Posted by dcs9001 on October 6, 2014
The Pediatric Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital is marking another milestone in its development with a new pediatric rehabilitation fellowship to be inaugurated in July 2015. Accreditation of the fellowship by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education is anticipated. The fellowship draws on the strengths and resources of the bi-campus Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital led by Joel Stein, MD, Physiatrist-in-Chief, and the Division of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital under the direction of Heakyung Kim, MD, the
A. David Gurewitsch Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Columbia University.
Dr. Hannah (Aura) Shoval
Hannah (Aura) Shoval, MD, who currently serves as Chief Resident in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at NewYork-Presbyterian, has been selected as the first pediatric rehabilitation fellow. For Dr. Shoval, it is the culmination of training in a field that she has wanted to pursue since her undergraduate years at Barnard College, where she double majored in neuroscience and behavior and in dance.
"I was lucky to be introduced to the field early in college," says Dr. Shoval. "I really loved the biomechanics and physiology related to dance. That combined with my interest in neuroscience made physiatry a perfect fit for me."
While at Barnard, Dr. Shoval held a number of related research positions, serving as a research assistant in pediatric neurology at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, NY, and a volunteer research assistant with the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center for neurological disorders at Columbia University Medical Center. In her senior year, she completed two student research projects, one of which – Treatment for Chronic and Recurring Lower Back Pain Must be Informed by the Psychological Component – presaged her career in physiatry.
Dr. Shoval went on to receive her medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine before coming to NewYork-Presbyterian in 2012 as a resident in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Originally, she considered other subspecialties within the field, but ultimately zeroed in on pediatric rehabilitation. "There's a huge need for pediatric rehabilitation," says Dr. Shoval. "And there's so much we can do. Many families do not know what treatments are available for their child. They need an educated provider to inform them, especially for the younger children. There are many situations that if you intervene at a younger age you can achieve better outcomes. People need to know that these services are available and effective."
During the two-year fellowship, Dr. Shoval will be a member of the pediatric physical medicine team at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital under Dr. Kim. Here she will receive training in the full spectrum of inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services for some of the most challenging cases. These include patients who are ventilator-dependent, with tracheostomy and/or gastrostomy tubes, or require parenteral feeding. Many of these patients continue to receive IV therapies, plasmapheresis, or respiratory care while undergoing rehabilitation.
In addition, Dr. Shoval will manage her own patients in a continuity clinic, play an active role in teaching residents, and develop and pursue her own research project. She will spend time in the pediatric ICU, learning how to introduce rehabilitation at an early stage in the patient's recovery process. A significant portion of her fellowship will be spent rotating at Blythedale Children's Hospital, the only pediatric specialty hospital in New York State.
"I am very excited about being able to train under such a phenomenal mentor as Dr. Kim; learn from top physicians in pediatric orthopedics, neurology, and psychiatry; and work
alongside incredible therapists," says Dr. Shoval. "After that we'll see where life takes me. I'm confident that I'll have the training to really make a significant impact on peoples' lives."
