duPont Pediatric Residency Program is committed to recruiting a diverse group of residents and training them in high quality, culturally competent care. We wish for our workforce to reflect the diversity of the community we serve.
Through enterprise wide initiatives such as the Office of Health Equity and Inclusion (OHEI) and Diversity, Anti-Racism, Inclusion, Value and Equity (D.R.I.V.E.), Nemours works to partner with families and associates to create a more diverse and culturally sensitive experience.
Some ways in which Nemours and Sidney Kimmel Medical College are working to support diversity and inclusion among associates include:
Associate Resource Groups (ARGs)
The ARGs are associate-led groups of like-minded individuals who meet on a periodic basis to provide support, affiliation and drive change in their respective areas. Current ARGs are African Heritage, Adelante-Latino/Hispanic, Caregivers, Nemours Pride, and Women Leaders.
The Jefferson Alliance for Minority Health Professionals
The Jefferson Alliance for Minority Health Professionals (JAMHP) is a group that brings together faculty, researchers and resident physicians from underrepresented backgrounds across disciplines throughout the Jefferson community. The organization serves to foster an environment that is supportive and responsive to the needs of its members through mentorship, scholarly activity, professional and social networking. Through partnership with the Enterprise Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, JAMHP is aimed at supporting its members and expanding the diversity of Thomas Jefferson University. JAMHP will be instrumental in developing diverse leaders in the clinical, academic, and biomedical research arenas.
Sidney Kimmel Medical College Resident Affinity Groups
SKMC has created the following resident affinity groups to address Thomas Jefferson University’s needs for an inclusive environment, education, community outreach, mentorship (from faculty, of students) and camaraderie. They are connected to similar faculty and student groups to enhance the overall experience. Current resident affinity groups are: Black House Staff Association, Hispanic/Latinx House Staff Association, and Queer House Staff Association.
Hospital and Enterprise Wide Educational Opportunities
Classes in cross cultural learning and anti-racism are available for all associates. Interactive Town Halls addressing topics such as race and intersectionality are held monthly to continue the dialogue in addressing racism.
Curriculum Development
The Nemours Resident Wellness Committee is working to develop a resident curriculum addressing racism and diversity. This curriculum will be longitudinal and address topics to educate residents in how race, racism and social determinants of health impact our patients and our community.
The SKMC Office of Graduate Medical Education has established an anti-racism/bias curriculum that serves as the foundation to address unconscious bias, microaggressions, race and medicine and structural competency for the Jefferson resident.
Nemours URM Visiting Scholars Program
We have established a visiting scholars program for medical students who are pursuing a career in pediatrics and identify as members of racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population. This program allows for a month long rotation tailored to the specific interests of each student. Students receive individualized mentorship and meetings with pediatric residency leadership, along with a stipend to cover travel and living expenses. For more information and an application, please contact cindy.chuidian@nemours.org.
Advocacy Training Program
Service Training in Advocacy for Residents and Students
Jefferson Service Training in Advocacy for Residents and Students (JeffSTARS) is an advocacy educational program in collaboration with Sidney Kimmel Medical College (JMC) and the Department of Family and Community Medicine (FCM) of Thomas Jefferson University (TJU).
Become a Voice for Children
JeffSTARS is dedicated to teaching health advocacy to residents in the Pediatric Residency Program of TJU and Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware, residents in the FCM Resident Training Program at TJU, and medical students at SKMC.
Advocacy components of the program, incorporated into a required outpatient rotation:
Community Site Visits
During their outpatient rotation at Jefferson, pediatric residents and medical students visit community sites where they work on a number of public health issues, including youth violence, asthma, access to care for mothers and children, and immunizations.
Our volunteer community partners include:
- The Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
- The Clean Air Council
- Maternity Care Coalition
- Philadelphia Physicians for Social Responsibility
- The Maternal, Child and Family Health Division of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health
- The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program For Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in Philadelphia, administered by NORTH, Inc.
