Orthopedic Center | Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery Fellowship
Application deadline
September 30, 2020
Number of fellows accepted each year
Three fellows are selected to train in our program each year.
Clinical experience and training
The Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center at Boston Children’s Hospital provides an unparalleled, ACGME-accredited fellowship program. Our center has a long history of academic and clinical innovation and excellence. Established over a century ago, the Orthopedic Center is one of the nation’s preeminent centers for the care of children with a wide variety of musculoskeletal disorders. We prepare our fellows for leadership roles in general and pediatric orthopedics.
Boston Children’s Hospital has consistently been ranked as one of the top pediatric hospitals in the nation and continues to be the desired pediatric referral center both nationally and internationally.

James Kasser, MD, works with a patient at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Faculty
- Benjamin Shore, MD, MPH, FRCSC, Program Director
- Peter Waters, MD, Orthopedic Surgeon-in-Chief
- Megan Anderson, MD
- Donald Bae, MD
- Andrea Bauer, MD
- Craig Birch, MD
- Melissa Christino, MD
- Mary Dubon, MD
- John Emans, MD
- David Fogelman, MD
- Mark C. Gebhardt, MD
- Megan Hannon, MD
- Daniel Hedequist, MD
- Carrie Heincelman, MD
- Benton Heyworth, MD
- Grant Hogue, MD
- M. Timothy Hresko, MD
- Lawrence Ira Karlin, MD
- James Kasser, MD
- Young-Jo Kim, MD, PhD, MHCM
- Mininder Kocher, MD, MPH
- Dennis Kramer, MD
- Susan Mahan, MD, MPH
- Travis Matheney, MD, MLA
- Collin May, MD, MPH
- Matthew Milewski, MD
- Michael Millis, MD
- Donna Nimec, MD
- Eduardo Novais, MD
- Samantha Spencer, MD
- Brian Snyder, MD, PhD
- Ana Ubeda Tikkanen, MD, PhD
- Carley Vuillermin, MBBS, MPH, FRACS
- Colyn Watkins, MD
- Kiriaki Claire White, MD
- Yi-Meng Yen, MD, PhD
Clinical training
The curriculum of the Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery Fellowship is broadly divided into two blocks. During the first six-month block, fellows learn the clinical and operative management of trauma and hip, spine, lower extremity, and neuromuscular disorders. During the second six months, fellows are encouraged to tailor their curriculum and educational experience to their future endeavors and interests.
On a weekly basis, fellows have a combination of didactic and case-based learning sessions from 6:30 to 7 each morning.
- Monday: Fellows case-based lecture series (fellows only)
- Tuesday: Core lecture series (residents and fellows)
- Wednesday: Program director update (fellows only)
- Thursday: Journal Club, Chief’s Conference and M&M Rounds (residents and fellows)
- Friday: Indication rounds (residents and fellows)
During the second half of the year, fellows take on extra responsibility in teaching some of the Tuesday sessions and running some of the Friday indication conferences.
Additional conference opportunities include:
- High Risk Spine Conference — review upcoming high-risk cases
- Hip Conference Meeting — review upcoming hip cases and new consults
- Cerebral Palsy & Spasticity Conference — review cases for multimodal treatment
- Sports Medicine Indications Conference and Hand and Upper Extremity Case-based Fellows Conference
Fellows have a full week shared between clinic and operating room responsibilities. A half day a week is reserved for research and administrative duties. Fellows also run a trauma clinic one evening a week on a rotating schedule. Evening and weekend call is 1 in 3 from home. Orthopedic residents in-house take primary call for emergency room and inpatient consultations. Fellows do participate in operative management of trauma cases over the weekend.
Rotation structure
Fellows will have maximum exposure in the areas of congenital deformities, growth disorders, spinal surgery, neuromuscular disease, and trauma.
Each fellow will spend four months on each of the orthopedic surgical teams within the department. There is also significant exposure in subspecialty areas of pediatric hand and upper extremity, sports medicine, and oncology. Through rotation on these teams, orthopedic fellows gain a broad experience in both operative and non-operative treatment of pediatric orthopedic conditions.
Additional fellow responsibilities
In addition to the responsibilities noted above, fellows will cover newborn consults at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Patient populations
Boston Children’s is a referral center for the Northeast. Patients come from the neighboring states of New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Connecticut, and New York. We also have a wide national and international referral center, drawing complex cases from around the world.
Research opportunities
Fellows will have broad support from our Clinical Effectives Research Center (CERC) to help them complete their projects during their year at Boston Children’s, including support in the form of IRB generation, research design, database management and statistics. Fellows will participate in one quality improvement project as well as at least one additional clinical research project associated with their subspecialty interest. Fellows will present their research at our annual research day at the culmination of their fellowship year.
Lectures and conferences
- Fracture Conference
- Fellows’ Conferences
- Core Curriculum Conference
- Orthopedic Grand Rounds
- Journal Club
- Chief’s Conference for Case Presentation
- Longwood Orthopedic Grand Rounds
- Surgical Indications Conference
- Annual David Grice Lecture
- Annual Marino Lecture
Benefits and salary
Fellows will receive standard PGY-VI salary and benefits.
Past fellows and current appointments
2018-2019
- Craig Birch, Boston Children’s Hospital
- Emily Cidambi, Rady Children’s Hospital
- W. Taylor Dodgen, Cook Children’s
- Kemble Wang, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
2017-2018
- Timothy Borden, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
- Thierry Pauyo, Shriners Hospital for Children — Canada
- Colyn Watkins, Boston Children’s Hospital
2016-2017
- Kathryn Fuchs, Shriners Hospital for Children — Portland
- Jill Larson, Lurie Children’s Hospital
- Sami Mardem-Bey, Wake Orthopaedics
Application process
This fellowship is open to those who have completed an ACGME/ACGME-I accredited residency (or Canadian equivalent) in Orthopedic Surgery.
Our next available fellowship vacancies are for the 2021-22 academic year. Interested candidates should submit an application through the San Francisco Match no later than September 30, 2020.
Contact information
For additional questions please contact our fellowship coordinator:
Samantha Hallice
Samantha.Hallice@childrens.harvard.edu