The Department of Surgery’s Physician Assistant Fellowship Program recently graduated its inaugural class of four fellows and welcomed its second class of six fellows in what the Association of Postgraduate Physician Assistant Programs has called an “innovative fellowship program.”
The only program of its kind in the United States for pediatric surgical services, the fellowship is a 12-month didactic and clinical program designed to extensively train physician assistants in all areas of pediatric surgery. After completing nine rotations in various surgical areas and one month in research, the fellows select two electives for which they want to receive additional training.
The inaugural class of four physician assistants – Lesley Davies, Jackie Guarino, Caitlin Justus, and Cassie Mueller – accepted positions at Texas Children’s Hospital. Davies is with Plastic Surgery and Guarino is with Urology. Mueller works in Trauma and Justus works with the surgical hospitalists at West Campus.
The Department of Surgery received 55 applications for the 2015 term, with 27 of those from outside Texas. Six fellows were chosen. They and their home states are: Chelsea Hartwig (Illinois), Brittney Knudson (Montana), Sara Mullinax (Georgia), Thian Nguyen (Texas), Abby Young (South Carolina) and Kelly Wiseman (Ohio).
“The Department of Surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital has taken a leadership role nationally in physician assistant fellowships, and we have received inquiries from other hospitals that want to establish programs and model their programs after ours,” said Dr. Larry Hollier, chief of Plastic Surgery and medical director of the Physician Assistant Fellowship Program.
Additional leaders of the fellowship program are: Ryan Krasnosky, director of the program; Kristen Daniels, academic director; and Jordan McAndrews, fellowship coordinator.
Applications for the 2016 fellowship program are now open. Candidates can apply online at Texas Children’s Hospital’s employment page.
To hear from members of the first Physician Assistant Fellowship Program class, read the following Texas Children’s blog posts:
- Why I chose the Physician Assistant Fellowship Program: http://www.texaschildrensblog.org/2014/05/why-i-chose-the-physician-assistant-pediatric-surgical-fellowship-through-texas-childrens/
- A reflection on our experience as physician assistant pediatric surgical fellows: http://www.texaschildrensblog.org/2014/07/a-reflection-on-our-experience-as-texas-childrens-physician-assistant-surgical-fellows/
- A reflection on our year as the inaugural class of the Physician Assistant Fellowship Program: http://www.texaschildrensblog.org/2015/01/a-reflection-on-our-year-as-the-inaugural-class-of-texas-childrens-hospital-physician-assistant-surgical-fellows/