Advocacy Journal Clubs
Informing Advocacy Through Medical Literature
In 1848, Dr. Rudolf Virchow wrote a report citing social conditions as the source of typhus in Prussia. The report angered public officials, but helped bring about change — as did Dr. John Snow’s famous treatise in 1854 that traced a cholera outbreak to a single water pump in London. The history of health advocacy has been to document public health issues through data-driven, action-oriented publication.
The monthly Advocacy Journal Club covers a health advocacy article from a peer-reviewed journal at the start of the Jefferson outpatient rotation.
Articles typically address issues related to advocacy and public policy around a major child health topic, and the social determinants of health. Participants critically review the article and discuss related health policies and individual and community advocacy action steps.
Advocacy Café
Meeting to Make a Difference
The Advocacy Café is a weekly small group session that brings students, residents, faculty and visiting professors together to discuss major public health topics, such as childhood asthma obesity.
Residents and students come prepared to discuss a related case, organization, article or bill, and exchange ideas about potential policy changes and solutions.
Sharing and reflecting on health topics and personal experiences are such important aspects of advocacy that both the Advocacy Café and the Advocacy Journal Club are integrated into the required outpatient and elective rotations.
The Café and Journal Club have been made possible thanks to the dedicated faculty of the Division of General Pediatrics at Jefferson and volunteer and guest lecturers, including Michael Campbell, Esq., from Villanova University School of Law and David Paul, MD, from the Department of Neonatology at Christiana Hospital.
Health Topic Resources
The following resources are available to assist health professionals and residents become effective health advocates for children's health in the clinical setting and the community.
- Asthma Prevention
- Breastfeeding
- Child Abuse Prevention
- Childhood Obesity
- Children with Special Health Care Needs
- Conflicts of Interests
- Dental Health
- Ethnic Disparities
- Foster Care
- Health Literacy
- Immigrant Health
- Media Violence
- Public Programs
- Reading Readiness
- Tobacco Cessation
- Vehicle Safety
The JeffSTARS program also includes a longitudinal component. As part of the resident Continuity Clinics, case-based presentations focus on local and national resources available to help families.
Advocacy and Community Partnership Elective
In this elective, fourth-year medical students and second- and third-year residents spend 50% of their time working with a community organization on a mutually agreeable project, 30% of their time in clinical care, and 20% in a seminar series that teaches practical skills in advocacy, such as preparing a fact sheet and meeting with legislators.
JeffSTARS
Empowering the Next Generation of Health Advocates
Our goal is to transform the institutional culture at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and the Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware making advocacy a core part of educating residents and students.
JeffSTARS trains residents and medical students to understand and promote health advocacy by:
- Providing an opportunity to approach clinical care with a “trained eye”
and new understanding of how public policy affects the lives and health
of patients. - Modeling and teaching skills for effective and life-long advocacy, including building relationships with and listening to community members.
- Demonstrating the power of stories to engage the media and public.
- Helping identify strategic policy issues and solvable policy problems, and incorporating advocacy into clinical practice and professional development.
- Offering hands-on experience in a local advocacy project conducted with a seasoned community organization and mentor.
The JeffSTARS curriculum was launched in 2009, thanks to a grant from Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) Residency Training Funds and the Community Pediatrics Training Initiative (CPTI) of the American Academy of Pediatrics. In 2009 the project was extended through the support of a three-year grant from Columbia University's Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP) via the Advocacy Education and Training Initiative Grant.
Core faculty members include Drs. James Plumb and Marc Altshuler from the Department of Family and Community Medicine (FCM) at Sidney Kimmel Medical College and Dr. J. Lindsey Lane, former Pediatrics Director of Undergraduate Medical Education.
Integrating advocacy and community opportunities into a required pediatric outpatient rotation helps create an experience that medical students and pediatric and FCM residents can apply to other clinical settings, including the resident continuity clinics. JeffSTARS also provides an intensive elective offering for medical students and pediatric and family medicine residents.
