Scholarly Activity

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We believe that engagement in scholarly work is integral to the success of a pediatrician, necessary to advance the field of medicine and provide the best care possible for our patients. All our residents participate in a mentored scholarly project, which can include traditional research, QI, advocacy and/or medical education. Dedicated research time is available to residents, including participation in the and many residents publish and/or present their work at regional and national venues.

The skills learned in these projects translate to the bedside, as our residents practice evidence-based medicine, teach patients and their families, improve their own practice, and advocate for the health of children.

Academic Environment

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Pediatric faculty members are actively engaged in a variety of scholarship, including QI, advocacy, and both clinical and educational research. Wake Forest School of Medicine recently renewed their Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health to encourage collaborative clinical research. This provides significant support, including statisticians and research coordinators, to enable projects by trainees and junior faculty. Pediatric faculty members have recently received extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Duke Endowment, among others, and are excited to include residents in their ongoing projects.

Mental Health

Mental and behavioral health training includes a dedicated rotation during intern year and a longitudinal component embedded in the continuity clinic curriculum. We have partnered with a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist (CAP) to provide a curriculum covering screening, diagnosis, and treatment of common mental health disorders. After teaching, the CAP stays on site to precept patients with the residents.

Developmental/Behavioral

DBP is taught both during the block rotation in your intern year and longitudinally in the outpatient clinic. Our DBP specialists come to clinic to teach a curriculum that is embedded in your continuity clinic curriculum and precept patients directly for whom there are developmental or behavioral concerns.

Pediatric Serious Illness and End of Life Curriculum

It is crucial for all pediatricians to have adequate exposure during residency to the medical care of seriously ill children at the time of diagnosis through end of life. What is often underemphasized is the communication skills needed to support patients and families through these difficult circumstances.  Therefore, a newly designed curriculum will start in July 2025 to address this need. The curriculum will be multi-modal and longitudinal including two academic half-day sessions, medical technology simulation sessions, a communication lecture series and formal on-rotation didactics.

Medical Ethics/Professionalism

This newly-designed curriculum is structured around pediatric cases, allowing residents education in navigating challenging scenarios encountered with our patients and families.

Medical Education

Julie Wood - Pediatric Residency Program CurriculumAlong with a longitudinal “Residents as Teachers” didactic curriculum that teaches the resident to teach, our pediatric residency program has opportunities for upper-level residents to participate in a block rotation that focuses on Medical Education and allows the participant to be the Teaching Resident.

The Teaching Resident does not have clinical duties aside from their weekly continuity clinic; therefore, they can focus on building their teaching portfolio and engaging with multiple levels of learners under the guidance and mentorship of Dr. Melissa Baranay.

Scholarly projects in medical education are also encouraged; our department of pediatrics has many faculty with expertise in medical education who hold leadership positions in undergraduate and graduate medical education.

One resident per class is selected in a competitive process each year to be Medical Education Ambassadors. This team of residents learn skills in medical education administration, feedback and remediation as liaisons to students on the pediatric clerkship. They work collaboratively with the clerkship director and residency program director to enhance education opportunities for all learners within the department.

Quality Improvement and Patient Safety

Residents participate in a longitudinal didactic curriculum that teaches quality improvement methodology, cost-effective medicine, safety event classification, and detecting and disclosing medical errors. Scholarly projects in quality improvement are encouraged. Residents who have a special interest are invited to be a part of the iQ Academy, the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Safety and Quality Certificate Program. Additional opportunities exist including participating in hospital root cause and apparent cause analyses, safety event classification, morbidity and mortality conference, and more.

Journal Club

Residents and faculty participate in journal club once per month during noon report. A PGY-2 resident works with a faculty advisor to lead discussion on a recent journal article. This also includes brief didactics from the faculty advisor on evidence-based medicine.