Annemarie Kelly, MD

"The level II fellowship program helped prepare me to be able to resuscitate and care for newborns in a variety of settings with sometimes more limited resources or comfort with prematurity."

Megan Ranck, MD

"I went into medical school and residency knowing that I wanted to take care of neonates and thought that a Neonatology fellowship was the only option to achieve that goal. I realized during residency, however, that caring for the ELBW preterm infants and complex surgical babies was not the population that I was most interested in. I was drawn to working in the Level II nurseries because it gave me the opportunity to take care of not only healthy full term newborns on the mom-baby units, but also attend deliveries and care for the moderately preterm infants that require some level of respiratory and nutrition support before they are ready to leave the hospital."

"I think that the exposure to a variety of clinical settings and provider practices is the biggest strength of the program. We have the opportunity to learn in the level II nurseries at several of the different community hospitals, as well as spending time in a level III NICU. Working in the community hospitals is a very different experience than the more academic settings we were exposed to in residency, so working alongside neonatologists, pediatricians, and neonatal nurse practitioners in the those units before practicing independently was invaluable. Additional learning opportunities when it comes to procedures like intubations and mock codes/clinical simulations are also invaluable following residency where some of those NICU specific opportunities may have been limited. The Level II Fellowship Training program allowed me to fill in some of the gaps in my experience from general pediatrics residency in order to feel confident in taking care of this patient population."

"I am currently a staff physician with CCHMC Newborn Care Associates and work in several of the community hospital level II nurseries around Cincinnati. I think the program allowed me to learn how to function competently in these various hospital systems. Working with my now colleagues throughout the Level II training program also makes me feel confident reaching out for recommendations when trying to manage more difficult patients. The entire Neonatology department works really well as a team, and I never feel like I’m alone even though I may be the only pediatrician physically on the unit."

Emily Willey, MD

"After spending time in the newborn and level II nurseries as a resident, I was interested in a future that would allow me to care for both well babies and those at are born moderately to late preterm. However, I found that I did not yet have the clinical skills to independently manage higher levels of acuity and delivery room resuscitation after completing my residency training. I am grateful for the Level II Fellowship program, which gave me a breadth of experiences across the level I and level II nurseries as well as the level III NICU to further develop my procedural and diagnostic skills to better care for any baby born in a community delivery hospital. Now, I work as a newborn hospitalist in the special care and normal newborn nurseries in Cincinnati covering everything from care of healthy infants in the mother baby unit to resuscitation and stabilization of extremely premature and critically infants requiring transfer for higher levels of care."