Neonatology and Perinatology

Application Deadline

October 1

Length of Program

3 years

Program Start Date

July 5

Number of Positions Available

5

Overview

The Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine (NPM) Training Program of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center provides fellows with the comprehensive training they need to become outstanding, compassionate neonatology clinicians, skilled researchers, and confident educators. The program is tailored to each individual’s interests and career goals, offering opportunities for scholarship through a wide range of activities. Graduates of our program go on to advance the field throughout their careers through leadership, research, and education.

Clinical Care

The clinical experiences available to our fellows expose them to a wide variety of neonatal problems and conditions and the full range of severity of illness. Fellows are responsible for all patients on the clinical service and develop expertise in managing neonates with any medical and surgical diagnosis. Our unique Infant Cardiac Intensive Care Unit provides fellows opportunities to manage patients with congenital heart disease throughout their initial hospitalization, both before and after surgical intervention. Through our excellence in neonatal respiratory management, fellows learn to provide care in a manner that leads to minimal long-term complications. For the sickest patients we provide extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support when traditional management is not sufficient. Fellows are integral members of the medical and surgical teams who care for all of our patients.

Research

All fellows develop a substantive individual research project and complete a scholarly product that will add to the general knowledge of their subject area and advance their academic career. Fellows are encouraged to develop a clinical, translational, or basic science research project based on their unique interests and career goals. Each fellow works with a mentor who will guide him or her through the project, and there are many opportunities for fellows to present their research at local and national meetings. The curriculum also includes activities and workshops designed to provide a background understanding of evidence-based medicine, statistical methods, as well as support for manuscript writing, grant preparation, and presentation skills. Through these activities fellows develop the skills needed for a successful academic career and for life-long learning.

Education

Throughout the program fellows have opportunities to teach other healthcare professionals with different levels of experience, and fellows are integral to the training of pediatric residents and medical students who rotate through our NICU. They learn effective communication skills that are useful in interactions with other team members and with the families of our critically ill patients.

Fellows work in multidisciplinary teams to improve our systems of healthcare delivery and ensure a safe practice environment. Every fellow participates in quality improvement projects within the NICU and participates in the patient safety activities of our unit. Fellows also practice and share their own activities that create balance in their lives and promote long-term personal well-being. From the first day of the training program, fellows are critical members of our neonatal intensive care community.

Benefits

Residents are employees of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and affiliated with Columbia University Irving Medical Center. With these affiliations come many benefits!

How to Apply

Applications to our fellowship are processed through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) system. Materials are accepted starting in July for fellowship positions beginning the following year. Those who wish to apply must be board eligible or board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics. Please note that a completed application includes:

  • Completed ERAS forms
  • Three letters of recommendation, including one letter from the applicant's department chairman or residency director
  • Curriculum vitae
  • Personal statement
  • Additional information, such as USMLE transcript and photo, are recommended

Acceptances to the fellowship are made through the Pediatric Specialties Fall Match of the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP). Please refer to the NRMP website for details about the match submission deadline.

Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital are equal opportunity employers; applications from women and minorities are encouraged. Please note that Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital do not sponsor H1B visa trainees.

Contact

Cynthia Abreu
Program Coordinator
212-305-8500
ca176@cumc.columbia.edu

Current Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellows

  • Wendi Gu, MD

    • Third-Year Fellow

    Residency: McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University
    Dr. Wendi Gu completed medical school at University of California, San Francisco and residency at Northwestern – Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. Her research interests revolve around social determinants of health and health-equity focused QI, as well as improving neurodevelopmental follow-up care for NICU graduates. She enjoys hiking, being outdoors in general, attending live music shows and eating at all of the wonderful diverse restaurants New York has to offer!

    photo of Dr. Wendi Gu
  • Toni Iurcotta, MD

    • Third-Year - Chief Fellow

    Residency: Cohen Children’s Medical Center
    Dr. Toni Iurcotta completed medical school at Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and residency at Cohen Children’s Medical Center/Northwell Health. She is interested in strategies to optimize neonatal sleep to improve neurodevelopmental outcomes. In her free time, she enjoys reading novels and solving crossword puzzles.

    photo of Dr. Toni Iurcotta
  • Jisha Jose, MD, MPH

    • Third-Year Fellow

    Residency: Baylor College of Medicine
    Dr. Jisha Jose completed medical school at Paul L. Foster School of Medicine in El Paso, Texas and residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She is interested in neonatal palliative care and improving shared medical decision making in complex medical patients. She enjoys dancing, exploring new restaurants and rooftops in the city, and loves to travel!

    photo of Dr. Jisha Jose
  • Qais Karim, MD

    • Third-Year - Chief Fellow

    Residency: New York Presbyterian Hospital – Columbia
    Dr. Qais Karim completed medical school at New York Medical College and residency at New York-Presbyterian – Columbia. His scholarship interests include social determinants of health, equity-focused quality improvement (EF-QI), and medical education. In his free time, he enjoys trying new restaurants, going to the movies, Broadway shows, and concerts.

