Pediatric Residency

Overview of the Program

The pediatric residency program at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School prepares residents for any specialty in pediatrics whether in private practice, academic medicine, or a sub-specialty, accomplished through a comprehensive educational experience and broad exposure to clinical pediatrics. The Department of Pediatrics is housed within the Child Health Institute of New Jersey, the cornerstone of the children's academic health campus adjacent to the institute’s research facilities, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, and PSE&G Children's Specialized Hospital, both of which are part of RWJ Barnabas Health. Together, they form a unique partnership of world-class institutions representing an exciting opportunity for collaboration and improved pediatric care. 

Program Highlights

  • Residents are involved in the direct care of pediatric patients, both outpatient and inpatient; on the children’s hospital’s general floor and intensive care unit; and from primary to tertiary care
  • Protected learning time for academic half-day, morning reports, case conferences and grand rounds
  • UpToDate and Lexicomp access
  • Medical school library with extensive electronic resources
  • Our program transitioned to the X+Y curriculum in July 2022
  • Clinical training complemented by a curriculum designed to develop the skills a pediatrician requires, as a patient advocate, educator and researcher
  • Membership in the American Academy of Pediatrics with access to pedialink learning center
  • New England Journal of Medicine pediatric board preparation program
  • Emphasis on individualized curriculum

Reasons for Choosing Robert Wood Johnson Pediatric Residency Program

  • An integrated program utilizing a university hospital and an academically oriented community hospital.
  • Busy clinical services with a large variety of patients.
  • All pediatric subspecialties represented on the full-time faculty.
  • Graduated responsibility and independence.
  • Wide diversity of outpatient experience, including primary and subspecialty care.
  • Excellent ancillary staff
  • Faculty dedicated to giving their patients state of the art and compassionate medical care, and to instill these qualities in students and residents.
  • Supportive environment with open relationships between residents and faculty.
  • Regional Children's Center offering care across the entire clinical spectrum
  • Stimulating case conferences.
  • Nationally renowned Institute for the Study of Child Development and Boggs Center.
  • Research opportunities and support.
  • Professional, dedicated nursing and ancillary staff who work collaboratively with pediatricians.

Residency and fellowship programs training at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School benefit from the resources and interprofessional opportunities available through the Rutgers Health institutional sponsorship. Learn more about all of the Rutgers Health sponsored graduate medical education programs on our sponsoring institution webpage.

Headshot of Simon Li

Our program is unique in that we are centralized in a strong Children’s Health campus where you can explore your various interests. The partnerships between the Department of Pediatrics of RWJMS and Child Health Institute of New Jersey, Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, and PSE&G Children's Specialized Hospital along with the many partners of Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health opens a door of exploration to many career paths.

Simon Li, MD

Interim Chair and Professor Department of Pediatrics

Who We Are

  • Simon Li, MD
    Interim Chair and Professor
    Department of Pediatrics

    Joann Carlson, MD
    Associate Professor of Pediatrics
    Residency Program Director
    joann.carlson@rwjms.rutgers.edu

    Thank you so much for visiting our website! We are so excited to share with you the highlights of our residency program. As the world around us is changing, we are ready to face the new challenges of residency training and building virtual learning curriculums. Our main goal continues to be to train excellent, well-rounded, and dedicated pediatricians.

    My favorite part of our program is certainly the people. We have amazing faculty in all of the subspecialties who are not only astute clinicians but also incredible educators who love to teach. We also are so lucky to have extraordinary residents. Our residents continue to impress me throughout their training with their dedication to their patients, to learning and to each other. It is privilege to both teach and mentor them. We see their hard work paying off when they become true leaders in both general pediatrics and the subspecialities. Our graduates are one of the best ways to measure our program’s success. Please review our website but I encourage you all to contact us for more information and any questions you have. I am thrilled to be the program director and hope through this website you can start to see why I love being a leader in the residency program at RWJ/Rutgers. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you!

