About the Fellowship
The goal of the Children's Hospital Los Angeles Pediatric Radiology Fellowship is to provide competence in all aspects of pediatric imaging. The program is also structured to foster research and teaching skills necessary for a successful career in pediatric radiology.
Over 130,000 examinations are performed annually in the Radiology Department, providing an ample volume of diverse cases for the educational benefit of trainees. We have a fully integrated Fuji PACS system and are completely filmless. We utilize Powerscribe, a voice recognition dictation system. All standard imaging modalities are available within the department. The department has a digital biplane angiographic room, three fluoroscopic rooms, seven general radiographic rooms, four digital portable radiographic units, a 64 MSCT GE CT scanner, an ultrasound section with six new Toshiba Aplio-500 scanners, and four clinical MRI units including a 1.5T GE Signa LX, a 1.5T Philips Achieva, a 3TX Philips Achieva and a 3T Philips Ingenia. The department also has a fully equipped nuclear medicine section with a new Siemens Intivo SPECT/CT, a new Symbia E dual-head gamma camera with SPECT, Philips Gemini PET/CT scanner, ADAC Vertex with SPECT, Siemens orbiter gamma camera, and a Technicare.
The staff consists of twelve full-time and one part time faculty members. The full-time faculty members all have academic appointments at Keck School of Medicine.
The Pediatric Radiology Fellowship is fully accredited by the ACGME, and is flexible in order to meet the needs and interests of each individual fellow. Two to three fellows are selected each year after interviews during the fall and winter of the preceding year. The fellowship is one year in duration, with an optional second year depending on the fellow’s individualized training goals. The second year may be within pediatric radiology or pediatric neuroradiology.
A typical, one-year program will include training in all aspects of pediatric radiology. Fellows are assigned to rotations in the different areas: general pediatric radiology including plain film interpretation and fluoroscopic procedures, Body CT and MRI, Fetal MRI, Ultrasound, Neuroradiology, Nuclear Radiology, and Angio/Interventional.
Departmental conferences include: Daily lectures and conferences, Caffey Club, monthly journal club, Grand Rounds, quarterly Radiology QA meetings and biannual Program Evaluation Committee meetings. Interdepartmental conferences include: Surgical M&M, Hospital Tumor Board, IMFH (Institute of Maternal Fetal Health), Neuropathology, Soft Tissue Tumor, Rheumatology, Cardiothoracic, ENT, Urology and Brain Cutting, and Core Curriculum for quality improvement and patient safety.
The fellows will be given a half an academic day a week starting in September. This time will be used to complete his/her mandatory scholarly activity and prepare for conferences and lectures.
Ample research opportunities exist for fellow involvement. The fellows are enrolled in a weekly research symposium. They also have access to the Saban Research Institute where approximately 100 physician-scientists and researchers are engaged in close to 200 active studies. These breakthrough investigations focus on laboratory, clinical and population based research. Our scientists serve on the faculty at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and join forces with other prestigious pediatric research efforts throughout North America and the globe. The results are benefiting children worldwide, as well as providing important insights into many adult diseases.
The Saban Research Institute building also houses the Small Animal Imaging Research Center (SAIRC) at CHLA which maintains over 2,500 square feet of research and office/image analysis space. Preclinical research at CHLA is also conducted in the Smith Research Tower located next to the hospital, encompassing an additional 80,000 square feet of space solely devoted to research in basic sciences. One of the Radiology faculty members, Rex Moats, PhD, serves as the administrator of the SAIRC. The equipment at the SAIRC facility includes the following: Xenogen IVIS 3D Living Image System, Xenogen IVIS100, Bruker Pharmascan 7T Small Animal Imaging, Imtek/Siemens Micro-CAT I, Gamma Medica X-SPECT (Micro-CT/SPECT), and 2 Faxitron MX-20 high resolution X-ray devices.
The CHLA SAIRC also maintains approximately 350 square feet of wet laboratory space for cell culture and animal surgical procedures. The program has two main goals: 1) to provide a specialized imaging core facility to develop biomarkers and outcome measures associated with pediatric disorder and disease risk and 2) to study the biological and metabolic determinants of musculoskeletal development. CHIRP has approximately 2,000 square feet of dedicated research space and houses a research-dedicated 3T Philips Ingenia.
Normal work hours are Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm. All fellows will take call every other Thursday and one 24-hour Saturday call each month. Each fellow will take one 24-hour call over the 4-day Thanksgiving weekend.
Fellows receive four paid weeks of paid leave which can be used for vacation, meetings, or conferences. Each fellow also receives a stipend for books and conferences. The fellow is fully sponsored for meetings in which they present original research.
How to Apply
Click here to download our application form. To find out more about our program or to apply, please contact us.
Program Fast Facts
ACGME Accredited: Yes
Fellows per year: 3
Application Deadline: Complete applications can be submitted starting September 1st of application cycle. Interviews will be scheduled starting November 1st of application cycle.
Duration: 1-2 years
Postgraduate Training Required: Completion of Radiology Residency Program
U.S. Citizenship Required: No
Salary Minimums:
Post Graduate Year 4: $78,531 minimum
Post Graduate Year 5: $81,677 minimum
Post Graduate Year 6: $84,712 minimum
Post Graduate Year 7: $87,652 minimum
Post Graduate Year 8: $90,952 minimum
Post Graduate Year 9+: Please contact gme@chla.usc.edu
Benefits Include: Health and dental insurance, 14 days paid vacation+ 6 protected sick days, yearly educational stipend, monthly meal stipend, and 401(k) matching up to 3%
Meet Our Fellows
Current Radiology Fellows
Ryan Mayock, MD
Ryan Mayock has spent his life in Pediatric Radiology, working for 10 years at the Seattle Children's Hospital department of radiology prior to entering medical school. He is originally from Calgary, Alberta, Canada but grew up in Seattle, WA. He attended the University of Washington, obtaining a B.A. in Philosophy prior to starting his medical career. He obtained his medical degree at Albany Medical College. He completed his residency at Kaiser Permanente LAMC in 2023. He has a passion for global health with extensive experience abroad in clinical and sustainable development programs, and hopes to utilize portable ultrasound to enhance obstetric care in low-resource areas in the future. Clinical interests include process improvement, Pierre-Robin sequence, pancreatic imaging, and dose reduction.
Where have our previous fellows gone?
Class of 2021:
Kristen Launier, MD: Children’s Hospital Orange County
Ashook Ramachandra, MD: Advanced Radiology Services
Class of 2020:
Amir Mikhchi, MD: RadNet
Takman Mak, MD: Naval Medical Center San Diego
Class of 2018:
Daniel Nahl, MD: Children’s Hospital of Orange County
Class of 2017:
Aarti Luhar, MD: Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
Michael Chiang, MD: Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Class of 2016:
Mark Escudero, MD: Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center
Lydia Kuo-Bonde, MD: Raleigh Radiology
Johnathan Chen, MD: Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
Class of 2015:
Priya Sharma, MD: University of Florida Health
Rachel Berkovich, MD: St. Louis Children’s Hospital
Class of 2014:
Peter Assad, MD: Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Amit Sura, MD: Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Melissa Debayle, MD