Texas Children’s Hospital recently launched a pediatric orthopedic surgery physician assistant fellowship program that provides advanced pediatric orthopedic subspecialty training to physician assistants. The program is the first of its kind in the country to offer a 12-month didactic and clinical pediatric-specific training program.
“Our fellowship ensures a unique opportunity to gain experience in pediatric orthopedic surgical subspecialties and to participate in leading edge work, both through didactic and clinical opportunities,” said Chief of Orthopedic Surgery Dr. John Dormans. “The fellowship also demonstrates the commitment Texas Children’s has to advancing the field of pediatric orthopedic surgery and the passion it has for surgical education and research.”
The year-long program includes 10 months of core clinical rotations through the pediatric orthopedic surgical subspecialties at Texas Children’s Hospital. Fellows also will be given two elective months to repeat rotations through a subspecialty of their choosing. All training is provided within the Texas Children’s system, both in the Medical Center and surrounding locations, by department supervising physicians.
Megan Lomax, from Arkansas, and Darius Dranginis, from San Antonio by way of Lithuania, are the programs first fellows. With just two months of the program under their belts, both said they already have learned so much.
“I’ve already learned more than I expected,” Dranginis said. “I am surrounded by top professionals in their field who are always willing to help and that makes a big difference.”
Lomax said the fellowship has been the opportunity of a lifetime and is giving her a chance to give back to patients the way medical staff gave to her when she came to Texas Children’s in college to receive surgery for an eye condition called strabismus.
“I feel like I have come full circle in my experiences as a patient and now fellow provider at Texas Children’s,” she said. “I love being surrounded by healthcare providers who share the same passion for kids as I do, and I look forward to learning all that I can about orthopedics during this fellowship year.”
The launch of the pediatric orthopedic surgery physician assistant fellowship follows the start of the Texas Children’s Hospital surgical physicians assistant fellowship program in 2015. The program touted by the Association of Postgraduate Physician Assistant Programs as an “innovative fellowship program” graduated four fellows during its first year and six fellows in 2016. Another six fellows began the program in January.
“The program is drawing people from across the world, which speaks to the visibility and the quality of the program as a whole,” said Fellowship Program Medical Director and Chief of Plastic Surgery Dr. Larry Hollier. “Having an opportunity in a subspecialty such as orthopedics will just add to that allure and will most likely open doors to programs in other subspecialties.”
