Application
What are we looking for?
Graduates of medical schools in the United States and other countries are eligible to apply. We seek applicants who are intelligent, curious, creative, energetic, personable, and accomplished. We are very interested in having a diverse residency class and wish to attract exceptional applicants with wide ranging interests and talents from all parts of the country and beyond. We are especially interested in those who will become leaders in one or more of the many areas of academic pediatrics: medical care, laboratory or clinical research, teaching, patient advocacy, public policy or global health.
PL-1 Applications – Three Year Pediatric Residency Positions
We accept 36 PL-1 residents in the Categorical Track, including the various combined program described below and 11 residents in the Urban Health and Advocacy Track. For PL-1 positions, the Boston Combined Residency Program in Pediatrics (BCRP) participates in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). Applications will only be accepted through ERAS.
Candidates may apply to either one or both tracks. We recommend applying to both. Each track has its own NRMP match number. The tracks are listed in the NRMP Directory as follows:
Boston Combined Residency Program in Pediatrics
- Peds-Categorical Track/Boston Children’s Hospital : #1259320C0
- Peds-Urban Health and Advocacy Track/Boston Medical Center: #1259320C1
PL-1 Applications – Two Year Pediatric Residency Positions
Special Alternative Pathways (“Fast-tracking”):
We allow residents to enter both of the special alternative research pathways offered by the American Board of Pediatrics: the Accelerated Research Pathway and the Integrated Research Pathway.
Combined Pediatrics – Medical Genetics:
The BCRP is one of the few residency programs in the country that offers combined training in pediatrics and medical genetics. We can accommodate up to two such positions a year. Applicants interested in this option should contact Dr. Amy Roberts. The application is submitted as described above for PL-1 applicants. Please clarify in either your personal statement or by separate communication with Dr. Roberts and Dr. Sam Lux that you are interested in the combined program. Those invited for a BCRP interview will have additional interviews with the clinical genetics faculty. The combined program has its own NRMP Match number listed in the NRMP Directory as: Pediatrics/Medical Genetics #7652444017. Applicants interested in the combined Pediatric-Medical Genetics program should also apply to the BCRP (Categorical Track) and make their interest in genetics clear in their personal statement.
Child Neurology – Boston Children’s Hospital:
We offer five 2-year positions in the Categorical Track for residents who match in the child neurology residency at Boston Children’s Hospital and first need to complete two years of pediatric residency training.
Boston Children’s Hospital offers a combined BCRP Pediatrics-Child Neurology program (termed the “Categorical Child Neurology” program) in which the match is for 2 years of general pediatrics (beginning 2022) in the Categorical Track of the Boston Combined Residency Program in pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center, and three years of child neurology at Boston Children’s Hospital (beginning 2024). Applicants who match in this track are guaranteed a position in the BCRP. The NRMP Match number for the combined BCRP Pediatrics-BCH Child Neurology program is #1259185C0. Applicants to the categorical child neurology track should also apply to the Categorical Track of the BCRP (#1259320C0) as this simplifies processing of the combined application. They should make their intentions clear in their personal statement.
Child Neurology – Boston Medical Center:
We offer up to one 2-year position in the Urban Health and Advocacy Track for a resident who matches in the child neurology residency at Boston Medical Center but who first needs to complete two years of pediatric residency training.
The Child Neurology program at Boston Medical Center offers one Categorical position and one Advanced position. Applicants who match in the Categorical position are guaranteed a position in the UHAT track in the BCRP beginning in 2022 and will begin their child neurology training in 2024. Applicants who match in the Advanced position will also begin their child neurology training at BMC in 2023 but must match independently in pediatrics. The NRMP Match number for the Categorical track is 1257185C0. The number for the Advanced track is #1257185A0. Applicants interested in the Categorical position in the BMC Child Neurology program should also apply to the UHAT track in the BCRP and make their interest in child neurology clear in their personal statement.
Each of these neurology tracks can be ranked independently in the match.
Neurodevelopmental Disabilities:
The Boston Children’s Hospital NDD position is of the “Advanced” type, meaning a four-year NDD position, which begins in 2024. It is linked with a two-year preliminary position at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA. The preliminary track for NDD trainees in the Baystate pediatrics residency emphasizes the general pediatric care of children with complex neurodevelopmental disorders. The subsequent NDD training at Boston Children’s Hospital is a four year program that combines adult neurology, child neurology, and specific neurodevelopmental disabilities training. It includes six months devoted to a scholarly project. Persons completing this training are eligible to sit for the Board Certification examinations for Pediatrics, Neurology with Special Qualification in Child Neurology, and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities. The NDD training program is #1259186A0 (an Advanced program); the preliminary pediatrics program at Baystate is #1286320P1. The program is described here.
NDD applicants should should contact Dr. Elizabeth Barkoudah directly. She is the program director for the Neurodevelopmental Disabilities training program at Boston Children’s Hospital and can assist with what can be a somewhat confusing process of application.
Combined Pediatrics – Anesthesiology:
The BCRP was one of the first residency programs to offer combined training in Pediatrics and Anesthesiology. Residents begin their first year in the pediatrics residency. The following year is the first year of anesthesiology training, followed by three years of integrated residency training in both pediatrics and anesthesiology. Throughout the three years of integrated training, while residents are doing core training in Pediatrics or Anesthesiology, they will be expected to attend conferences and participate in core clinical activities once a month in the other discipline to make the combined program fully integrated.
Individuals ideally suited for this combined training will likely pursue careers at the interface between critical care, pediatrics, and anesthesiology. Examples of such careers include hospitalist medicine, pain and palliative care, out-of operating room procedural and sedations services, and members of integrated subspecialty teams in pediatrics, critical care and anesthesiology. One of the first combined residents, Ethan Sanford, has published an article in Anesthesia and Analgesia describing the program and the advantages of combined training.
Applicants interested in Pediatrics-Anesthesiology should make their interest evident in their personal statement or by separate communication with Dr. Sam Lux, who directs residency selection at Boston Children’s Hospital and Dr. Morana Lasic, who directs resident selection in Anesthesiology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. If possible, applicants should apply to both Pediatric Anesthesiology in ERAS (#1259726C0) and to the Categorical Pediatrics Track of the BCRP (#1259320C0). This is very important as it is difficult for us to process and keep track of an application that is not in the Categorical Pediatrics database. There is no obligation to rank the Categorical Pediatrics program.
It is helpful to Dr Lasic and the anesthesiology application process if combined Pediatrics-Anesthesia program applicants also apply to Categorical Anesthesiology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and you clearly must do so if Categorical Anesthesiology is your backup to the combined program. If Categorical Pediatrics is your backup and you cannot also apply to Categorical Anesthesiology for some reason, let us know and we will forward your combined program application to Dr. Lasic.
PL-1 Applications – One Year Preliminary Positions
We do no ordinarily offer one-year preliminary positions in pediatrics but occasionally do so for exceptional students who will likely match in one of the Harvard residency programs requiring a preliminary year.
Deadline:
All PL-1 applications should be received by October 31, 2021. While we will consider applications received after that date, interviews are rarely granted to late applicants. Because of the volume (more than 1700 applications), we appreciate receiving applications early.
Applicants should update their applications anytime they have significant new information (e.g., election to AOA or other honors, Step II scores, acceptance of a major paper, etc.). To ensure the information is noted, they should also email Dr. Sam Lux.
Applicants who accept an appointment elsewhere, or who for any reason wish to withdraw, are requested to notify Dr. Lux and the NRMP immediately.
