The University of California, Irvine, its Department of Pediatrics and Division of Neonatology, constitute an academic institution in pursuit of medical knowledge in order to improve the quality of medical care for their patients and families. It believes that better patient care comes about through high quality medical education supported by excellence in clinical, biomedical and applied research.The training program in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine is geared to achieve these objectives within the constraints of managed care medicine and the economic constraints of the health care delivery system.

The Neonatal-Perinatal Fellowship Training Program is based on the following guidelines and requirements:

      A.    Institutional requirements for fully accredited Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Training Program as mandated by The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).      
      B.    Statement on Pediatric Fellowship Training from the Federation of Pediatric Organizations.      
      C.    Eligibility criteria for certification in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine established by The American Board of Pediatrics.      
      D.    University of California, Irvine policies for residents/fellows appointed and paid through the University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine.

Based on the above principles for the three years of the training, clinical, educational, administrative and research rotations have been devised to meet the above objectives.

1.   Clinical service rotations at the two training institutions (University of California Irvine Medical Center and Long Beach Memorial Medical Center) to be limited to a maximum of 15 months during the 3 years of fellowship training.
2.   One half-day per week (Wednesday afternoon) dedicated time solely to provide educational activities for the trainees.
3.   Research training in clinical, applied and bench research for 18 months of the 3 years of the fellowship training.
4.   Specialty clinics (developmental follow-up and pulmonary clinic for the neonatal intensive care units [NICU] graduates) of 8 months of half-day per week during research month assignment.
5.   One month vacation per year.
6.   The coordination of research time into 3-4 month blocks with research "elective" rotations in Perinatology, Cardiology and Neonatal Neurology.