    Natalie Torres-Feliz, MD
    Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
    Associate Program Director

    Welcome to our website! We are so excited to share with you all the exciting opportunities that we have in our program. We have a diverse resident physician population that reflects the population that we care for in the New Brunswick area. Our close knit team of attending physicians are able to form close working relationships with resident physicians. One of the strong points of our program is the group of physicians and nurses that make this program a close-knit and welcoming learning environment. I look forward to discussing with you all more about how we provide inclusive patient care and graduate strong, well-rounded pediatricians.  

    Joanne Edwards Algranti
    Residency Program Coordinator
    jde59@rwjms.rutgers.edu

    Mona Matta
    Residency Program Coordinator
    mona.matta@rwjms.rutgers.edu

  • Chief Residents

    Photo of Pediatric Residency Chiefs 2024
    Photo of 2024 Pediatric Residency Interns

    PGY-1 Residents

    • Kristina Beluskov, DO - Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran Patel School of Osteopathic Medicine
    • Leigh Ann Nicole Boyle, MD - Rutgers NJMS
    • Saakshi Ramesh Daswani, MD - Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland 
    • Erica Levin, MD Rutgers - RWJMS
    • Iswarya Manivannan, MD - Sidney Kimmel College at Thomas Jefferson University
    • Bao-Nghi Nguyen, MD - Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
    • Lawrence Paffini, MD - New York Long Island School of Medicine
    • Jessenia Palacio-Meadows, MD - Rutgers NJMS
    • Alyssa Shannon, DO - Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine-Middletown
    • Abir Thakur, MD - Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University
    • Kristin Upton, DO - Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine
    PGY1 Residents - Pediatrics Residency

    PGY-2 Residents

    • Darlene Ashamole, MD - Howard University School of Medicine
    • Simren Chotai, MD - Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
    • Michaela Creus, MD - New York Medical College
    • Lalita Ganti, MD - Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
    • Shayna Glassberg, DO - Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine
    • Mona Khan, DO - Rowan University College of Osteopathic Medicine
    • Konstandina Kokinakos, DO - Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine
    • Anmol Kundlas, MD - USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
    • Charles Li, MD - SUNY-Upstate School of Medicine
    • Anthony Poltronetti, MD - Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
    • Aline Sandouk, MD, PhD - University of Iowa College of Medicine
    PGY2 Residents - Pediatrics Residency

    PGY-3 Residents

    • Katherine Briski, MD - New Jersey Medical School
    • Sameera Chaudhry, MD - New Jersey Medical School
    • Jordana Gross, MD - New York Medical College
    • Adam Halpern, DO - Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine-New York
    • Axel Ivander, MD - Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
    • Bahaaeldin Labib, MD - Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland-Medical University of Bahrain
    • Casey Lamar, MD - Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
    • Bethany Mancuso, MD - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
    • Keisha Target, MD - Ross University School of Medicine
    • Sarah Trocke, MD - Drexel University College of Medicine
    • George Ye, MD - Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University

     

    Resident Support Services

    Members of the faculty take an active and ongoing interest in resident well-being.

    Mentorship and support services include:

    • Individual faculty advisor and scholarly activity mentor
    • Regular meetings with the director of the residency program
    • Monthly town hall meeting
    • Resident retreats, held twice a year, and organized by class
    • Open-door policy of the chair and faculty
    • Annual year-end residents' day off
    • Year-end dinner for residents, fellows and aculty
    • Back-up residents for sick call
    • Parental leave policy
    • Resident Wellness Program
    • Resident Assistance Program
    • Career development support
    • Complementary access to Cognitive Skills Center
  • Where They Went

