Started in 1987 by Drs. Scott Mubarak and Dennis Wenger, our Pediatric Orthopedic Fellowship has grown to support four clinical fellows a year and several international research fellows. This renowned program provides valuable tools to help young surgeons thrive once they graduate and start their own practice.
Here, some of our past fellows share their experiences.
Raymond Liu, M.D. (class of 2010)
When I first decided on pediatric orthopaedics, I sat down with my chief, Dr. George Thompson, and it quickly became obvious that I should aspire to do my fellowship in San Diego. It turned out to be some of the best guidance George has ever given me as my mentor.
One of the best parts of the San Diego fellowship was the didactic teaching, and I have worked towards developing a similar program at Case Western. I am constantly tweaking the conference structure in my program, which now features Maya Pring style “Jeopardy” sessions. The residents enjoy the constantly evolving sessions and have given me the “Outstanding Educator of the Year” award twice over the past three years.
Reflecting back, what I learned in my fellowship at San Diego has been instrumental in starting my academic career. For one year I was exposed to the very best in terms of clinical practice, education and scientific investigation, and I have been able to apply those principles and habits towards the fantastic resources available in Cleveland. It is with great delight that I watch the continuous stream of excellent fellows coming out of Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, and with great pride that I know that I will always be a part of this orthopaedic family.
Vineeta Swaroop, M.D. (class of 2008)

My time at Rady Children’s turned out to be one of the most challenging, exciting and rewarding years of my life. I was influenced in so many ways, both big and small, and I carried what I learned at Rady Children’s back with me when I started my career in Chicago. At the stimulating morning conferences, I learned how to approach unique cases from both my own presentation preparations and from my co-fellows’ presentations. Previewing and reviewing cases at the X-ray board was at times slightly terrifying, yet sometimes hilarious, thanks to comments from the senior staff.
The Hospital staff provides the backbone of the program. I learned so much both in and out of the operating room from all of them. Dr. Mubarak taught me to never accept anything less than excellence both from yourself and from all those around you (be demanding, when needed). Another great tool I took away from him was the surgical “cookbook,” which he advised me to make as detailed as possible. I brought dozens of “cookbook” details back to Chicago with me, and as I started out in practice I found comfort in their detail and organization.
While on Dr. Wenger’s rotation, a time that I enjoyed immensely, I learned much about pediatric orthopedics and many other varied topics of the world. One thing that impressed me was that Dr. Wenger always remained in the operating room until the very end of each case and even placed the cast himself. Probably to my resident’s dismay, I do the same thing now and continue to use the casting concepts I picked up in San Diego. Dr. Wenger also taught me to advocate for myself and helped me to negotiate the political complexities of starting out as a young attending in the program I had trained in as a resident (not always easy to do).
For me, the year in San Diego was a truly special one filled with lots of great memories for my husband, Chris, and I. We attended parties at every single one of the attending’s homes, as well as Padres and Aztecs games. By far one of the best things I took with me was an international network of colleagues and friends, from my attendings and co-fellows to all the previous and future Rady Children’s fellows. Every academic meeting is now a chance to reconnect with that network which is incredibly energizing. During the year, I developed a special camaraderie with my co-fellows, John Schlechter (Orange County), Patrick Henderson (Tucson) and Eric Edmonds (San Diego).
Philip L. Wilson, M.D. (class of 2001)
Like many others, I can say that having the opportunity to do my fellowship in San Diego has been one of the best experiences of my life; shaping me as a surgeon, clinician, educator and person. It has given me not only fond memories, but also ongoing skills that I continue to draw from on a weekly basis.
Former San Diego fellow and Scottish Rite Hospital staff Dr. Karl Rathjen, as well as my UTSW orthopedic chairman Dr. Bob Bucholz, assured me that experience in the San Diego fellowship would be a perfect fit – high volume pediatric orthopedics, dedicated and brilliant educators, a fantastic academic environment and curriculum, and experience in office efficiency. They were of course more than right – as over time I have been involved in creating such an environment here in Dallas.
My time in San Diego was wonderful and more than I could have hoped for. I remember and still draw from Dr. Mubarak’s incredible attention to detail in practice oversight and office efficiency; teaching me that the logistics of practice and business are important adjuncts that afford the enjoyment of patient care, research, and education. The wit and wisdom of Dr. Wenger is one of the joys that I treasure. Whether it was in the operating room, speeding down the highway to a clinic, or at a social engagement – I, like many of us, relish the hundreds of occasionally irreverent but always insightful remarks: Yes – ‘”surgery, like life, is a symphony – there are times to move quickly, and times to have a very measured pace….” The humble excellence of Dr. Chambers’ surgical career continues to be an inspiration. Dr. Newton’s surgical skill and intellectual drive –almost – made me want to do spine. Dr. Wallace’s ever present technical pearls remain in my tool bag and are retold – with appropriate credit – to my trainees today. And of course my wife and I fell in love with San Diego. What a bonus – as Karl Rathjen said – it always is great to train where there are palm trees!
I was fortunate to be able to return to Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas and join my mentors in practice in 2003. My early career was heavily based in trauma with the majority of my time dedicated to the Children’s Medical Center Level 1 trauma center -an extremely busy center that our group continues to staff and remains an important clinical and research base for trainee education at Scottish Rite Hospital.
In addition to clinical and surgical skill sets, connections made in San Diego have served me well in my academic career. Hank’s leadership and development of the PRISM (Pediatric Research in Sports Medicine) Society has been fantastic for our growing subspecialty and I am happy to have served in programmatic and leadership roles. As many of us do, I strive to meet the challenge of balancing local research interests in knee and elbow OCD, meniscal pathology, and patellofemoral instability with powerful multi-center opportunities for research. Many of the multi-center research groups in which I participate have strong connections with our San Diego fellowship alumni and the current Rady Children’s Hospital Sports Medicine staff.
David Scher, M.D. (class of 2000)

