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Letter from program director

Welcome to the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System’s Pediatric Residency Program, located on the Medical College of Virginia Campus. Within these pages you will find a wealth of information about our program and our philosophy of education. After you have read about our program, I would encourage you to contact either me, one of the program coordinators or one of the residents for additional information.

The Pediatric Residency Program at the VCU Health System’s MCV Hospitals has a long and storied history of providing quality education for pediatricians. Over 80 percent of the practicing pediatricians in Richmond received their medical education and/or training at MCV Hospitals. At the heart of our program is a busy inner-city hospital. We have a very active inpatient service with nearly 100 percent occupancy of the available beds. Patient problems encountered are almost equally split between primary care pediatric issues and subspecialty or tertiary care issues. We encounter a wide array of illnesses while focusing on clinical pediatrics and outstanding patient care.

Over the past several years we have updated and reviewed our core schedule of lectures in order to provide our residents with a comprehensive review of pediatrics; developed a web-based resident education and resource program that provides residents with 24-hour access to our educational programs as well as updated and evidence-based research on clinical questions encountered; strengthened our board review process; implemented an evidence-based medicine rotation and the development of critically appraised topic list; and updated our morning report conference to include multi-media access to patient data, radiology and pathology. 

Training here, you will join an outstanding and enthusiastic group of house officers in a program designed with the educational needs of our residents in mind. We listen very carefully to the insights of our house staff and both categorical pediatric and combined med-ped residents are involved in all of the major committees of the department including the Residency Steering Committee (reviews and approves all changes in residency curriculum) and the Intern Selection Committee. Every month we have a town meeting forum for residents to raise any issues or problems that are seen. We listen very closely at these meetings and have made a number of changes directly related to issues raised in this forum.

Our chair, Dr. Joseph H. Laver, is an excellent clinician, teacher and mentor. He is present at morning report and conducts “chairman’s” rounds with the interns on the inpatient service twice a month. He has a strong commitment to ensuring the growth and advancement of the residency program. Our faculty is diverse and includes specialists in all of the pediatric subspecialties. One of the most frequently quoted assets of our program is the amount and type of access that the residents have to the faculty. The residents work hand-in-hand with the faculty members to provide excellent care to the patients and have the opportunity to discuss patient care issues in both formal and informal settings. Pediatric radiology, pediatric surgery, pediatric neurosurgery, pediatric ophthalmology, pediatric ENT, pediatric neurology and child psychiatry all have active programs on campus as well.

As program director, my goal is to provide the residents with quality educational conferences, offer exposure to a wide variety of patient problems and foster a collegial environment that allows our residents to develop techniques that will make them lifelong learners. Whatever your goal, primary care or subspecialty fellowship, the foundation you develop here is a solid one.

We are very proud of our residents and the residency program and welcome your interest.

Suzanne Lavoie, M.D.
Professor of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine
Director, Pediatric Residency Program

Virginia Commonwealth University | VCU Health System | School of Medicine
Children's Pavilion, Room 1-031
1001 East Marshall Street
P.O. Box 980264
Richmond, Virginia 23298-0264
Phone: (804) 827-0534 | Fax: (804) 828-2435
Email: dbarrett2@mcvh-vcu.edu
Updated: 01/17/2008