Conferences and Learning Opportunities
At Mayo Clinic NPM Fellowship, fellows take an active part in their learning throughout their entire training tenure. Fellows also are active members of the Division of Neonatal Medicine, participating in multiple committees and workgroups to deepen skills in practice administration, quality improvement, and teamwork.
First year fellow bootcamp
We want each incoming fellow to be well prepared to succeed in our fellowship. As such, each year we begin the first week of our fellowship with a one-week intensive orientation to the expectations, goals, and objectives of our fellowship, including those related to clinical, scholarly, and individual learning efforts. Fellows will be introduced to several high yield clinical topics (such as mechanical ventilation, delivery room management strategies, and ICU emergencies) and practice related skills during simulated sessions (including both introductions to our advanced communication and procedural curricula).
Take a tour of Mayo Clinic's Center for Procedural Mastery Skills, which is located in the same building as our Level IV NICU and is where our dedicated and longitudinal procedural curriculum occurs.
Dedicated fellow conferences
Our core learning experiences occur on Thursday afternoons and rotate systematically throughout fellowship. All fellows have protected learning time to attend these sessions in person and lunch is provided. Active learning and retention are prioritized through a series of conferences, workshops, and longitudinal teaching and learning experiences such as:
Faculty-led
Our Core Neonatal Medicine Curriculum includes a flipped-classroom approach to covering all critical content domains specified by the American Board of Pediatrics for initial Neonatal Perinatal Medicine certification. Independent pre-reading of core neonatology textbook chapters is foundational to in-person, group-learning activities led by division and departmental core faculty. We also have a tailored, gamified approach to Board Review Preparation following each content domain in the core series.
We have several longitudinal curriculum as well emphasizing active learning strategies, including curricula in Procedural Mastery, Advanced Communication, Leadership, Equity, and a Research Series led by Division of Neonatal Medicine experts in those domains.
Fellow-led
Fellows lead a number of conferences to enrich not only their own learning, but also that of their peers and faculty. Two fellow-led journal clubs include our Landmark series in Neonatology, which examines critical trials defining the field, and our Article of the Month series, which examines recent published clinical trials in neonatology. Fellows utilize the CONSORT statement for analysis and select one evidence-based medicine principle exemplified in the trial to expand upon as they present. In our NeoSurgery conference, our joint conference with Maternal Fetal Medicine and Pediatric Surgery, NPM fellows lead 2-3 interactive presentations to a multidisciplinary audience over the course of fellowship. Fellow also lead our quarterly Morbidity and Mortality review to the Division of Neonatal Medicine, presenting infant cases, identifying high-yield learning points, best practices, and areas for practice improvement, and leading the group in collaborative discussions. In our Fellow’s Choice series, fellows select topics and speakers of interest relating to any clinical or academic neonatology topic of their collective choice. In the final year of training, our third-year fellow leads a presentation of the summation of his or her scholarly work in our Senior Fellow’s Research Seminar to the Division.
Involvement in the Division of Neonatal Medicine
Fellows are active members of our Division of Neonatal Medicine, participating in multiple committees and workgroups to deepen skills in practice administration, quality improvement, and teamwork.
Neonatal Practice Committee
Our monthly committee meets to review, discuss, and approve practice-related decisions in the NICU. Fellows are active members in this committee, learning important administrative and teamwork skills, throughout their training time.
Neonatal Quality and Safety Committee
Our monthly committee meets to review quality improvement efforts and safety events in our NICU. Fellows lead one root-cause analysis (RCA) and/or multidisciplinary process analysis (MPA) to learn the process for systematic investigation of patient safety events and process improvement during fellowship. Fellows also lead one multidisciplinary Quality Improvement effort during their training.
NICU Mayomics conference
Our semi-annual, multidisciplinary review of cases identified through our rapid whole genome sequencing program, often held in conjunction with experts in the Center for Individualized Medicine.
Fetal board conference
Our joint conference with Maternal Fetal Medicine and multiple Pediatric subspecialists aimed at improving understanding of antenatal clinical decision making in high-risk pregnancies.
Enterprise-wide learning opportunities
Mayo Clinic Quality Academy
All fellows learn foundational QI skills from a Mayo Clinic-wide initiative, the Mayo Quality Academy, which aims to deliver an effective and comprehensive program of quality improvement education to all Mayo Clinic employees and learners. Each NPM fellow in our program co-leads a quality improvement project and becomes Silver Certified during their training time. Learn more about this program.
Clinical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Microcredential Program
Selected fellows can learn entrepreneurial skills to harness the commercial potential of their discoveries through this microcredential program. This pathway is designed to equip clinicians with the skills and mindset to innovate in healthcare. It focuses on helping medical professionals identify unmet clinical needs, develop novel solutions, and translate those ideas into real-world improvements in patient care. Participants learn about entrepreneurship, innovation frameworks, and collaborative problem‑solving, with the goal of empowering clinicians to become agents of change who can bridge clinical insight with practical innovation within healthcare systems. Learn more about what our fellows and other trainees at Mayo Clinic have said about being part of this pathway.
Resident Leadership Academy
Most NPM fellows participate in this pathway, which engages advanced fellow trainees with institutional and national leaders in a longitudinal one-year enterprise-wide program to gain invaluable leadership skills and grow their professional network. This tailored program is modeled after the highly successful Mayo Clinic Resident Leadership Academy.
Clinical Educator Pathway
Senior fellows can apply to this enterprise-wide program to pursue concurrent training in the science of education. The goal of this pathway is to train clinician educators to be patient-centered clinicians, inspirational teachers, and servant leaders in medical education. It does this through providing a community for future clinician-educators through small group sessions, peer coaching, innovation, and scholarship. Monthly sessions include topics such as education theory, curriculum development, small group teaching, and feedback. Trainees present their capstone project at the Mayo Clinic Empowering Medical Educators conference.
Mayo International Health Program (MIHP)
The MIHP helps interested learners pursue elective rotations to learn and assist in providing medical care to underserved international populations in well planned and mentored settings. MIHP provides up to $3000 in financial support to help defray travel and basic living expenses for those selected to participate. Learn more about this program.