Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery Fellowship

The Division of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine offers a one-year ACGME accredited program for specialty training in pediatric orthopaedics.

Fellows train at Lurie Children's, part of the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University. The fellowship experience takes place on the main campus of Lurie Children’s, and at several of our satellite locations across the Chicagoland area. 

Lurie Children’s Division of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine cares for more than 49,000 children each year and performs over 2,100 surgeries per year. We provide a range of services for children with bone, joint, muscle, ligament, tendon and nerve (musculoskeletal) disorders and offer the only pediatric bone health program in Illinois.

We are proud to be situated in Chicago, a world-class city with a wide-variety of great restaurants and fun things to do. The hospital is just off the Magnificent Mile’s premier shopping district and steps away from beautiful Lake Michigan. The hospital’s neighborhood also is home to theatres, parks and convenient transportation, which can take you all around the city, as you explore the many possibilities of neighborhoods, live music and innovative eateries.

Learn more about our orthopaedic fellowship below. 

Play video

 

Download Our Brochure

Educational methods include one-on-one supervision (attending orthopaedic surgeon and fellow) in outpatient offices, clinics and the operating room.

The Fellow will complete preceptor-based rotations in the areas of Pediatric Spine, Pediatric Neuromuscular, Pediatric Orthopaedic Sports Surgery and Sports Medicine, Pediatric Trauma, Pediatric Hip and Complex Limb Reconstruction, and Pediatric Hand/ Upper Extremity. Rotations are eight weeks long. Opportunity exists for the Fellow to revisit clinical areas during a final, elective rotation.

The Fellow will maintain a close working relationship with the residents in orthopaedic surgery as well as other disciplines, such as Radiology, Pathology, Pediatric Surgery, Pediatrics, Plastic Surgery, Urology, Anesthesia, and Neurosurgery. It will be the Fellow’s responsibility to make inpatient rounds with the Residents and give clinical conferences as requested.

Didactic Programs

Didactic Components of the fellowship will emphasize an approach to clinical problem solving, self-directed study, teaching, development of analytic skills and surgical judgment, and scholarly research.

  • Monday: Pediatric Surgery Grand Rounds and Orthopaedic Surgery Radiology Conference
  • Every Third Thursday: Ortho-neuro spine conference
  • Weekly: Fellow conference with select faculty members.  
  • Quarterly: Journal Club

Responsibilities of the Fellow for patient care

The Fellow will assume responsibility for selected patients, their admission, surgery, and inpatient requirements. He or she will be the primary supervised surgeon for these cases and will be responsible for daily rounds and documentation. As the primary supervised surgeon, the Fellow will demonstrate the knowledge and skills to perform procedures required for the practice of Pediatric Orthopaedics. The Fellow will perform procedures with and without resident assistance.

The Fellow will be assigned an outpatient clinic with an attending once a week to follow up with patients seen while on call.

Call

The Fellow will take call up to four times a month with an attending for back up.   

During the year, the Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery fellow will gain skills in scholarly work and will participate in research. The fellow is expected to complete a retrospective or prospective clinical outcome study or a basic science research project by the conclusion of the academic year. The fellow will contribute significantly to the design and conduct of the study. The project will be presented at the annual Thesis day conference in May and must be ready for manuscript submission. The Fellow will have one half day per week of protected time for clinical or basic research.

Our division employs three full-time research coordinators who can support our fellow in IRB submission, data collection, database management and protocol development. In addition to the research coordinator support, the fellow’s research will also be supported by one full time PhD researcher with training and eight years of experience in clinical research and surgical outcomes in pediatric orthopaedics. We have six surgical faculty with active research studies who are available to support the fellow on a broad range of topics. Our division hosts monthly journal clubs and research scholarship meetings to discuss research progress with all faculty. As a member institution of the Northwestern University McGaw Medical Center, the fellow will receive twenty hours of free PhD-level statistical support though Northwestern University’s Biostatistics Collaboration Core. 

Our fellow will also have access to the Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute, which is affiliated with Lurie Children’s, and one of only five freestanding pediatric research institutes in the country. The Manne Research Institute includes more than 200 investigators and more than $27 million in external funding annually for research, two-thirds from the NIH and other federal agencies. It is one of the nation's premier institutes for pediatric research, investing more dollars and resources in pediatric research than any other area hospital. The research institute has approximately 125,000 square feet of laboratory space in its state-of-the-art laboratory facility.

Click here to learn more about the research studies that our team is engaged in.

Vineeta T. Swaroop, MD
Program Director, Pediatric Orthopaedic Fellowship
Primary areas of fellow education: neuromuscular hip and lower extremity, foot disorders, trauma

John J. Grayhack, MD
Attending Surgeon
Primary areas of fellow education: early-onset spine disorders, neuromuscular spine, leg length discrepancy  

Erik C. King, MD, MS
Attending Surgeon
Primary areas of fellow education: hand and upper extremity, idiopathic spine disorders

Joseph J. Janicki, MD
Attending Surgeon
Primary areas of fellow education: young adult hip preservation, hip dysplasia, idiopathic spine disorders

John F. Sarwark, MD
Attending Physician
Primary areas of fellow education: Idiopathic spine disorders, congenital spine disorders, neuromuscular spine disorders

Michelle L. Sagan, MD
Attending Physician
Primary areas of fellow education: complicated fractures, trauma

Craig J. Finlayson, MD
Attending Surgeon
Primary areas of fellow education: Sports medicine, arthroscopic procedures, ACL injuries in all ages (including children with open growth plates)

Jill E. Larson, MD
Attending Surgeon
Primary areas of fellow education: neuromuscular hip and lower extremity, foot disorders, idiopathic spine disorders, congenital spine disorders, neuromuscular spine disorders, trauma

Neeraj M. Patel, MD, MBS
Attending Surgeon
Primary areas of fellow education: Sports medicine, arthroscopic procedures, ACL injuries in all ages (including children with open physes)

Romie Gibly, MD, PhD
Attending Surgeon
Primary areas of fellow education: trauma, leg length discrepancy and limb deformity, clubfoot, hip dysplasia, foot and ankle

Please visit the McGaw Medical Center website for complete information on fellow stipend and benefits.

Lurie Children's participates and abides by the fellowship match, supervised by the San Francisco Matching Program (SFMP). To participate in the pediatric orthopaedic surgery match, register with SFMP.

The match process includes a universal online application (through the SFMP), interview and match selection process, and occurs between November and April of each year.

Potential candidates must be in at least their PGY4 year of Orthopaedic training. Interviews are granted by invitation.

Applications are due by October 15. Interviews take place between November and March of each year. Upcoming interview dates:

  • Saturday, January 20, 2024
  • Monday, February 12, 2024

Barbara Crenshaw, Program Coordinator
bcrenshaw@luriechildrens.org
312.227.6626