The mission of the Pediatric Residency Program at UIC is to train and educate a diverse group of pediatric trainees to provide exceptional care for children in the greater Chicago area in a supportive environment. Through clinical teaching and education focused on research and advocacy, our graduates become leaders in their community, match in competitive fellowship programs, and embark on careers in academic or hospital medicine.
Program Features and Highlights Heading link
Four Tracks
The Residency offers 4 unique educational tracks to our residents. The tracks available are advocacy, global health, hospital medicine, and research. The different tracks allow residents individualized educational opportunities in their specific areas of interest. There is an application available during intern year for anyone who is interested to apply. Please visit the specific tracks for more information.
Curriculum
Resident education is a priority at our program. We have regularly scheduled education activities, didactics, and case based conferences. The goal of our educational curriculum is to teach our residents strong clinical and problem-solving skills. The curriculum is designed to improve the knowledge base of the residents as they prepare for the American Board of Pediatrics Certifying Examination.
All residents are able to personalize their residency educational experience by utilizing our individualized curriculum (IC). In addition to completing the ACGME required rotations residents choose rotations and electives that are specific to their learning and career goals including participating in research projects.
Training Environment
Most of our training takes place at the Children’s Hospital at UI Health, a tertiary children’s hospital located in Chicago. UI-Health is a mission-driven hospital that cares for a broad spectrum of patients, including a vulnerable patient population. UIC and the Children’s Hospital at UI Health are committed to developing and sustaining an environment that focuses on equity, diversity and inclusion among our residents and faculty. Additionally, as pediatricians in Chicago, we work hard to support our patients and families in navigating the challenges that many of them regularly face in their communities—challenges that have only been amplified in recent years.
Inpatient pediatric care at UI Health includes a tertiary care inpatient ward, a level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), a high-volume normal newborn nursery, and a pediatric emergency department. The Child and Youth Center at UI Health houses our high-volume general pediatric and subspecialty clinics.
Faculty
Our faculty, most of whom are clinician-educators, provide residents with a well-rounded training experience in inpatient and outpatient pediatrics while caring for a largely underserved urban patient population. We teach residents in the clinics, at our state-of-the-art simulation center, at the bedside, and through our robust educational curriculum, including morning, noon, and academic half-day conferences.
They are engaged in research to tackle childhood obesity, health disparities for children with asthma, adverse childhood experiences, depression, and so much more. As a resident at UIC, you will have the opportunity to partner with faculty mentors to develop research projects that might bring the change in our city and our communities that we need to see.
Research Opportunities
The Department of Pediatrics at UIC prides itself on its numerous research opportunities, both in the basic science and clinical arenas.
Resident Research Travel Award
Residents are encouraged to pursue research during their residency training, and faculty mentorship is available in every department. Interns meet with the department head in the first few months of their training, and those interested in pursuing research are paired with faculty mentors as soon as possible. Residents work closely with their mentors on these scholarly activities. The residency program leadership supports resident research, and we work individually with residents to facilitate the integration of research into their training. The department selects one resident each year to receive the Resident Research Travel Award to support them in presenting their research at a national conference.
Clinical Research Methods Online Certificate Program
At UIC, we are fortunate to have this online certificate program available for residents and faculty. Through this program, residents can acquire the skills they need to pursue clinical research. Tuition is waived by the university.
Learn more about clinical research
UIC Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS)
UIC is home to the NIH-funded CCTS, which offers significant financial and educational support to those residents and faculty pursuing clinical and bench research projects. Start-up grants are available for residents interested in pursuing research during their residency and beyond.
More info on CCTS.
Messages from Leadership Heading link
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Message Details
Welcome to the Pediatric Residency Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. We are proud of the outstanding educational experience we provide to our residents. We serve as a major referral center providing subspecialty pediatric services to the city and surrounding suburbs, while running one of the busiest general pediatric outpatient centers in Chicago. Our residents care for the full range of pediatric diseases, from simple childhood illnesses to extremely complex, chronic conditions.
We are dedicated to being active participants in understanding what our trainees, patients and community are experiencing, the successes and obstacles. We know there is much work to be done and here at the Children’s Hospital at UI Health, we are dedicated to being part of the solution. At our hospital and clinics, over 70% of our patients have Medicaid as their insurance provider. As a member of our team, you will learn to partner with families and utilize community resources to deliver holistic patient-centered care.
Our dedicated faculty is committed to excellence in teaching, while providing outstanding patient care and participating in ground breaking research. Our attending physicians develop close working relationships with our house staff, serving as strong role models and advocates for our residents as they develop their professional career paths.
As you will see when you view our website, our graduates have consistently matched at competitive fellowship programs across the country, have joined successful pediatric practices in the community or embarked on careers in academic or hospitalist medicine. We thank you for your interest in our program, and we look forward to meeting you!
Sincerely,
Kelsie Avants, DO
Stacy Laurent, DO
Meghan Harding, DOProgram Directors
Kelsie Avants, DO
Assistant ProfessorEmail:
Stacy Laurent, DO
Assistant Professor of Clinical PediatricsEmail:
Meghan Harding, DO
Assistant Professor of Clinical PediatricsEmail:
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Message details
We are thrilled and honored to pursue the next step of our career as Pediatric Chief Residents.
This academic year, we are dedicated to renewing each resident’s focus on education by utilizing innovative ways to cover the ABP Board Content in an 18 month curriculum. We plan on maintaining an atmosphere of academic scholarship and lifelong learning by offering a variety of conferences and didactic sessions. In addition to traditional case-based conferences and faculty didactics, we have other interactive conferences. These include game-based programs (ie Jeopardy, Kahoot, Heads Up), Flipped classrooms, and a diversity of educational activities during our academic half-days. We also offer board prep review with faculty and utilize a game-based platform to get our residents motivated to learn in a fun and engaging manner. We are involved with a variety of simulation experiences in order to advance team building and communication skills, as well as increase exposure to clinically complicated scenarios. We help facilitate bi-weekly simulations with the wards team, as well as monthly mock codes and other simulations at the SAIL Center (Simulation and Integrative Learning) to increase performance of technically complex skills.
This year, our overall goals are to act meaningfully to improve resident wellness, provide robust evidence-based education, and provide a stable foundation of support for residents who have experienced multiple pandemic-related changes. We continue to offer flexible wellness half days for our residents as well as wellness events throughout the year. In the past we have had beach days, paint nights, group trips, and macrame workshops to name a few. Our office is always open so that everyone feels comfortable to approach us with any issues that may come up.
We are excited that you are considering our institution for your pediatric residency, and we really hope that you find our program as supportive, diverse, and well-rounded as we do! We look forward to meeting you on your interview trail and answering any questions about our residency program you may have!
Jason and Genesis
Pediatric Chief Residents 2023 – 2024