Education

Clinical training for Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (PCCM) fellows takes place at the two UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital locations in San Francisco and Oakland. Across the two sites, fellows are exposed to a broad spectrum of pediatric critical care medicine, including pediatric trauma, solid organ transplantation, and congenital heart surgery.  

Over 35 pediatric intensive care faculty members provide supervision and are committed to fostering an environment to best train fellows in clinical, technical, communication, and professional skills. The program encourages fellows to progress to independence and gradually increase their responsibilities in patient care, teaching, and supervision.   

The fellowship accepts applications through ERAS and participates in the national residency matching program (NRMP) through the annual fall subspecialty match.  

For more information about the fellowship program, contact our program manager, Kaitlin Zazueta or our fellowship director, Mindy Ju, MD. 

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, particularly 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 4th 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, as most 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. 

Program Director 

Mindy Ju, MD, MEd 
Fellowship Program Director 
[email protected] 

Associate Program Directors

Martina Steurer, MD, MAS 
Associate Program Director 
[email protected] 

Paul Kim, MD 
Associate Program Director for UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland 
[email protected] 

Shan Ward, MD, MAS  
Associate Program Director for Research 
[email protected] 

Division Chief 

Jeff Fineman, MD  
Chief, Division of Critical Care 
[email protected]  

Program Coordinator

Kaitlin (Clancey) Zazueta, MHA
Pediatric Fellowship Manager 
[email protected] 

 

First Years:

Sarah Dittmer, MD 

Training Dates: 2024-2027 
Residency: Medical College of Wisconsin 
Research Project: TBD 
Research Mentors: TBD 

Lisa Grossman-Liu, MD, PhD 

Training Dates: 2024-2027 
Residency: UCSF 
Research Project: TBD 
Research Mentors: TBD 

Reed Hausser, MD 

Training Dates: 2024-2027 
Residency: UCSF 
Research Project: TBD 
Research Mentors: TBD 

John Hwang, MD, MS 

Training Dates: 2024-2027
Residency: UCLA 
Research Project: TBD 
Research Mentors: TBD 

Gabriela Sauza, MD, MA 

Training Dates: 2024-2027 
Residency: Seattle Children's 
Research Project: TBD 
Research Mentors: TBD 

Second Years:

Rezvaneh Ghasemzadeh, MD 

Training Dates: 2023-2026 
Residency: UCSF Oakland 
Research Project: Looking at structural connectivity metrics (topology) in the postop scans compared to preop metrics in cardiac ICU patients.
Research Mentors: Dr. Jeff Fineman, Dr. Martina Steurer, Dr. Shabnam Peyvandi

Chelsey Johnson, DO, MPH 

Training Dates: 2023-2026 
Residency: Christiana Care/Nemours Children's Hospital 
Research Project: Looking into the barriers surrounding medically complex patients transferring between pediatric ICU to adult ICU. 
Research Mentors: Dr. Megumi Okumura, Dr. Lekshmi Santhosh, Dr. Duncan Henry

Abigail McRea, MD 

Training Dates: 2023-2026 
Residency: University of North Carolina 
Research Project: Analyze how adherence to sepsis protocols impacts outcomes in pediatric patients in a low resource setting. 
Research Mentors: Dr. Teresa Kortz, Dr. Theodore Ruel, Dr. Anneka Hooft 

Eesha Natarajan, MBBS 

Training Dates: 2023-2026 
Residency: Yale New Haven Hospital 
Research Project: Studying a flock of heterozygous BMPR2 sheep created by breeding a gene-edited male heterozygous for BMPR2 with wildtype females, to evaluate the cardiopulmonary phenotype in lambs following a “second hit” in a sensitized, BMPR2 heterozygous background. 
Research Mentors: Dr. Sanjeev Datar, Dr. Jeff Fineman, Dr. Martina Steurer, Dr. Elena Amin  

Third Years:

Lindsey Austin, MD 

Training Dates: 2022-2025 
Residency: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center  
Research Project: Determining the barriers to implementation of the ETAT tool for identifying children with critical illness upon ER arrival in LMIC hospitals  
Research Mentors: Dr. Teresa Kortz, Dr. Deb Franzon, Dr. Nicolas Glomb, Rebecca Silvers 

Erica Evans, MD 

Training Dates: 2022-2025 
Residency: UCSF  
Research Project: Comparison of BAL and nasal swab microbiome in immunocompromised children
Research Mentors: Dr. Matt Zinter, Dr. Lena Winestone, Dr. Mary Prahls 

Arianna Griffin, MD 

Training Dates: 2022-2025 
Residency: University of Nevada Las Vegas 
Research Project: Factors that promote a positive educational alliance around feedback between trainees who identify as belonging to a marginalized group, and supervisors/teachers who do not 
Research Mentors: Dr. Duncan Henry, Dr. April Edwell, Dr. Arianna Tehrani 

Nicole Lopez Perez, MD  

Training Dates: 2022-2025 
Residency: Riley Hospital For Children  
Research Project: <SDoH and end of life> 
Research Mentors: Dr. Emily Morell, Dr. April Edwell, Dr. Anda Kuo 

James Perucho, MD 

Training Dates: 2022-2025 
Residency: Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York  
Research Project: Caregiver experience after ICU discharge in complex care patients 
Research Mentor: Dr. Duncan Henry, Dr. Jeff Edwards, Dr. Megie Okumura 

Fourth Years:

Jess Huang, MD 

Training Years: 2021-2025
Residency: UC Davis  
Research Project: Examining the Association Between Acute Kidney Injury During Diabetic Acidosis and Future Risk of Microalbuminuria and Identifying Outcome Disparities in Children with Type 2 Diabetes  
Research Mentors: Shylaja Srinivasan, MD, Nicole Glaser, MD, Alison Nair, MD, Naomi Bardach, MD 

Stephanie Tsoi, MD 

Training Years: 2021-2025
Residency: UCSF 
Research Project: Evaluating the typical course of PPHN  
Research Mentors: Jeff Fineman MD, Roberta Keller, MD, Shan Ward, MD 

 

• UCSF Graduate Medical Education Resident and Fellow Resources Page
• Well-Being and Mental Health Resources for Residents and Fellows 
• UCSF Office of Diversity and Outreach 10^th Anniversary Video  
• Day in the Life as a PCCM Fellow (2022)