I still recall Dr. Mubarak’s words in July of 2000 as my fellowship was coming to an end. “Your fellowship will continue for 5 years after you leave here,” he said. I repeat that advice now to my fellows every year and it is mostly accurate, with the exception that in fact my fellowship has continued to this day. That element of intellectual challenge, which is really intrinsic to pediatric orthopaedics, is one of the most gratifying aspects of this discipline and I am grateful to the staff and the tradition of San Diego Children’s for stimulating my academic curiosity and giving me the foundation to continue my education for decades to come.
After I graduated in 2000, I returned to NYU-Hospital for Joint Diseases where I had completed my residency, and began a diverse pediatric orthopaedic practice. Following what is certainly a common pattern, much of my operative practice in the first few years was comprised of pediatric orthopaedic trauma, and I was very well prepared for this after the busy call nights at San Diego Children’s. In fact I remember one of my colleagues commenting on my facility in reducing supracondylar fractures at the beginning of my practice, a skill that was developed only with lots of practice on many call nights.
From the start of my practice I was assigned to run the cerebral palsy clinic and work along side Wally Lehman in the clubfoot clinic. These experiences allowed me to build on the background I had gained in cerebral palsy, gait and pediatric foot disorders in San Diego. Then, in 2004, I got a call from Roger Widmann at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), about 2 and ½ miles to the north, asking if I’d be interested in joining him, Dan Green, Steve Burke and Leon Root in their pediatric orthopaedic group. With the opportunity to become the co-medical director of a world-class gait lab and hone my interest in pediatric foot deformity, I moved to HSS in October 2004.
Since then I have been part of developing the largest pediatric orthopaedic service in the New York region. We now number eight pediatric orthopaedic surgeons with focused interests among us including spinal deformity, limb lengthening and reconstruction, pediatric sports, and now with the arrival of my good friend and “fellow” fellow Ernie Sink, a renowned pediatric and young adult hip center.
As I step back and reflect on my training, my career and my family life, I think I have reached a balance. Pediatric orthopaedics is a wonderful field that allows us to grow intellectually, challenge ourselves, make a difference in the lives of children and live a fulfilling life. The professional and life lessons learned during my time in San Diego have helped to create the foundation for me to build this life on.
Past Fellows
2022-2023
Stephen Carveth, MD
Private Practice Des Moines, Iowa
Mark Katsma, DO
Balboa Naval Medical Center
Chinmay Paranajape, MD
Portland Shriners Hospital for Children
Josh Tadlock, MD
San Antonio Military Medical Center
2021-2022
Katharine Hollnagel, MD
Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, Cleveland
Caitlin Orner, MD,
Medical College of Wisconsin
Joshua Speirs, MD
University of Utah
Mikhail (Mike) Tretiakov, MD
Seattle Children’s Hospital
2020-2021
Anthony Catanzano, MD
Duke University
Patrick Curran, MD,
Rady Children’s Hospital
Jessica Hughes, MD
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center/Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
Brock Kitchen, DO
Nevada Orthopedic and Spine Center in Las Vegas
2019-2020
Jessica Burns, MD, MPH
Phoenix Children’s Hospital
Clarabelle DeVries, MD
University of Chicago
Hakan Pehlivan, MD
Private practice in New Jersey
Megan Severson, MD
Carilion Clinic Department of Orthopedic Surgery in Roanoke, Virginia
2018-2019
Peter Hahn, MD
Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital in Long Beach
Jonathan Koenig, MD
Private practice in Los Angeles
Ronald Roiz, MD
Loma Linda University Medical Center
Ernest Young, MD
The Cleveland Clinic
2017-2018

