The education of pediatric surgeons began at Miami Children's Hospital in 1990, when three senior pediatric surgeons Dr. Michel Nahmad, Dr. Charles Lankau, and Dr. Malvin Weinberger founded a non-accredited fellowship and were joined by Dr. Cathy Burnweit, who had just completed her training. Over the next 25 years, the Miami Children's pediatric surgery fellows program mimicked that of approved programs in caseload and didactics, with trainees going on to practice pediatric surgery full-time or pursuing faculty appointments at top academic institutions.
With the full accreditation of the new medical school at Florida International University's Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Dr. Burnweit applied for and gained ACGME and RRC approval for the Miami Children's Hospital pediatric surgery fellowship in 2014, becoming the inaugural program director and chief of pediatric surgery. Since then, the fellowship has thrived, with an excellent mix of common and complex cases. Still, there are additional opportunities to grow the program and offer more educational experiences, such as the national colorectal course, the St. Jude's oncology program for fellows, the recently instituted Preparing for Fellowship Bootcamp and the Life-after-Fellowship Symposium at the AAP.
Please help support the next generation of pediatric surgeons at Nicklaus Children's Hospital! Drs. Nahmad, Weinberger, Burnweit, Malvezzi and Alkhoury have each generously agreed to match donations up to a total of $5,000.