#470 - ABP Reverses Course on Two Year Neo Fellowship

Send us Fan Mail

The American Board of Pediatrics has reversed course. After months of pushback from the neonatology community, the ABP has excluded neonatal-perinatal medicine from the two year fellowship waivers it is now granting to seven other pediatric subspecialties. Neonatology fellowship stays at three years. Ben is joined by Dr. Patrick Myers, past chair of ONTPD and fellowship director at Northwestern, and Dr. Brooke Vergales, ONTPD co-chair, to break down how this happened. They describe how program directors, division chiefs, and the AAP Section on Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine presented a unified position, why the ABP listened, and why both guests still consider this a pause rather than a settled outcome. The episode also covers what the reversal did not change: entrustable professional activities are still arriving over the next 18 months, and the scholarly activity requirement is still being dropped. ONTPD's response is a new committee to define what an excellent neonatologist must know at graduation.

Support the show

As always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: nicupodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below.

Enjoy!