Message from Program Director
Welcome to the Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship Program at Westchester Medical Center!
It is my pleasure to serve as the Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship Program Director at Westchester Medical Center, located in a beautiful campus in the suburbs approximately 25 miles just north of New York City. Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center is the only pediatric quaternary care academic referral center in the lower Hudson Valley with a Level I Pediatric Trauma Center, Level I Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Burn Unit, Pediatric Emergency Department and inpatient Behavioral Health Center.
The Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship is a two-year ACGME-accredited training program designed to train pediatricians for an academic and clinical career in Pediatric Hospital Medicine. Our fellows will be well prepared for the entire spectrum of professional positions for board certified Pediatric Hospitalists including newborn care, community hospital medicine and academic medicine.
Our program stresses excellent patient and family-centered care with graduated autonomy under the supervision of our highly supportive and collegial faculty. We have nine Pediatric Hospital Medicine attending physicians, all of whom have faculty appointments at New York Medical College. Our focus on clinical and academic excellence with an emphasis on individualized program instruction and early career development will allow fellows to succeed in any area of hospital medicine they choose to pursue.
I hope that the information on this website provides you with a helpful overview of our training program including our curriculum, goals for our fellows, the application process, and an appreciation of the many opportunities available at Westchester Medical Center. As you continue to research fellowships I hope you will find our program a good fit, and please do not hesitate to reach out to me at any time with any questions.
Sincerely,
Karen Hardy Brandstaedter, MD
Program Director, Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship
Westchester Medical Center
Overview
Our mission is to train Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellows to become leaders and innovators in the growing field of Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM). We will provide a diverse, robust and comprehensive curriculum in clinical, academic and scholarly areas, teaching compassionate, high quality, high value and patient-centered care to prepare fellows for a successful career in hospital medicine.
Our program supports Westchester Medical Center’s mission of inclusion and diversity. We acknowledge unconscious bias and are dedicated to overcoming biases in trainee recruitment, selection and retention. We are dedicated to maintaining a welcoming community of inclusion and equity among patients, all staff and faculty.
Our two-year PHM Fellowship is divided into three approximately equal sections: clinical medicine, scholarship/research, and individualized curriculum/elective time.
How to Apply
Applications
Applications should be submitted through the Electronic Residency Application System (ERAS), which can be accessed using the following link: https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-fellowships-eras/applying-fellowships-eras.
Applicants will need to have completed a residency in General Pediatrics by June, 2025.
Please note that our program requires a minimum of three letters of recommendation, including one from their Pediatric Residency Program Director.
Current Fellows
- Avni Sheth, D.O. – Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine; Pediatrics Residency: Atlantic Health/Goryeb Children’s Hospital
- Rachel Sivan, M.D. – Sackler School of Medicine; Pediatrics Residency: Jacobi Medical Center/Albert Einstein
Facilities and Resources
WMCHealth is a 1,700-bed healthcare system with nine hospitals on seven campuses spanning 6,200 square miles. The main campus in Valhalla, New York is home to three hospitals: the flagship Westchester Medical Center, the Behavioral Health Center and Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital.
Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital is an academic, regional referral center with a catchment area of 150 square miles and 1.5 million people across urban, suburban, and rural communities with diverse demographics just 25 miles north of New York City. With 144 beds, Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital draws from the seven lower Hudson Valley counties of New York, northern New Jersey and western Connecticut. The hospital has a beautiful and modern facility whose exterior and interior designs represent the communities of Westchester and create a healing, family-centered environment despite the extreme acuity of the patients we serve. We have amazing nurses, pharmacists, therapists, child life specialists, social workers, ancillary services, in addition to all pediatric subspecialties and surgical subspecialties represented.
MidHusdon Regional Hospital (MHRH) is a community hospital located in Poughkeepsie, approximately an hour north of the main Valhalla campus. MHRH has a nine-bed pediatric unit, a pediatric emergency room, and 24-7 pediatric hospitalists in-house coverage.
New York Medical College of Touro University System is one of the oldest and largest medical schools in the United States. It is comprised of three schools: the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the School of Health Sciences and Practice. All doctors in the Department of Pediatrics are faculty at NYMC. This provides a very rich environment for learning, mentorship, and scholarly collaboration for all trainees.