Children’s Hospital of New Orleans

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics

University of North Carolina

Children’s Hospital of Colorado
2016-2017


Children’s Orthopaedic & Scoliosis Surgery Associates, LLP
St. Petersburg, Fla.

University of Mississippi Medical Center
Jackson, Miss.

IU Health Physicians Riley Orthopedics
Indianapolis
2015-2016

Central Texas Pediatric Orthopedics
Austin, Texas

University of Virginia Health System
Charlottesville, Va.

Greenville Health System
Greenville, S.C.

Loma Linda University Medical Center
Loma Linda, Calif.
2014-2015

Children’s Orthopaedics of Atlanta
Atlanta

Naval Medical Center Portsmouth
Portsmouth, Va.

Fort Belvoir Community Hospital
Belvoir, Va.

Sports Fellowship
University of Colorado
Denver
2013-2014

Sanford Health
Fargo, N.D.

HIMA Plaza
Caguas, Puerto Rico

Kansas Orthopaedic Center
Wichita, Kan.

Children’s Orthopaedic and Scoliosis Surgery Associates, LLP
Tampa, Fla.
2012-2013

The Carolinas Medical Center
Charlotte, N..C

Scott & White
Temple, Texas

North Jersey Pediatric Orthopedics
Ridgewood, N.J.

Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital
Grand Rapids, Mich.
2011-2012

Greenville Health System
Greenville, S.C.

The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore
Bronx, N.Y.

San Antonio Military Medical Center
San Antonio, Texas

The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore
Bronx, N.Y.
2010-2011

Joe Dimaggio Children’s Hospital
Hollywood, Fla.

Central Texas Pediatric Orthopedics
Austin, Texas

University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa

Children’s Hospital and Research Center of Oakland
Oakland, Calif.
2009-2010

Shriners Hospital for Children
Los Angeles, Calif.

Case Western Reserve
Cleveland

Duke University Medical Center
Durham, N.C.

Indiana University
Indianapolis
2008-2009

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
Stanford, Calif.

Encino, Calif.

Mt Sinai School of Medicine
New York
2007-2008

Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago
Chicago

Adult and Pediatric Orthopaedic Specialists
Orange, Calif.

Children’s Orthopedic Specialists
Tucson, Ariz.

2006-2007

UMDNJ
Newark, N.J.

Indiana University
Indianapolis

Center for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
Akron, Ohio
2005-2006

Children’s Hospital
New Orleans

Miami Children’s Hospital
Miami, Fla.

