Residency

Ranked best in the region by U.S. News & World Report, the residency program at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) and NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital (MSCH) has 26 trainees per residency class and is the largest program in the New York metropolitan region. We are not only the major provider of primary care for the largely Latinx community of Washington Heights but also the major referral hospital for the greater New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut region.

Our residency program provides trainees with a broad foundation in pediatrics consisting of:

• Inpatient and critical care
• Exposure to one of the highest case mix indices in the country
• Depth and breadth of pediatric medicine and surgical specialty services
• Community-based continuity outpatient care
• Resident wellness

Program Director Steve Paik, MD, captures the underlying values of the program in this excerpt from his letter to potential applicants:

We work in a culturally rich and diverse community in NYC. We are committed to providing the highest quality care to every person who walks through our doors. We aim to provide the highest level of training and to include residents as active participants and drivers of the learning process. Fundamentally, we are a community and we are a family. As such, we learn from each other and teach each other. We respect and advocate for each other. We advocate for our patients and community at large together. We take care of each other in times of need as much as we take care of our patients.

Addressing Structural Racism

This past year, our pediatric residents developed an anti-racist credo to clarify their support of the continued work that is necessary to overcome systemic racism.

Ambulatory Care and Community Pediatrics

Our outstanding Community Pediatrics Program is a model of joint academic-community partnerships and serves children in the Washington Heights–Inwood community. The three-year service-learning experiential curriculum is based in the community and anchored around the connections between social determinants of health, race, socioeconomic status, and disparities.

Residents are assigned to one of four hospital-affiliated or neighborhood-based combined faculty and resident group practices, where they:

• Serve as the primary care provider for a panel of patients at a weekly continuity clinic
• Provide care for well children and children with special health care needs
• Work with a variety of community agencies
• Rotate through the adolescent ambulatory clinic, affiliated school-based clinics, and our Young Men’s Clinic for adolescent and young adult men
• Attend conference series, with topics including:
  • Population health
  • Social determinants of health 
  • Health disparities
  • Legislative advocacy coordinates with the resident-driven Columbia Pediatric Advocacy Program (CPAP) 

Research

Our learners have opportunities to pursue diverse and enriching experiences in research, advocacy, quality improvement, medical education, community pediatrics, and global health. All residents are required to participate in clinic site-specific quality improvement projects as well as a faculty-mentored scholarly project and to present their research at the annual resident scholarly project forum. Second- and third-year residents have the option of designated research time one morning per week or completing a research elective rotation. Many residents publish their work in peer-reviewed publications and present at national and international meetings. In 2019, nine residents were primary presenters for posters, platforms, and workshops at PAS.

Pediatrician-Scientist Training and Development Program (PSTDP)

Launched in 2019, the Pediatrician-Scientist Training and Development Program (PSTDP), led by Kara Gross Margolis, MD, provides talented MDs or MD/PhDs committed to both research and pediatrics with comprehensive, personalized training. The program accepts one resident each year and provides more than 11 months of completely protected research time. Participants are able to work in any lab at CUIMC and have an individualized advisory committee that supports their matriculation through residency. Current resident investigators include:

• Teddy Wohlbold, MD, PhD, inaugural PSTDP resident, PGY2
• Ananthi Rajamoorthi, MD, PhD, PGY1

After Graduation

Graduates are exceptionally prepared for their next career steps, whether it be as primary care providers, pediatric medicine hospitalists, subspecialty fellowship training, educators, or physician-scientists.

Class of 2020

Recent Resident Publication Highlights

Resident Wellness

Our resident-driven wellness committee and residency program as a whole are devoted to improving resident well-being and work-life balance through organized activities throughout the year, including in-hospital and out-of-hospital activities and a yearly class retreat.