The Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellowship offers physicians the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills needed to become a productive investigator and advance research in pediatrics. While an emphasis is placed on pursuing clinical, basic science or translational research skills, other scholarly opportunities are also available (advocacy/health services, quality improvement and education).

Early in the first year, fellows complete a month-long scholarly activity development rotation, during which time fellows find a mentor, build a research team and develop a research plan. The fellowship curriculum is designed to allow time for continuous, longitudinal progress in research, with time devoted to research during each pediatric emergency medicine block and additional elective time devoted to research as needed.

Each fellow is expected to complete a scholarly activity that meets the ABP requirements for board eligibility. In addition, each fellow is expected to complete an additional quality improvement research project or clinical initiative. Fellows’ research progress is monitored by a Scholarship Oversight Committee (SOC).

The fellowship didactic curriculum prepares fellows to develop skills in research methodology and critical evaluation of medical literature. Additional advanced coursework and educational opportunities are available.

The Division of Emergency Medicine and Washington University in St. Louis’ School of Medicine have significant resources to help facilitate fellows’ research including research assistants, research & students available to enroll patients in studies 16 hours a day, seven days a week, a Patient Oriented Research Unit (PORU) and many other university-wide resources. Our department participates in several ongoing research initiatives through two pediatric emergency medicine multicenter networks: Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) and the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Collaborative Research Network (PEM CRC), as well as several international research endeavors through Pediatric Emergency Research Canada (PERC) and Pediatric Emergency Research Networks (PERN).