Pediatric Neuroradiology Fellowship

Texas Medical Center

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About the Program

The Pediatric Neuroradiology Division at Texas Children's Hospital covers the full spectrum of pediatric neuroimaging using ultrasound, CT and MRI from community and tertiary hospitals, preparing graduates for rigorous academic and non-academic practice.

Texas Children's Hospital is the largest free-standing children's hospital in the United States. The main hospital is located in Houston, Texas, at the Texas Medical Center, the world’s largest health science complex. We also serve patients at Texas Children’s Hospitals located in The Woodlands, Katy and Austin, Texas. Our radiology department performs more than examinations every year, including pediatric radiology, neuroradiology, interventional radiology, fetal imaging, nuclear radiology, cardiac imaging and musculoskeletal imaging. The Division of Neuroradiology interprets more than CT and MRI studies each year. Our department enjoys a large referral base from all over Texas and much of the southern United States in the outpatient, inpatient and Emergency Room setting. Our hospital is home to the full complement of pediatric medical and surgical subspecialties, including nationally and internationally highly regarded pediatric subspecialties including Neurology and Neurosurgery, Neonatalogy and Perinatology, Maternal Fetal Medicine and Fetal Intervention, Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery, Oncology, Plastic Surgery, Orthopedics, and Transplantation.

The Neuroradiology Division actively promotes modern and efficient clinical care for our patients. We perform state-of-the-art clinical neuroimaging from fetal to early adult life using ultrasound, CT and MRI. Imaging equipment includes seven state-of-the-art CT scanners and a mobile CT scanner, and a total of fourteen 1.5T and 3T MRI scanners, including an intraoperative MRI scanner. Advanced MRI techniques, including functional MRI, DTI, MR perfusion and MR Spectroscopy are routinely performed.

Fellowship Curriculum

Teaching occurs in the form of one-on-one read-out of daily examinations that are performed by ultrasound, CT and MRI. Ultrasound examinations of the head and spine in infants are routinely performed and interpreted. CT and MRI examinations of the head, neck and spine for ER, inpatients and outpatients are routinely performed and comprise the bulk of training. Advanced MR imaging techniques are performed on specific patients, and the neuroradiology fellow is expected to master these techniques. Similarly, interpretation of fetal MRI for neurologic indications is a core component of the training, and at the completion of the fellowship a high level of comfort with these examinations is expected.

Trainees are empowered to independently manage the weekday neuroradiology service, serving in the role of an attending neuroradiologist with proper oversight, including consultation with referring providers, performing functional MRIs, teaching residents and students, leading multi-disciplinary conferences and protocoling examinations. Fellows perform one weekend shift per month as part of on-call duty with an on-call attending. Fellows do not perform overnight call. This rapidly matures the fellow’s ability to operate independently.

Formal education for neuroradiology fellows includes a weekly didactic conference that follows an organized annual curriculum designed to provide the necessary educational material needed. Fellows further broaden their clinical knowledge base by attending multiple interdepartmental conferences which feature the pediatric neuroradiologist in a central role. This includes interdisciplinary patient care conferences in neuro-oncology, epilepsy, head and neck, neurovascular and neurology/critical care.

The neuroradiology fellow also participates in fellow-level conferences as part of the Pediatric Radiology fellowship program and in Fellows’ College activities organized and sponsored by the Pediatric Fellowship Program directors group. These serve all of the pediatric medical subspecialty fellowships by providing lectures and workshops on research, mentoring, job searching and other general topics.

All rotations are in Pediatric Neuroradiology and take place at Texas Children’s Hospital Main Campus. If the fellow wishes to participate in elective rotations in other divisions of our department (such as fetal imaging, nuclear radiology, musculoskeletal, etc.), these can be arranged. Occasionally, electives may be arranged at other Texas Medical Center institutions based on the specific needs or interests of the fellow.

The Pediatric Neuroradiology Department is active in clinical research across the spectrum of brain and spine disorders, including brain development, acquired brain injuries, tumors, epilepsy, and genetic disorders. The department has a track record of successful peer-reviewed publications, including publications in the past 5 years. The fellow is expected to participate in three or more research projects with a faculty mentor, with the goal of submitting a scientific abstract for oral presentation to the American Society of Neuroradiology, American Society of Pediatric Neuroradiology or Society for Pediatric Radiology annual meeting. The fellow is expected to travel to the meeting to present the abstract, with expenses paid by the department. Dedicated research time is provided for completion of projects.

The Neuroradiology Division is actively maturing clinical and translational research objectives, led by Drs. Stephen Kralik, Chang Ho, and Thierry Huisman.

Admissions and Benefits

The prospective fellow must have completed an ACGME-accredited or equivalent radiology residency and a prior fellowship in either general pediatric radiology or adult neuroradiology.

All application materials may be submitted electronically to pedradfellowship@texaschildrens.org.

Baylor House Staff Application
Current curriculum vitae
Personal statement
USMLE scores (photocopies accepted)
Three letters of reference (may be sent electronically to the fellowship email from the author)
Letter of verification of good standing from residency program director (if program director does not provide one of the three letters of reference)

Applicants with completed applications are selected to interview after application review by the Education Committee. Our program coordinator will contact selected applicants with a selection of available interview dates.

In accordance with the SCARD Embargo, all fellowship interviews will be conducted virtually.

Benefits are provided by Baylor College of Medicine at the PGY-VII salary level. Fellows are given three weeks of vacation and one week of meeting time per year. Extra time off is given around the Christmas/New Year’s holidays.

For additional information, visit the Graduate Medical Education site.

Program Director's Message

Our fellowship program is designed for graduates of either a general pediatric radiology fellowship or an adult neuroradiology fellowship. We enjoy excellent relationships with pediatric neurology, neuro-oncology and neurosurgery. Our guiding principles are to treat our pediatric neuroradiology fellows as colleagues and potential future faculty. Our goal is to educate outstanding Pediatric Neuroradiologists who will be leaders of the future.