Riley Hospital for Children is the only comprehensive children’s hospital and Level I Pediatric Trauma Center in the state of Indiana. All pediatric subspecialties are represented at Riley Hospital, including a pediatric burn unit. The emergency department includes a sexual assault examination room with dedicated photographic equipment. The high clinical volume allows for exposure to a wide variety of conditions (including accidental injuries, inflicted injuries, and medical mimics).
Fellows have multiple opportunities for exposure to the medical-legal system, including providing testimony in cases for which they provided medical care at juvenile and criminal courts. In addition, fellows may provide medical-legal consultation along with a faculty member to attorneys seeking an expert opinion in cases involving alleged child maltreatment. Our faculty physicians each receive an average of one to two new subpoenas each week, with testimony required in approximately 20% of those cases. As an example, a recent fellow in our program testified a total of 22 times during three years of training.
Fellows participate in weekly teleconferences with other programs nationally as part of the Project Echo Child Abuse Pediatrics Fellowship Curriculum, sponsored and organized by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Research opportunities include a wide variety of clinical and pediatric health services research in a university setting with an already existing infrastructure. The IU Department of Pediatrics ranks in the top 5-10% nationally in research funding by the National Institutes of Health. The clinical volume in our program also allows fellows to have ample clinical research opportunities. IU CPP faculty physicians have co-authored multiple articles published in the peer reviewed medical literature. Fellows and faculty have also presented research abstracts at national meetings. Ongoing scholarly projects by our current fellows and faculty physicians include two studies assessing racial disparities in the patient populations we serve.