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. 

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

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

Paul Kim, MD 
Associate Program Director for BCH Oakland 
[email protected] 

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

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

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

 

 

First Years:

Rezvaneh Ghasemzadeh, MD 

Training Dates: 2023-2026 
Residency: UCSF Oakland 
Research Project: TBD 
Research Mentors: TBD 

Chelsey Johnson, DO, MPH 

Training Dates: 2023-2026 
Residency: Christiana Care/Nemours Children's Hospital 
Research Project: TBD 
Research Mentors: TBD 

Abigail McRea, MD 

Training Dates: 2023-2026 
Residency: University of North Carolina 
Research Project: TBD 
Research Mentors: TBD 

Eesha Natarajan, MBBS 

Training Dates: 2023-2026 
Residency: Yale New Haven Hospital 
Research Project: TBD 
Research Mentors: TBD 

Second 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 

Third Years

Youssef Ahmed, MBBS 

Training Years: 2021-2024 
Residency: Suny Health Science Center at Brooklyn 
Research Project: Evaluating pulmonary artery hemodynamics in congenital heart disease 
Research Mentors: Sanjeev Datar, MD, PhD and Jason Boehme, MD, David Teital, MD 

Keren Aime-Marcelin, MD, MPH 

Training Years: 2021-2024 
Residency: Tulane University Hospital 
Research Project: Trauma informed feedback and medical education in Black trainees
Research Mentors: April Edwell, MD, Duncan Henry, MD, Rosney Daniel, MD 

Carter Biewen, MD  

Training Years: 2021-2024 
Residency: UCSF Oakland 
Research Project: Pediatric ARDS in resource limited settings  
Research Mentors: Teresa Kortz, MD, MS, Shan Ward, MD 

Jess Huang, MD 

Training Years: 2021-2024 
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: 2021-2024 
Residency: UCSF 
Research Project: Evaluating the typical course of PPHN  
Research Mentors: Jeff Fineman MD, Roberta Keller, MD, Shan Ward, MD 

Fourth Years

Aaron Bodansky, MD 

Training Years: 2020-2024 
Residency: CHOP 
Research Project: Novel Autoantibody Discovery in Kawasaki Disease (KD) and Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome-Children (MIS-C)  
Research Mentors: Joe DeRisi, MD, Mark Anderson, MD, Matt Zinter, MD, Michelle Hermiston, MD 

Meesha Sharma, MBBS, MPH  

Training Years: 2020-2024 
Residency: Albert Einstein Medical Center 
Research Project: Racial disparities in pediatric ECMO outcomes  
Research Mentors: Jeff Fineman, MD, Martina Steurer, MD 

Michael Smith, MD 

Training Years: 2020-2024 
Residency: UCSF  
Research Project: Sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with tracheostomy insertion and mortality in tracheostomy-dependent children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia  
Research Mentors: Martina Steurer, MD, Roberta Keller, MD, Jeff Fineman, MD 

 

• UCSF Graduate Medical Education Resident and Fellow Resources Page
• Well-Being and Mental Health Resources for Residents and Fellows 
• UCSF Diversity  
• Day in the Life as a PCCM Fellow (2022)