    Photo of Pediatric Residency Graduates 2024

    Graduates 2024

    • Soheil Afsharpour, MD - Chief Resident then Cardiology Fellow at University of British Columbia
    • Diane Algava, MD - Emergency Medicine Fellow and Urgent Care at Phoenix Children’s Hospital
    • Ezra Chefitz, MD - Gastroenterology Fellow at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
    • Patricia Hoffman, DO - Rheumatology Fellow at Weill Cornell Medical Center/Hospital for Special Surgery
    • Samanta Mukkamala, MD - Emergency Medicine Fellow at Wake Forest Baptist Health
    • Gabriel Munoz, MD - General Pediatrics, New York
    • Christina Nashed, DO - General Pediatrics, New Jersey
    • Jessica Ohiri, MD - Anesthesiology Residency at Rutgers NJMS
    • Christopher Ramirez, MD - General Pediatrics, New York
    • Sruchika Sabu, MD - Endocrinology Fellow at University of Michigan
    • Pardeep Sidhu, MD - Consultant Pediatrician and Fast Track Attending, Toronto, Canada
    2023 graduates of the Pediatrics Residency

    Graduates 2023

    • Abigail Bergman, MD - Chief Resident then Pulmonary Fellow, CHOP
    • Bianca Chendrimada, DO - PM Pediatrics
    • Yisha Cheng, MD - Emergency Medicine Fellowship, St Christopher’s Hospital for Children
    • Matthew Federici, MD - Cardiology Fellowship, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital
    • Lori Fingerhut, MD - Endocrinology Fellowship, Children’s National Medical Center
    • Jazmin Garcia, DO - Chief Resident then PICU Fellowship, Baylor
    • Sally Ng, MD - General Pediatrics
    • Haidang Nguyen, MD - General Pediatrics
    • Sonia Pothraj, MD - General Pediatrics
    • Sara Rouff, DO - General Pediatrics
    • Soraya Simon, MD - General Pediatrics
    2022 graduates of the Pediatrics Residency

    Graduates 2022

    • Seherisch Ahmad, MD - Chief Resident, Emergency Medicine Fellowship, Rutgers NJMS
    • Kathrine Baldwin, DO - Pulmonary Fellowship, Westchester Medical Center
    • Avram Bursky-Tammam, MD - PICU Hospitalist, Cohen's Children's Medical Center
    • Perel Bursky-Tammam, MD - General Pediatrics
    • Gabrielle Capozzoli, MD - General Pediatrics
    • Chika Esochaghi, MD - Chief Resident, Nursery Hospitalist in Maryland
    • Michelle Gaglia, DO - Anesthesia Residency, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
    • Courtney Greene, DO - Sports Medicine Fellowship, Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital
    • Daniel Helfgott, MD - Neonatal-Perinatal Fellowship, Stony Brook Children's Hospital
    • Lauren Sall, DO - General Pediatrics, California
    • Alexandria Speakman, DO - Gastroenterology Fellowship, Cincinnati Children's Hospital
    2021 graduates of the Pediatrics Residency

    Graduates 2021

    • Marianne Armanious, MD - General Pediatrics, New Jersey
    • Madhusree Chowdhury, MD - General Pediatrics, Connecticut
    • Samantha Chu, DO – Fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at Memorial Sloane Kettering
    • Rannan Kased, DO – Fellowship in Neonatology at Sparrow Hospital, Michigan State University
    • Jovanna Madray, DO - General Pediatrics, New Jersey
    • Emily Negroponte, MD - General Pediatrics, New Jersey
    • Akreeti Maskey-Pagodin, MD-Chief resident then General Pediatrics, New Jersey
    • Lauretta Oseni, MD- Hospitalist, NYU then Fellowship in Hospitalist Medicine at SUNY Downstate
    • Aashiki Shah, DO - General Pediatrics, New Jersey
    • Peter Wu, MD - Urgent Care Fellowship at Children’s National Medical Center
    • Sarah Yavelberg, MD - Chief resident then Hospitalist/General Pediatrics, New Jersey
    2020 graduates of the pediatrics residency

