Education

The UCSF Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program is a 3-year, ACGME-accredited training program. Our mission is to train the future leaders in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, emphasizing four pillars:

• Clinical excellence
• Research and scholarship
• Structured mentorship
• Dedication to education

Clinical Excellence

Clinical rotations take place at the two campuses of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital: UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. At the San Francisco campus, fellows rotate through a 20-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and an 18-bed Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. At the Oakland campus, fellows rotate through a 23-bed mixed medical and surgical Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

In all three units, PCCM fellows are part of the primary ICU care team and are actively involved in the management of all patients. Fellows see the complete spectrum of pediatric diseases requiring intensive care, including patients undergoing cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, solid organ transplant, bone marrow transplant, and VA- and VV-ECMO. All subspecialty services are represented; areas of excellence include congenital heart surgery, pulmonary hypertension, neurocritical care, trauma, sickle cell disease, and acute lung injury/ARDS, in particular in immunocompromised children.

Research and Scholarship

Our fellowship program offers extensive opportunities to develop expertise in an area of scholarship. We define scholarship broadly - fellows have focused on basic science, translational, and clinical research; medical education research; systems science; informatics; global health; and other areas. For those interested in a 4^th year dedicated to scholarly work, funding opportunities exist through the divisional NIH T32 training grant. This mechanism also allows interested fellows to complete advanced degrees such as a master’s degree in clinical research, medical education, or public health. Our fellowship program has an outstanding track record of training successful academic physicians: the majority of our graduates obtain academic positions and a high percentage secure NIH grant funding after training.

Structured Mentorship

Mentorship has a fundamental role in our training program. Each fellow is assigned a career advisor early in fellowship to help with choosing a project and mentor. All pediatric fellows at UCSF participate in Fellows’ College, a professional development program with seminars offered throughout the year. Fellows may present to the national Research Training in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (RTPCCM) Network and receive feedback and advice from leaders in our field at other institutions. This network was founded by our division at UCSF to support training of physician scientists in pediatric critical care medicine, and organizes quarterly web-based meetings as well as an annual session at the Pediatric Academic Society meeting.

Dedication to Education

We have created a structured educational program that aims to expand knowledge and  prepare fellows for life-long, self-directed learning. This includes dedicated weekly lectures focused on PCCM core topics, simulation-based learning, journal club, case-based discussions, and fellow-led M&M conferences. Fellows have multiple opportunities to develop their own teaching skills, including teaching residents rotating through the ICU, acting as small group instructors in the residency simulation curriculum, and through teaching workshops offered by the UCSF Center for Faculty Educators.