Application process through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) opens July 15, 2018, for CHOP’s Clinical Informatics Fellowship beginning July 2019.

Clinical informaticians transform health care practices by harnessing the power of data and technology to optimize workflow, improve clinical processes, support clinical decision-making, and enhance patient outcomes.

The Clinical Informatics fellowship program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is a two-year program, which includes both didactic and rotational training. Upon successful completion of the program, the fellows are prepared for certification in the clinical informatics subspecialty and equipped to be a practicing informatician, leader, and innovator in academic, healthcare, and industry settings.

Fellows have the unique opportunity to experience the “practice” of clinical informatics by actively participating as members of informatics teams at CHOP, including focused informatics rotational experiences in inpatient, ambulatory, emergency, and other care settings. They work closely with distinguished board-certified faculty, on groundbreaking projects during rotations in clinical decision support, data analytics/science, and innovation. Fellows complete a Masters Certificate in Informatics and have ample mentored opportunities to pursue research and scholarly activities. External rotations at Penn and other national/international institutions are also available.

While the CHOP fellowship in clinical informatics is one of the few clinical informatics fellowships focused on pediatrics, it is open to and encourages applicants from all areas of medical practice. Two fellowship positions are awarded each year. Currently, there are four Clinical Informatics Fellows at CHOP with two additional fellows joining the program in July 2018.

Upon successful completion of the program, the Clinical Informatics Fellow can expect to:

• Master the Core Content set forth by the ACGME for the Subspecialty of Clinical Informatics
• Acquire a complete understanding of the different domains of informatics and how they apply to the practice of Clinical Informatics
• Be prepared to successfully pass the board certification examination for the Subspecialty in Clinical Informatics

Graduates of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Clinical Informatics Fellowship program have moved on to pursue careers in many areas of informatics, including becoming instructors and researchers. Areas of focus have included cognitive informatics, global medicine, and quality improvement to name a few. All graduating fellows to date have earned board certification in clinical informatics.

Fellowship program leadership

Anthony Luberti, MD, MSIS
Program Director, Clinical Informatics Fellowship
Medical Director, Informatics Education

Mark Diltz, EdD, MBA, MS
Coordinator, Clinical Informatics Fellowship
Principal, Informatics Education

Rotation training

Required rotational training (at CHOP)

• Clinical Informatics Inpatient Rotation
• Clinical Informatics Ambulatory Rotation
• Clinical Informatics Acute/Emergency Department Rotation
• Data Acquisition Rotation
• Clinical Decision Support Rotation
• Clinical Research Informatics Rotation
• Leadership Competencies for Informatics Professionals Rotation

Elective rotational training

• Advanced Clinical Informatics (Inpatient, Ambulatory, Acute/ED)
• Informatics Capstone Project
• HIE/Clinical Standards Rotation
• Critical Care Rotation
• Global Health Informatics Rotation
• Informatics Independent Study
• Clinical Informatics — Adult focus (at Univ of Pennsylvania Health System)

Didactic training

Fellows will complete the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Biomedical Informatics “Certificate in Biomedical Informatics.”

• Five Required Courses
  • BMIN501 — Introduction to Biomedical and Health Informatics
  • BMIN502 — Databases in Biomedical Research
  • BMIN503 — Data Science for Biomedical Informatics
  • BMIN504 — Special Topics in Biomedical Informatics
  • HPR611 — Implementation Science in Health and Health Care

Additional coursework offered at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania and other institutions related to project management, leadership and the business of informatics

Clinical practice

Fellows will also be expected to maintain skills and certification in their primary clinical specialty. The program will work with the fellow to define appropriate “moonlighting” opportunities.

Faculty

All Physician Faculty in the Fellowship Program are Board-certified through the ABPM-Clinical Informatics Subspecialty Board

Charles Bailey, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics
Data Acquisition Rotation – Course Director

Christopher Bonafide, MD, MSCE
Core Faculty, Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness
Clinical Research Informatics Rotation – Course Director

Bimal Desai, MD, MBI
Chief Medical Information Officer – CHOP
Clinical Informatics Leadership Rotation – Course Director

Alexander Fiks, MD, MSCE
Associate Director, Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness
Associate Director, Pediatric Research Consortium
Informatics Capstone Project – Course Director

Robert Grundmeier, MD
Director and Section Chief of Clinical Informatics
Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics
Clinical Decision Support Rotation – Course Director