    Graduates 2020

    • Tolu Ariyo, MD – General Pediatrics, Maryland
    • Amy Cheng, MD – General Pediatrics, Maryland
    • Jaya Isaac, MD - Chief Resident then Fellowship in Pediatric Nephrology at Children’s Hospital of Montefiore
    • Maaz Jalil, DO – Fellowship in Allergy and Immunology at Case Western Reserve University
    • Peter Jang, MD - Radiology Residency, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
    • Carolyn Ochoa, MD - Newborn Nursery Hospitalist, NYP Weill Cornell Medical Center
    • Mehrin Sadiq, MD – General Pediatrics, Virginia
    • Shivani Shah, DO – Fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Newark Beth Israel
    • Karen Teoh, MD – General Pediatrics, Brooklyn NY
    • Debra Zharnest, MD - Chief Resident then Fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at St Christopher’s Hospital for Children

     

  • Dr. Patricia Whitley Williams, Associate Dean for Inclusion and Diversity and Professor of Pediatrics, discusses diversity in our residency program.

    Dr. Uche Azubuine, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics is now the leader of a new task force for Diversity and Inclusion. The description of this task force is below. 

    This task force will address three areas for improvement:

    • Recruitment and retention of Underrepresented in Medicine (URM) faculty, residents and staff
    • Education
    • Health Inequity

    Recruitment - The Pediatric Department has made efforts in the past to increase URM physicians and residents including attending recruitment fairs held by national organizations such as Student National Medical Association and Latino Medical Student Association. These organizations were created for the support of African American and Latino students and physicians. We look to improve our efforts by including task force members on the search committee for new employees and mandating that all members of the search committee attend implicit bias training, on an annual basis, prior to interviewing candidates.

    Education - In the past few years there have been many lectures for residents and faculty on implicit bias and all employees are required to complete web based educational modules on racism and sexism in the workplace. Our Task Force will strengthen our educational efforts by implementing formal curriculum that includes in-person lectures and workshops for residents and nurses regarding implicit bias, microaggressions and health disparities. Improving the insight of our faculty, residents and staff will allow us to meet the needs of the diverse population we serve.

    Health Inequity - Our Task Force will also work to improve the patient experience by ensuring care is equal regardless of ethnicity or gender. We will implement a feedback system where every patient and their family will have a voice to critique their experience in the children’s hospital and allow us to improve the care that we provide. We plan to objectively create quality improvement projects that identify biases and strive to create a solution.

    “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”- Maya Angelou

    Our mission is to create an environment where every employee feels their ideas and contributions are respected and hold merit, and where every patient feels their complaints are valid and their lives have value.

    We will work to create and maintain an atmosphere where differences are valued and celebrated, knowing institutional diversity fuels the advancement of knowledge, promotes improved patient care and fosters excellence.

Benefits and Salary

Our residency and fellowship programs offer a uniform package of benefits consistent with those provided at all graduate medical educational programs operated by the medical school. Full details regarding benefits and salary are continuously updated by the Office of Graduate Medical Education.

An image of medical students talking and laughing

Curriculum

  • The focus of the first year (PGY-1) is to differentiate between well, ill- appearing, and critically ill children. Four months of the year are spent in the inpatient setting at BMSCH. Additional time is spent learning about newborns both in the well-baby unit and in the neonatal intensive care unit.

    The second year (PGY-2) lets the resident begin to take on leadership roles in the inpatient setting. Further, the resident is able to start exploring various areas of pediatrics that he/she believe will be helpful in his/her future with several months tailored to individual needs. The resident spends block time in the intensive care units and in the emergency department.

    The final year (PGY-3) encourages residents to take ownership of their year developing an individualized curriculum that meets both their educational needs as well as their career goals. Opportunities for electives and completing their individualized curricula are the primary emphasis. However, residents also spend time as the inpatient senior for two blocks, and an additional two blocks in the intensive care unit.