BC Children’s Hospital
Vancouver, BC
2004-2005

Pediatric Sports and Spine Associates
Grapevine, Texas

Akron Children’s Hospital
Akron, Ohio

Milwaukee

Indiana University
Indianapolis,
2003-2004
Stefan Parent, M.D.
St. Justin Hospital
Montreal, Quebec
Michael T. Rohmiller, M.D.
Cincinnati Spine Institute
Cincinnati
Jay C. Albright, M.D.
The Children’s Hospital-Denver
Denver
Ryan C. Goodwin, M.D.
The Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland
Sohrab Gollogly, M.D.
Monterey, Calif.
2002-2003
Maya E. Pring, M.D.
Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego
University of California, San Diego
San Diego
John E. Tis, M.D.
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore
Gary S. Shapiro, M.D.
Glenview, Ill.
Scott C. Nelson, M.D.
Loma Linda University
Loma Linda, Calif.
2001-2002
David S. Brown, M.D.
Pediatric Sports and Spine Associates
Grapevine, Texas
Timothy S. Oswald, M.D.
Atlanta
Adam Barmada, M.D.
Portland, Ore.
2000-2001
Sean D. Early, M.D.
Santa Barbara, Calif
Walid K. Yassir, M.D.
Children’s Hospital of Michigan
Detroit
Philip L. Wilson, M.D.
Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children
Dallas
1999-2000
Afshin Aminian, M.D.
Children’s Hospital of Orange County
Orange, Calif.
David M. Scher, M.D.
Hospital for Special Surgery
New York
Ernest L. Sink, M.D.
Hospital for Special Surgery
New York
1998-1999
Laura L. Meyers, M.D.
St. Louis
Gregory V. Hahn, M.D.
Children’s Orthopaedics and Scoliosis
St. Petersburg, Fla.
Michael J. Elliott, M.D.
Children’s Hospital of Central California
Madera, Calif.
Francois D. Lalonde, M.D.
Children’s Hospital of Orange County
Orange, Calif.
1997-1998
Steven L. Frick, M.D.
Nemours Children’s Hospital
Orlando, Fla.
Neal P. McNerney, M.D.
Hollywood, Fla.
Kevin G. Shea, M.D.
Intermountain Orthopedics
Boise, Idaho
1996-1997
Christopher K. Kim, M.D.
Richmond, Va.
Gregory R. White, M.D.
Phoenix
Anthony K. Kahn, M.D.
Austin, Texas
1995-1996
J. Marc Cardelia, M.D.
Children’s Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
Norfolk, Va.
Christopher P. Comstock, M.D.
Corpus Christi, Texas
Karl E. Rathjen, M.D.
Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children
Dallas
1994-1995
Scott W. Beck, M.D.
St. Petersburg, Fla.
Raymond M. Stefko, M.D.
Sports Orthopaedics and Spine
Jackson, Tenn.
C. Douglas Wallace, M.D.
Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego
University of California, San Diego
San Diego
1993-1994
Mark E. Moran, M.D.
Palos Heights, Ill.
Robert J. de Swart, M.D.
Orthopaedic Associates, Inc.
Westlake, Ohio
1992-1993
Donald Kim, M.D.
Riverside, Calif.
1991-1992
Laurel J. Benson, M.D.
The Children’s Hospital-Denver
Denver
1990-1991
Jon R. Davids, M.D.
Shriners Hospital
Sacramento, Calif.
Francisco G. Valencia, M.D.
University Orthopedic Specialists
Tucson, AZ
1989-1990
Henry G. Chambers, M.D.
Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego
University of California, San Diego
San Diego, CA
Edward B. Elmer, M.D.
Pleasanton, Texas
1988-1989
Mark F. Abel, M.D.
Kluge Children’s Rehabilitation and Research Institute
Charlottesville, Va.
Christopher M. Sullivan, M.D.
University of Chicago
Chicago
1987-1988
Reid A. Abrams, M.D.
University of California San Diego
San Diego
1986-1987
James Bowler, M.D.