Baker family fetal-neonatal neurology fellowship program
Washington University in St. Louis is proud to offer a one-year clinical fellowship in the evaluation and management of neurologic conditions impacting the fetal and newborn child. We provide comprehensive training in a large inpatient setting at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, including a newly expanded 125-bed NICU, combined with multiple outpatient specialty clinics. We are able to provide this fully funded fellowship annually due to generous support from the Baker Family, and our next available position will start in July 2023. The successful candidate has typically completed prior training in Pediatric Neurology, Neonatology or Neurodevelopmental Disabilities.
Training goals of the fellowship include
- Develop expertise in the neurologic examination of the newborn, including expected age-specific normal and abnormal findings
- Understand the possible neurologic complications seen in preterm and very low birth weight infants
- Evaluation and management of neonatal seizures, including acute symptomatic versus genetic and metabolic etiologies
- Increase comfort with evaluation of neonatal and preterm EEG with regards to expected electrographic elements, background and seizure recognition
- Facility in the interpretation of neonatal neurologic imaging including fetal, preterm and term MRI, including vessel imaging and MR spectroscopy
- Family-centered communication regarding the neurologic course, evaluation and management of neurologic disease in the infant
- Recognition and efficient evaluation of the infant with neonatal encephalopathy and aid in the evaluation for treatment with therapeutic hypothermia
- Recognition of primary neuromuscular and neurogenetic/metabolic presentations in the neonatal period
- Understanding of the importance of transition of care from the NICU to home
- Early identification and management of motor, coordination symptoms associated with early brain injury, with knowledge of appropriate therapy and equipment needs as the infant ages
The fellowship includes a combination of inpatient and outpatient electives
- Inpatient experience (at least 50% of the fellowship): two to four week blocks on the NICU Consult service which serves our Neonatal ICU as well as infants aged less than six months in our Cardiac ICU. The role of the fellow develops over the year to aid in the complete management of this busy service.
- Elective experience (one to two week blocks) available for the following:
- Palliative care, Genetics, Therapy Services, Maternal Fetal Medicine, PICU consult service, Neurosurgery, Research, with additional electives based on the interest of the fellow
- Neonatal Neurology specific clinics (one to two per week)
- Neonatal Neurology Follow-up Clinic
- Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Clinic
- Spina Bifida Clinic
- Neonatal/infant epilepsy
- Intellectual Disability/Developmental Delay
- Congenital Malformations
- Fetal consultations
- Urgent clinic visits
- Fellows will have the opportunity to conduct mentored research during their fellowship and present at national conferences on their work completed during this time.
- Development of an educational portfolio
- Call responsibilities: When on inpatient consult service, provide back-up call and support for the NICU consult resident when they are post-call or in clinic. Otherwise, no expected call responsibility after 5 p.m. on weekdays and no weekend call expectations
| Previous Fellows | Current Position |
| Alexa Craig, MD, MSc | Assistant Professor, Maine Medical Center |
| Rafael Galindo, MD, PhD | Assistant Professor, Washington University in St. Louis |
| Siddharth Jain, MD | Assistant Professor, Washington University in St. Louis |
| A. Hafeez Khair, MD | Fellow, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia |
| Sarah Bauer Huang, MD, PhD | Assistant Professor, Washington University in St. Louis |
| Lindsay Peglar, MD, MS | Assistant Professor, Washington University in St. Louis |
| Darrah Haffner, MD | Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Neurology, The Ohio State University College of Medicine |
| Laura Vernon, MD | Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Neurology), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago |
| Jennifer Keene, MD | Assistant Professor, University of Utah School of Medicine; Salt Lake City, Utah |
| Stephen Walker MD | Assistant Professor, Division of Pediatric Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham |
| Current Fellow (2023-2024) | Residency |
| Ekta Shah, DO | Pediatric Epilepsy Fellow, Washington University in St. Louis |
| Upcoming Fellow (2024-2025) | Current Position |
| Alexandra Sankovic, MD | Current position: Child Neurology Resident, Nationwide Children’s Hospital |
Application process
Applications are currently being accepted for the fellowship position starting July 2025. For additional application information please contact:
Lori Nichols, MSEd
Baker Family Fetal-Neonatal Neurology Fellowship Program Coordinator
Email: lorinichols@wustl.edu