Eli Lourie, MD, MBI
EHR Clinical Champion for Specialty Care, Quality Improvement and Meaningful Use
Clinical Informatics Ambulatory Rotation – Course Director

Anthony Luberti, MD, MSIS
Program Director, Clinical Informatics Fellowship
Medical Director, Informatics Education

Michael Padula, MD, MBI
Clinical Informatics Champion for Neonatology
HIE/Clinical Standards Rotation – Course Director

Eric Shelov, MD
EHR Medical Director for Inpatient Care
Associate Chief Medical Information Officer
Clinical Informatics Inpatient Rotation – Course Director

Joseph Zorc, MD, MSCE
Endowed Chair in Informatics
Clinical Informatics Champion for Emergency Medicine
Clinical Informatics Acute/ED Rotation – Course Director

Affiliate faculty

Daria Ferro, MD
Instructor, Informatics Quality Improvement

Dean Karavite, MS
Instructor, Human Factors Engineering

Naveen Muthu, MD
Instructor, Cognitive Informatics

Marc Tobias, MD
Instructor, Informatics Innovation

Frequently asked questions

• Is the Clinical Informatics fellowship accredited?
  The Clinical Informatics fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is accredited through the American Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and is one of only three programs nationally that have achieved “Continued Accreditation” status.
• What is the duration of the Fellowship Program in Clinical Informatics?
  The ACGME requires a 2 year fellowship
• How many fellows will be accepted each year?
  We expect to be able to offer slots for 2 candidates per year of the fellowship
• What are the eligibility requirements for the fellowship?
  Candidates for the Fellowship Program must have graduated from an Accredited Doctor of Medicine Program and have completed three years of training in an ACGME accredited residency program.
• Where will fellows complete the didactic training for the fellowship?
  Fellows will complete the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Biomedical Informatics “Certificate in Biomedical Informatics.” Fellows also have the opportunity to take courses at the University of Pennsylvania in both informatics and many other disciplines. 
• When can I start the application process?
  Application Process opens July 15, 2018, for CHOP’s Clinical Informatics Fellowship beginning July 2018. Please complete the application process using the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). Application submission deadline is Sept. 30, 2019.
• Are you able to accept candidates with a J1 visa?
  We cannot accept applicants with a J1 visa due to restrictions regarding where our fellows can perform clinical duties.

How to apply

Application requirements (The items below are required for a completed application)

Please complete the application process using the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS).  Application materials will include the following and will be submitted and accepted only through the ERAS system. 

• Curriculum Vitae
• Three (3) Letters of Reference (LORS)
• Dean’s Letter aka Medical School Performance Evaluation (MSPE)
• A One-Page Personal Statement outlining the applicants interests, experiences, and career goals relating to clinical informatics
• Medical School Transcript (Unofficial)
• Photograph
• USMLE Parts 1, 2, (ck and cs if applicable) & 3 score transcript(s) or COMPLEX if applicable
• ECFMG Certification if graduated from a medical school outside the U.S., Canada, or Puerto Rico

Note: We cannot accept applicants with a J1 visa due to restrictions regarding where our fellows can perform clinical duties.

Deadline for completed applications

The deadline for completed applications is Sept. 30, 2018. The admissions committee will review completed applications, and then selected candidates will be invited for interviews through mid-November 2018. Please email Dr. Mark Diltz at diltz@email.chop.edu for specific instructions on how to submit your application documents.

Contact

Application questions
Mark A. Diltz, EdD, MBA
Coordinator, Fellowship Program in Clinical Informatics
Principal, Informatics Education
Email: diltz@email.chop.edu
Phone: 267-425-1663

Fellowship Questions
Anthony Luberti, MD, MSIS
Program Director, Clinical Informatics Fellowship
Medical Director, Informatics Education
Email: Luberti@email.chop.edu

Tobacco-Free Hiring Policy

To help preserve and improve the health of our patients, their families and our employees, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has a tobacco-free hiring policy. This policy applies to all candidates for employment (other than those with regularly scheduled hours in New Jersey) for all positions, including those covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Job applicants who apply after July 1, 2014 will be expected to sign an attestation stating they’ve been free of nicotine or tobacco products in any form for the prior thirty (30) days. They will also undergo a continue test as a part of the Occupational Health re-placement drug screen administered after the offer of employment has been accepted but before the first day of hire.

Exemptions: Attending physicians (excluding CHOP physicians in the Care Network) psychologists, principal investigators and/or Penn-based faculty are exempt from this process to better align with our colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.