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Mentoring the future of neonatology: program director advice for fellowship applicants and their advisors

Journal of Perinatology (2025)Cite this article

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Early NICU exposure, alongside neonatology’s best clinician-educators, is essential in inspiring interest in the field of neonatology. Almost 70% of pediatric residents who pursue fellowship training choose to do so during their intern year, with 22.7% selecting the specific subspeciality and only 6.2% changing their training plans [5]. Residents interested in neonatology should complete as many NICU, delivery, newborn nursery, and NICU follow-up clinic rotations as practical, with some residents being limited to only one to two rotations. Specifically, level IV NICU rotations are important for residents to understand the breadth of neonatology and build foundational skills. These recommendations are highlighted by a 2025 Council of Pediatric Subspecialist survey of 56 NPM fellowship leaders. Program leaders ranked NICU, delivery room, and nursery rotations as “critical” rotations and PICU, inpatient cardiology, anesthesia, radiology, and neurology as “highly recommended.” Utilizing elective time for these rotations is strongly recommended to supplement required rotations.

Despite increasingly limited clinical time, the neonatology community and ONTPD are committed to helping undergraduate medical students and residents craft individual paths toward neonatology careers. Two national groups, Future Neos Now and Trainees and Early Career Neonatologists, provide mentorship for trainees interested in neonatology. However, local connections with the neonatology community are the best way for applicants to receive timely advice on how to navigate rotation recommendations, learn about career paths (i.e., private practice, clinician-educator, physician scientist), and find meaningful scholarship opportunities. NPM fellowship programs should also create structured mentorship curricula for trainees since they improve applicant satisfaction and match rates [6].

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Fig. 1: Neonatology Fellowship Positions, Applicants and Unfilled Positions 2020-2025.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Morgan Hill & Jennifer M. Brady

  2. Department of Pediatrics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Brooke Vergales

  3. Department of Pediatrics, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, USA

    Suma Hoffman

  4. Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA

    Nicolle Fernández Dyess

  5. Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA

    Rita Dadiz

  6. Department of Pediatrics, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Vilmaris Quinones Cardona

  7. Department of Pediatrics, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

    Beverley Robin

  8. Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA

    Margarita Vasquez

  9. Department of Pediatrics, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Samia Aleem

  10. Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Heather French

  11. Department of Pediatrics, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA

    Kristin Glass

  12. Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, TX, USA

    Imran Nazir Mir

  13. Department of Pediatrics, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA

    Deirdre O’Reilly

  14. Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA

    Megan Gray

  15. Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Jacqueline Meadow

  16. Department of Pediatrics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Thitinart Sithisarn

  17. Department of Pediatrics, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA

    Cindy Crabtree

  18. Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA

    Patrick Myers

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  1. Morgan Hill
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Contributions

MH—drafted the first manuscript, helped create all figures, helped with conceptional implementation of the manuscript, created Supplement 1, and edited the final manuscript. BV, SH, NFD, RD, VQC, BR, MV, SA, HF, KG, IM, DO, MG, CC, TS, JB, JM—helped with conceptional implementation of the manuscript, helped with conceptional implementation of the ONTPD recommendations, created Supplement 1, and edited the final manuscript. PM—contributed to the initial conception and writing of the paper, helped create the figure, helped create Supplement 1, and implemented and coordinated the final edits to the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Patrick Myers.

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Hill, M., Vergales, B., Hoffman, S. et al. Mentoring the future of neonatology: program director advice for fellowship applicants and their advisors. J Perinatol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-025-02426-7

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