    In July 2022, our program transitioned to the X+Y scheduling system. We are using a 3 +1 model and have officially joined the ACGME pilot for pediatric programs. With this system, residents spend 3 weeks in an “X” rotation and then have one “Y” week of outpatient experiences that can include continuity clinic, advocacy, development, research and administrative time. Overall, this scheduling system has been shown to lead to improvements in patient care, educational outcomes and the clinic experience.

    For their clinic experience, residents are assigned to either Eric B Chandler Health Center or Robert Wood Johnson Medical Group at Somerset. Accompanying the continuity clinic experience is a well-organized curriculum that rotates and repeats over the course of the residents’ training. During years one and two all residents are required to see general pediatric patients at their primary care continuity site. However, if residents are pursuing subspecialty training and they wish to have a continuity experience in their subspecialty, they are able to arrange an outpatient longitudinal clinic in that venue.

    All residents participate in a quality improvement (QI) curriculum and participate in QI workshops during block lecture. In addition, all residents are required to complete a scholarly project.

  • Info on PGY1, PGY2, and PGY3 Pediatric Residency Schedule
  • Residents presenting a poster

    In addition to teaching and clinical activities, faculty, fellows and residents are involved in basic clinical research. Some of the many research project opportunities include: pediatric HIV; nephrotic syndrome; developmental follow-up of premature infants; control of neonatal respiration; necrotizing enterocolitis; transdermal drug administration; autism; Tourette’s syndrome; childhood rheumatological diseases; learning and motivation in the infant; sexual abuse in children; new treatments of childhood cancer; respiratory mechanics in children with lung disease; molecular genetics; emergency room utilization; and screening for language delay.

    Residents are required to complete a scholarly activity prior to graduation. Projects involving quality improvement and community advocacy have been completed to fulfill this requirement and opportunities in the Pediatric Clinical Research Center, located within the Child Health Institute, are available to residents.

    • Utility of Video Telehealth Implementation in Transport
    • Project LIGHT
    • Reducing Pressure Injuries in the PICU
    • Improving Inpatient Management of Eating Disorders
    • Parental Food Allergy Survey
    • Prospective Study of GVHD in Pediatric BMT
    • Survey of VTE Protocols for Risk Assessment
    • Erythromycin Microbiome Project
    • QOL Assessment for Peds Endo Patients
    • CHPG Hypoxemia Murine Model
    •  Asynchronous Literacy Boost

    PGY3:

    • Transport Study- Telehealth QI Project
    • Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in extremely preterm neonates: Risk factors and Outcomes
    • Transitional Care for Diabetic Adolescents
    • A pilot study of propranolol to treat behaviors in adolescents
    • Outcomes and effectiveness of enteral nutrition in IBD patients
    • Validating Claims of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
    • Reach Out & Read: Implementation Among Pediatric Residents
    • The Characterization of PICC Line Displacement by Upper Extremity Manipulation via Point of Care Ultrasonography
    • Prognostic use of anti-TPO and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies in children with Autoimmune Thyroiditis

    PGY2:

    • Utility of Video Telehealth Implementation in Transport
    • Project LIGHT
    • Reducing Pressure Injuries in the PICU
    • Improving Inpatient Management of Eating Disorders
    • Parental Food Allergy Survey
    • Inpatient Management of Eating Disorders
    • Prospective Study of GVHD in Pediatric BMT
    • Survey of VTE Protocols for Risk Assessment
    • Erythromycin Microbiome Project
    • QOL Assessment for Peds Endo Patients
    • CHPG Hypoxemia Murine Model
    • Asynchronous Literacy Boost

Contact Us

Pediatric Residency
Child Health Institute

89 French Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Phone: 732-235-7883    
Fax: 732-235-6609
Twitter: @PedsRWJ       
Instagram: @RutgersRWJPedsResidents

Joann Carlson, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Program Director
joann.carlson@rwjms.rutgers.edu

Natalie Torres-Feliz, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Associate Program Director
torresns@rwjms.rutgers.edu