    photo of Dr. Qais Karim
  • Danielle LoRe

    • Third-Year Fellow

    Residency: New York Presbyterian Hospital – Columbia
    Dr. Danielle LoRe completed medical school at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. She completed pediatric residency at New York-Presbyterian – Columbia. Her research interests include ethics and counseling regarding resuscitation options for extremely preterm infants. In her free time, she enjoys going out to eat and going to the park with her daughter.

    photo of Dr. Danielle LoRe
  • Catherine Austin, MD

    • Second-Year Fellow

    Residency: McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University
    Dr. Catherine “Caty” Austin completed medical school at Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. She completed residency in Chicago at Northwestern Medicine Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. In addition to clinical neonatology, she is interested in healthcare operations and systems management.

    photo of Dr. Catherine Austin
  • Eliza Gentzler, MD

    • Second-Year Fellow

    Residency: New York Presbyterian Hospital – Columbia
    Dr. Eliza Gentzler completed medical school at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City and completed pediatric residency here at New York Presbyterian – Columbia. Her research interests include using data collected from bedside monitoring to predict clinical decompensation or neurological injury. On days off, she enjoys running, exploring New York City restaurants, and hanging out with her two cats.

    photo of Dr. Eliza Gentzler
  • Nicholas Puoplo, MD

    • Second-Year Fellow

    Residency: Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai
    Dr. Nicholas “Nick” Puoplo completed medical school at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York, prior to completing residency at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Nick is interested in connecting basic science research to clinical neonatology, specifically regarding nutrition and gastrointestinal development. When out of the hospital, Nick enjoys spending his time running, snowboarding or indoor rock climbing.

    photo of Dr. Nicholas Puoplo
  • Julia Vickery, DO

    • Second-Year Fellow

    Residency: Loma Linda University
    Dr. Julia Vickery completed medical school at the University of North Texas - Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. She then completed her pediatrics residency at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital in Southern California. Julia is interested in cardiac neonatal intensive care and congenital heart disease and her current research focuses on NEC in the premature congenital heart disease population.

    photo of Dr. Julia Vickery
  • Teddy John Wohlbold, MD, PhD

    • Second-Year Fellow

    Residency: New York Presbyterian Hospital – Columbia
    Dr. Teddy John Wohlbold completed medical school at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where he also obtained a PhD in microbiology studying influenza virology and vaccine design.  He then matched here into the New York-Presbyterian Columbia Integrated Research Pathway where he completed his pediatric residency.  He is currently researching the development of infant natural killer cells in the laboratory of Emily Mace, PhD.

    photo of Dr. Teddy Wohlbold
  • Etze Chotzoglou, MD

    • First-Year Fellow

    Residency: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
    Dr. Etze Chotzoglou completed medical school at Hacettepe University School of Medicine in Ankara, Turkey. She completed her pediatric residency training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. She is interested in clinical and translational research studying neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, neonatal chronic lung disease, pulmonary hypoplasia, and their long-term outcomes. 

    photo of Dr. Etze Chotzoglou
  • Shaoxin Lu, MD

    • First-Year Fellow

    Residency: Northwestern/Lurie Children’s Hospital
    Dr. Shaoxin Lu completed medical school at University of Mississippi School of Medicine. She completed her pediatrics training at Baylor/Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, TX. She then completed a Pediatric Palliative Medicine fellowship at Northwestern/Lurie Children’s Hospital prior to coming to Columbia for NICU. She is interested in perinatal counseling, periviability, complex decision making.

    photo of Dr. Shaoxin Lu
  • Ami Patel, MD

    • First-Year Fellow

    Residency: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
    Dr. Ami Patel completed medical school at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and did her pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is interested in QI initiatives targeting sepsis and hospital-acquired infections in neonates, in addition to POCUS. When she’s not working, Ami enjoys reading, going for long walks exploring various NYC neighborhoods, and trying new restaurants!

    photo of Dr. Ami Patel
  • Micha Thompson, MD

    • First-Year Fellow

    Residency: New York Presbyterian Hospital – Columbia
    Dr. Micha Thompson completed medical school at Weill Cornell Medicine where she led the student-run Women's Community Clinic, and she was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha society. She then went on to do her pediatric residency training at New York Presbyterian - Columbia Medical Center where she stayed on as chief resident. Dr. Thompson's interests are in neurodevelopment and improvement in healthcare systems and care delivery.

    photo of Dr. Micha Thompson
  • Megan Tagerman, MD

    • First-Year Fellow

    Residency: New York Presbyterian Hospital – Columbia
    Dr. Megan Tagerman completed medical school at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans. She then returned home to the Northeast for pediatrics residency at Columbia. During her time as a resident, her passion for neonatology grew and she gained clinical research experience in the field of neonatal sepsis. She chose to stay on as a neonatology fellow at Columbia with hopes of building a career in academic neonatology.

    photo of Dr. Megan Tagerman