Department of Pediatrics

The University of Vermont Children’s Hospital is excited to invite you to apply for our funded fourth-year rotation, the Visiting Student Scholarship (VSS) Program in Pediatrics. Thank you for your interest!

This program supports 4th year medical students, including those from historically and underrepresented and underserved populations, whose diverse experiences and perspectives will contribute to excellence in our residency programs. The program will provide a unique experience for those students applying to a pediatric residency who may also be interested in experiencing pediatrics practiced in an academic rural setting while gaining clinical opportunities and mentorship.

The VSS in Pediatrics, sponsored by the Office of Inclusive Excellence and the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Vermont will offer two student elective positions during the month of October, each with a $2,500 stipend for reimbursement of travel, housing, meals, and application fees.

Overview

The University of Vermont Children’s Hospital is in Burlington, Vermont, a diverse city with a population of 44,000. 

Visiting rotations of 4 weeks, will be offered in:

• Neonatology (NICU)
• Pediatric Primary Care
• Pediatric Pulmonary

Neonatal Intensive Care

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) rotation is a sub-internship that provides fourth year medical students with the opportunity to attend deliveries and work at an intern level in caring for newborns with acute and chronic medical issues. During their rotation the student will be encouraged to develop autonomy in managing their own patient panel, join rounds for both the resident and advanced practice provider teams, and attend didactic sessions focused on both NICU-specific topics as well and pediatric medicine more generally.

Primary Care Pediatrics

In Primary Care Pediatrics, students will have the opportunity to care for children of all ages for both acute and well-child visits. The primary care pediatrics site in Burlington houses the New American clinic, and the student may also have the opportunity to spend time in the community-based Building Strong Families clinic, a model of group well visits for New American young children and their parents.

Pediatric Pulmonary

The Pediatric Pulmonary service provides students the opportunity to evaluate infants, children, and teenagers with a broad variety of respiratory conditions such as airway disorders, cystic fibrosis, asthma, and infections.  The student will work as an integral part of the team in varied settings including outpatient subspecialty clinic, general inpatient pediatric unit, pediatric ICU, and neonatal ICU.  The student will practice bronchoscopy using simulation and attend bronchoscopies that are scheduled during the rotation.

While participating in VSS, visiting students are invited to attend a variety of teaching sessions alongside the pediatric residents.

There will be no overnight or weekend shifts for visiting students.

Each visiting student in the VSS Pediatrics Program will be matched with a resident/fellow and an attending as mentors for the month based on shared interests and additional experiences can be included during the rotation depending on individual interests of the student. Students selected will also be guaranteed a residency interview if interested in applying to our Department of Pediatrics Residency Program at the University of Vermont Children's Hospital.  

Eligibility

Eligible students include fourth-year medical students (post-clerkship year) in good standing who have passed Step One of the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) or the COMLEX Level 1 exam and are enrolled in a U.S. LCME or COCA accredited institution (an MD or DO granting program).