Teaching Activities

All members of the Neonatology Division are involved with teaching neonatal fellows, medical students, community pediatricians, neonatal nurse practitioners, neonatal nurses and respiratory therapists in varying degrees. In addition, all the major NICUs served by the Division are members of the Vermont Oxford and California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative (CPQCC).

UCSD’s Neonatology Division remains the central and core teaching unit for the neonatology education of pediatric residents and medical students. The Division expanded the number of trainees from two to three per year. The justification for moving ahead with such an increase was the desire to teach unique aspects of neonatology, including skills related to functional echocardiography, as well as cranial ultrasonography to help trainees better understand pathophysiology and facilitate decision making and diagnosis in the critically-ill newborn infant.

Neil N. Finer, M.D.

-	Responsible for organizing the Wednesday Fellows Conference and spends all day Wednesdays with the neonatal residents
-	Present at the NICU at UCSD Medical Center, where he reviews any new admissions or patient problems with the neonatal resident on call the previous night, as well as the oncoming neonatal resident
-	Mentor for neonatal resident research projects, and is currently mentoring at least two neonatal residents for their research studies
-	Provides feedback and evaluations for resident performances after discussion with the faculty, and works with neonatal residents who are in need of further assistance or counseling
-	Active in outreach education and has participated in numerous medical education activities through the United States and Canada
-	Member of the Perinatal Quality Improvement Panel (PQIP) and the CPQCC
-	Played a major role in developing and disseminating the newest Toolkit on Neonatal Resuscitation

Jae Hong Kim, M.D., Ph.D.

-	Attends the Wednesday Fellows’ Conferences, where he gives a number of reviews regarding pulmonary physiology
-	Mentor to neonatal residents involved in research and provides mentorship

Gregory Heldt, M.D.

-	Attends the Wednesday Fellows’ Conferences, where he gives a number of reviews regarding pulmonary physiology
-	Mentor to neonatal residents involved in research and provides specific mentorship with regard to research in the area of pulmonary physiology and clinical respiration physiology

Tina Leone, M.D.

-	Principal teacher of echocardiography and functional echocardiography to our neonatal-perinatal fellows
-	In charge of the neonatal nurse practitioner program

Frank Mannino, M.D.

-	Provides direct mentorship to the neonatal residents as an attending in the ISCC
-	Educates neonatal residents about the administrative requirements of running a neonatal intensive care unit
-	An expert in placental pathology, Dr. Mannino provides reviews of placentas every morning and teaches the neonatal residents how to evaluate placentas

Evan Snyder, M.D., Ph.D.

-	Provides four weeks a year of clinical coverage, plus additional weekend coverage and attends the Wednesday conferences
-	Provides input for developing increased mentorship for neonatal residents who want to pursue more basic science research
-	Developing more formalized opportunities for neonatal residents to work in his facility at the Burnham Institute

Yvonne Vaucher, M.D., M.P.H.

-	Supervises neonatal residents during their clinical rotations
-	Responsible for the neonatal resident’s activities in the neonatal follow-up clinic, where she supervises the neonatal resident’s patient evaluations, the overall summary of patients, and ensures that the neonatal residents are familiar with all of the evaluations conducted in the follow-up clinic and the interpretation of their overall assessments
-	Active as a frequent mentor and research advisor for neonatal residents whose research has involved neonatal follow-up
-	With her M.P.H. in Statistics and Epidemiology, Dr. Vaucher helps almost all of the neonatal residents design their research projects and assists them with any needed statistical evaluations