Welcome and thank you for your interest in the Corewell Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital/Michigan State University Pediatrics Residency! Located in one of the fastest growing cities in the Midwest, we are nationally ranked in multiple pediatric sub-specialties by U.S. News and World Report and offer a complete educational and clinical experience in our state-of-the-art, free-standing, children’s hospital.

We hope the following information is useful to you. Thank you again for considering us for your residency training and please feel free to contact us with questions.

“What do you want to be known for when you leave residency?” When we ask our graduates this question, the resounding answer includes: "Excellent inpatient care, compassionate and teamwork." As program directors for the Corewell Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital/Michigan State University Pediatrics Residency, we share these values with our graduates, and it is our goal to create a learning environment that cultivates your career goals.

When you join this program, you join a team that works to foster a community that is inclusive and innovative in order to impact the health of all the children we care for both now and in the future.

Inclusive

We serve our diverse local community effectively with the support of the institution's diversity, equity & inclusion team and our pediatric diversity and inclusion committee. Our goal is to create a supportive learning environment that's open and affirming to all team members, ensuring the best care to our pediatric patients. Through educational events, advocacy projects and intentional recruiting, inclusivity is a top priority.

Inclusivity also means listening to the needs of each resident so we can support you and your unique professional goals. Attendings and residents work side-by-side and intentionally call each other by first name. By doing so, we strive to know you as individuals and work to minimize traditional hierarchy. We work to truly have an open-door policy that responds to issues impacting your learning environment. We do not shy away from discussing difficult topics such as burnout, compassion fatigue, professional development, coaching, growth mindset and resilience.

Scholarly and advocacy activity is individualized and supported by mentors from a community of 300 pediatric physicians representing over 50 subspecialties. You will have the opportunity to join one of five curriculum tracks that support educational goals. In the third year, every resident has a half-day a week to explore your career interests.

Innovative

Along with robust fulfillment of board requirements and board preparation, we provide a curriculum for pediatricians to serve as leaders within their communities well into the future. We begin intern education with immersion and advocacy – a month long rotation that places general pediatrics at the start of your education. This is followed by higher acuity complex care rotations in your second year along with unique leadership electives in your third year that will prepare you for the next phase of practice.

Along the way, you will have the opportunity to earn a certificate in lifestyle medicine or global health. You may even elect to become a health equity scholar or a culinary medicine scholar. If none of these align with your passions, you will also have an opportunity to participate in unique elective experiences such as resident-as-teacher, complex care, rehabilitation medicine, research, community hospitalist and business of medicine. Each elective allows you to explore the aspects of pediatric medicine that may not necessarily be tested by the boards but also critical to your success.

Impact

None of this would matter if we did not accomplish our ultimate goal: impacting the health of all the children we serve. Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital strives to advocate for every child and has been recognized as a tertiary and quaternary referral destination serving all of West Michigan, including the upper peninsula. Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital has earned U.S. News & World Report rankings for providing excellent pediatric care for many years running. With the region’s largest neonatal ICU, a neurologic and cardiac ICU, an award-winning cardiology program, personalized genomics, wireless EEG monitoring systems, an efficient emergency department and growing pediatric fellowship programs, the hospital provides cutting edge care to children from around the state, region, nation and world. We are supported by research facilities including Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and the Van Andel Institute. As leaders in the community, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital has innovative partnerships with our local rehabilitative hospital and psychiatric hospital to provide comprehensive inclusive care for the children in our community.

In addition to excellent medical care, we work to impact our community in additional ways through legislative advocacy, topical advocacy day, volunteer projects and community outreach.

Inclusive. Innovative. Impactful. This is our mission. This work is possible due to the amazing teamwork and compassion within our program. When we ask residents why they came here to train, they list everything above along with the beautiful facilities and vibrant and accessible community of Grand Rapids. Most importantly, they all unanimously say, ”It is the people!”

Program aims

1. Impact the health of children in the community through innovative opportunities including advocacy, future-minded primary care education and exposure to a wide variety of pediatric subspecialties
2. To recruit and train an inclusive workforce that represents the community in which we work
3. Create a supportive learning environment that promotes individual career needs and individualized scholarly pursuits
4. Foster a culture of wellness, lifelong learning and safety in order to impact the health of patients, families and the community

Our hospital

Corewell Health Helen DeVos Children's Hospital (part of Corewell Health Grand Rapids Hospitals) is a state-of-art, free-standing children's hospital and Level I trauma center. The Gerber Foundation Neonatal Center at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital is Michigan's largest neonatal center and the fifth largest in the nation with more than 1,300 babies admitted annually.

Like most pediatrics facilities, we practice a family-centered rounding style. Our continuity clinic experience is unique in that we have the option of spending one half-day per week of the third year in a clinical setting of your choosing, whether a private practice primary care clinic, a community clinic, a subspecialty clinic, or even a hospitalist or critical care role. At Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, we truly care about individualizing your education to help you reach your professional goals. As such, we offer several curriculum tracks.

Electives

Within each track, multiple electives can be selected based on your interests and goals. Here is a sampling of the electives we offer:

Scholarly activity at Spectrum Health spans the continuum of medicine and includes translational research, medical education, quality and safety, and advocacy projects and initiatives. Our faculty members are experts in their fields, with a vast array of scholarly interests, and are excellent research mentors for our residents. Each year, residents present their research at a variety of local, regional, and national conferences.

All pediatric interns complete a clinic immersion rotation in their first or second block. During this month, interns have daily morning clinics with a gradual increase in patient load. In the afternoons, they visit various community programs and advocacy groups to better understand what resources are available locally for our patients. Pictured here are interns on a wellness walk, a group preparing food at a culinary medicine class, and the intern day of service at Habitat for Humanity.

All visiting medical student applications must be submitted through the Visiting Student Learning Opportunities program. The Spectrum Health course catalog for rotation opportunities starting in July for the next academic year will be posted in March. Applications will be accepted starting April 1.

Spectrum Health provides a comprehensive and very competitive benefits package for our residents, staff and their families. In addition, our program provides educational monies to support your ongoing education. Download our salary and benefits document to learn more.

Learn more about our faculty at www.phd.msu.edu.