From individual advocacy to social activism, JeffSTARS seeks to empower trainees by giving them the experience, skills, and tools they need to be strong and effective advocates for their patients.
Community Involvement
Many events are organized by second- and third-year residents and carry on a tradition of service. From volunteering at the Delaware Children's Museum to teaching children and their families about nutrition and exercise at a local school, our residents have an impact on the local communities.
We’re also heavily involved in advocacy in the community.
Asthma Day
Asthma Day is a popular annual fall event hosted by the pediatric residents at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware which provides education and awareness about asthma. Events include: free flu shots, an “asthma bus”, tables about asthma triggers/smoking prevention/asthma physiology/medications/etc. A prevention rapper, “Ain’t No Puff Daddy” performs.
Orange Street Clinic
Pediatric residents participate in the practice and management of our Orange Street Clinic, which was established by the Jefferson pediatric residents to help the underserved children of our area. At Orange Street, residents and volunteer attendings provide a bi-weekly clinic in the Salvation Army Women and Children's shelter. Children at the clinic are seen for acute problems, receive routine immunizations, have follow up for chronic health concerns, and get referrals for ongoing health concerns. The residents also manage the clinic by organizing the staffing schedules, acquiring the medications and supplies, and arranging follow up. Overall, it has been a wonderful success for the community and our residents.
JeffHOPE
JeffHOPE is an organization run entirely by the students of Sidney Kimmel Medical College that provides health care services to the underserved throughout Philadelphia. JeffHOPE runs five weekly clinics, two at women & children's shelters, two at men's shelters, and one alongside a needle exchange site. Jefferson residents play a significant role staffing these clinics, educating students, and providing for the needs of the underserved. Many students and residents volunteer in the evenings or on weekends. JeffHOPE is one of the oldest free care clinics in the United States.
Salary & Benefits
House Staff Salaries
- PL1: $61,341
- PL2: $63,261
- PL3: $65,840
Educational allowances may be used for books, work-related clothing, computer equipment, travel and board exams.
- PL1: $1,000
- PL2: $1,000
- PL3: $2,000
Meals
Educational allowances may be used for books, work-related clothing, computer equipment, travel and board exams. Travel is covered by the program for residents presenting at conferences.
Other Benefits
- Parking at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware and Christiana Care is free. Parking at Jefferson is discounted.
- Free membership to on-site gym, open 24 hrs, 7 days a week. A personal trainer is also available.
Train With Recognized Leaders
If you’re looking for a rewarding program built on academic excellence and family-centered care, Nemours offers outstanding medical, surgical, pharmacy, nursing, therapy and psychology programs. Train with faculty who are respected leaders in their fields, a patient care model that stands apart and access to groundbreaking research.
Meet Our Clinical Leadership
Meet Our Program Faculty
Meet Our Participants
Research Opportunities
- As a university program, the Residency Program has tremendous external support for research. Currently, the Departments of Pediatrics at the three integrated hospitals receive funding for more than 50 research projects, totaling in excess of $9 million annually. Last year alone, more than 215 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters were published by the combined pediatric faculty.
- As a resident, you’ll be encouraged to pursue clinical research activities under faculty supervision. Financial support specifically for resident research projects is available from Nemours. In recent years, several of our residents have made presentations at national scientific meetings and have had papers accepted for publication.
- Even if you aren’t involved in research, you’ll be expected to be able to critically evaluate published medical literature. Journal clubs and computer programs teach research study design issues, evidence-based medicine, and the basics of biostatistics.
Apply Today
Application Requirements
2. Personal statement
3. Board Scores
4. Three letters of recommendation
5. Dean's letter
6. Transcript
Note: Letter from the Chairman is not required.
Questions About Applying?
Heather Klosowski
Program Coordinator
(302) 651-5570
heather.klosowski@nemours.org
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