The Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics (DBP) training program is based in the Division of Developmental Medicine, within the Department of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore/Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Our training program’s primary clinical site is the Rose F. Kennedy Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (RFK CERC), which has a long and proud history of training Developmental-Behavioral Pediatricians. There have been 105 fellows who completed the program and 98% remained in the field with roughly 50% affiliated with teaching hospitals. At least 20 have been directors of developmental pediatric programs in the NY area and beyond.
Our mission is to enhance the behavioral, psychosocial, and developmental components of pediatric care by preparing fellows for leadership roles as clinicians, investigators, educators, and advocates. Fellows participate in an extensive set of didactics, clinical, scholarly, advocacy, and community experiences. We emphasize interdisciplinary collaboration and family partnership, using a public health approach. Training takes place in an environment that serves a multicultural, disadvantaged population and fellows are trained by faculty who represent 9 disciplines.
The program prepares fellows to:
- Obtain leadership roles in DBP as teachers, investigators, clinicians, and advocates to advance the field through mastery of exemplary clinical care, interdisciplinary collaboration, research, teaching, administration, and advocacy skills.
- Develop the skills required to effectively collaborate on interdisciplinary teams caring for children with developmental-behavioral disorders.
- Utilize biopsychosocial knowledge and clinical expertise required to provide culturally competent care to individuals with developmental disabilities, particularly those from underrepresented groups.
- Apply research methodology to conduct a scholarly project that results in publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
- Learn about and implement quality improvement (QI) methods to design and implement a QI scholarly project.
- To become medical educators in DBP through experiences teaching medical trainees, by participating in community agency education sessions, and by presenting cases in division case conferences and grand rounds.
Curriculum
We offer longitudinal interdisciplinary education in the areas of clinical care, education, research, and advocacy. Our fellows perform extensive diagnostic assessments and provide developmental/behavioral follow up care to infants, children, and adolescents from 0-21 years of age. They are trained to administer developmental/behavioral screening instruments, in the interpretation of psychological measures of cognition/adaptive function, and to utilize the results of speech and language testing to inform the development of a comprehensive patient care plan. Additional required clinical rotations take place in pediatric physiatry, premature infant follow up, and genetics. Electives in audiology, occupational/physical therapy/, ophthalmology, and neuromuscular diseases are also available. First year fellows are mentored by core program faculty on how to perform a literature search, choosing a topic of scholarly interest, and in preparation of a protocol for IRB submission. Educational activities include departmental and division Grand Rounds, DBP seminar, and child and adolescent psychiatry seminars. Fellows are also encouraged to participate in a wide array of interdepartmental conferences offered throughout the institution. Advocacy training includes participation in local community and national advocacy initiatives. Opportunities to participate in teaching rotating residents and medical students, and in community agencies, also exist in the 2nd and 3rd years of training.
Additionally, fellows participate in the RFK CERC Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program. As LEND trainees, fellows obtain additional graduate level interdisciplinary leadership training, with the goal of preparing trainees from diverse professional disciplines to assume leadership roles in their respective fields and to demonstrate high levels of interdisciplinary clinical competence. This is accomplished through both didactic and experiential training.
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Albert Einstein College of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation's leaders in research support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Einstein and Montefiore have been awarded a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) by the NIH that supports the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR), one of only 39 such centers in the nation.
Faculty members of the Division of Developmental Medicine enjoy strong connections to the ICTR and utilize these to link our fellows to mentors who can help with study design and statistical analysis, if needed, for the fellow’s scholarly project. The Department of Pediatrics provides a required course in research design and career development for all subspecialty fellows, and the Division of Developmental Medicine provides a bimonthly informal seminar designed to support our fellows in their scholarly work.
Fellows may pursue investigative interests in clinical and translational science. Fellows regularly present their research at annual meetings of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Pediatric Academic Societies, Association of University Centers on Disabilities, Eastern Society for Pediatric Research, and Academic Pediatric Association.
Applying for Our Fellowship
Applications will be processed through ERAS in accordance with the NRMP subspecialty fall match for Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics. Information is available on the NRMP website.