Career Development | Curriculum| Pediatric Residency Program | Academic Programs | Department of Pediatrics | UC Davis Health

Making career decisions during residency can be confusing and intimidating, so we want to help our residents with pursuing the career of their choice, whether that is in outpatient general pediatrics or in a pediatric subspecialty. We have a career development series integrated into resident didactics to help residents explore potential careers and provide tools to help with job and fellowship applications.

Please also review this guide and handouts to offer advice and guidance for your journey. The faculty of both the Residency Program and Department of Pediatrics are available to advise you on exploring and pursuing your career interests.

Career Development Handouts (pdf)

• Pediatric Hospitalist Medicine - Career development guide for pediatric hospitalist medicine
• Fellowship Information Guide - Guide to preparing and interviewing for pediatric specialty fellowships
• General Pediatrics Job Search Questions - List of the types of questions you should plan for when interviewing for a general pediatrics position
• Example Cover Letter - Example Cover Letter for General Pediatrics
• Career Night Job Search Tools - Career Night Job Search Tools
• Career Night Questions - Career Night Questions
• Curriculum Vitae Example #1 - Curriculum Vitae Example #1
• Curriculum Vitae Example #2 - Second sample CV
• Chief Resident Curriculum Vitae - Chief resident sample CV

General Pediatrics

Once you've completed pediatric residency, you are qualified to work as an outpatient general pediatrician. Depending on the medical group, these positions can sometimes include nursery and hospital privileges. Another option is to continue your pediatric training in a fellowship (see below). Our general pediatricians welcome you to further discuss job options and answer any questions.

If you're looking to stay in the Sacramento area after completing your pediatric residency, these are organizations that hire for general pediatrics:

• UC Davis Health System:
  • Faculty with the Department of Pediatrics
  • Primary Care Network (PCN)
• Sutter Medical Group
• Mercy/ Dignity Health Medical Foundation
• Kaiser Permanente
• WellSpace Health, a federally qualified medical center
• CommuniCare Health, a federally qualified health center
• Elica, a federally qualified health center

Private practices which have affiliated with larger medical groups in the Sacramento area (such as Hills Physicians)

Hospitalist Medicine

Another career path in general pediatrics is hospitalist medicine (guide), which typically requires training in a 2-year pediatric hospitalist fellowship.

If you're looking to stay in Sacramento at the completion of your residency, these are some organizations that hire pediatric hospitalists:

• UC Davis
• Kaiser Permanente
• Sutter Medical Group

Pediatric Fellowship

There are numerous pediatric subspecialty fellowships available. We recommend reviewing the following websites to learn more about programs, including the application process:

1. Council of Pediatric Subspecialties: Provides detailed descriptions of pediatric subspecialties, including information about salaries, lifestyle and application deadlines.
2. National Residency Matching Program - Fellowship Matching Service: Manages most subspecialty matches. The NRMP website provides information on pediatric subspecialties participating in a particular subspecialty match. It provides deadlines for registration and rank order list submission, as well as a list of the fellowship programs which participated in the prior year's match.
3. ERAS Fellowship Documents: Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS®) is the service that transmits fellowship applications and other supporting documents to program directors. Most fellowships utilizing NRMP use ERAS for transmission of documents.
4. FREIDA: FREIDA is an AMA database with over 8,700 graduate medical education programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, as well as over 200 combined specialty programs. A search of their database will provide basic information on subspecialty programs and how to contact the particular program you are interested in.

Career Development Curriculum

The Residency Program holds Career Development sessions throughout the year during didactics. At each session, pediatricians from general pediatrics and specialties from our department and community are invited to attend and offer advice to our residents. Sessions on CVs, cover letters, and interviewing are also part of this curriculum. Residents are also strongly encouraged to attend Career Fairs, both in the Sacramento area and the Bay Area in order to meet and submit their CVs to regional medical groups. Peds Jobs is also a good resource to find available jobs. Other issues to keep in mind for job hunting is to obtain three letters of recommendation early in the process. Some of the larger medical groups in Sacramento (e.g. Kaiser and Sutter) interview early in your senior year. As with any post-graduation job hunt, starting early is the best strategy for finding a job.

Additional Resources:

AAP Career Center: https://jobs.pedjobs.org/

AAP Residency Graduation Toolkit: https://www.aap.org/en-us/professional-resources/Path-to-Pediatrics/Pages/residency-graduation-toolkit.aspx