Fellowship Program Summary

The Duke Neonatology Fellowship Program is based on the premise that neonatologists carry out important functions in neonatal research beginning with describing and categorizing disease, elucidating basic disease mechanisms, developing potential therapies, testing these therapies in clinical trials, and educating practitioners in the implementation of new therapies. Accordingly, we have developed a three-track approach that supports traditional basic and clinical research training.

We believe that effective training is supported in a milieu in which scientists with a broad variety of interests and backgrounds come together to share ideas and provide one-on-one mentoring of junior physician-scientists. Such a milieu exists in the neonatal training program at Duke and the Neonatal-Perinatal Research Institute (NPRI), a multidisciplinary group of basic and clinical researchers dedicated to the study of developmental biology and health care problems of the neonate. The training of physician-scientists to carry out outstanding research is an integral part of the mission of the Division of Neonatology, the NPRI, the Department of Pediatrics and Medical School.

Neonatology research opportunities at Duke encompass both the basic and clinical sciences. In addition, many fellows choose to engage in masters level training encompassing a myriad of clinically relevant fields. Examples include, but are not limited to Master's degrees in Clinical Research, Public Health, Genomics, Medical Informatics, and Health Care Policy. Fellows may choose one of the three research tracks (Physician Scientist Track I, Clinical Scientist Track II, or Clinical Scholar/Educator Track III) to guide their education during their time at Duke.