Fellowship Overview
The Rady Children’s/University of California Irvine Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM) Fellowship is a two-year, ACGME-accredited program based at Rady Children’s Health in San Diego, California. Sponsored jointly by Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego and the University of California, Irvine, the program prepares physiatrists to deliver comprehensive, evidence-based rehabilitative care to children, adolescents, and young adults with a wide range of acquired and congenital conditions. Fellows train across the full continuum of pediatric rehabilitation, with structured experience in inpatient rehabilitation, outpatient multidisciplinary clinics, neonatal consultation, tone management, electrodiagnostics, and motion analysis — supported by protected time for research, quality improvement, and teaching. Our goal is to graduate physicians who are not only excellent clinicians but also future leaders in the field of pediatric physiatry.
About Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego
Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego is a nonprofit, 543-bed pediatric-care facility dedicated to excellence in care, research and teaching. We are the only hospital in the San Diego area dedicated exclusively to pediatric health care and the region’s only designated pediatric trauma center.
We are proud to be the region’s pediatric medical center serving San Diego, Imperial and southern Riverside counties. Our hospital treats sick children through treatment and surgery from birth to 18 years old as well as a small number of adults with certain conditions for which we have specialized services. Each year we provide patient care for more than 270,000 children across a large geographic area that includes an international border.
For the third year in a row, we were ranked as one of the nation’s Top 10 children’s hospitals by U.S. News & World Report (2025-26); as well as being ranked in every surveyed specialty.
About Rady Children’s Health
Rady Children’s Health is one of the largest pediatric health care systems in the nation, recognized for excellence and innovation. It was created in January 2025 through the merger of the parent companies of Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego and Children’s Hospital of Orange County.
With three hospitals, a growing network of primary and specialty care centers spanning six counties, and two of the region’s Level 1 pediatric trauma centers, RCH is a trusted partner for families seeking safe, high-quality care. Building on a combined legacy of more than a century of clinical excellence, RCH is dedicated to advancing children’s health through leading-edge research, innovative treatments, and compassionate care. We remain steadfast in our commitment to serving our local communities while providing the benefits of our integrated organization.
About Rady Pediatric Rehabilitation
We provide rehabilitative care to patients in the inpatient, outpatient and long-term care settings as well as in community-based clinics. Our Southern Family Cerebral Palsy Center is a lifespan clinic where we provide care to children and adults with disabilities. It is also home to our motion analysis lab.
Inpatient Care
Our inpatient service includes acute multidisciplinary rehabilitation, acute physiatric care and consultation for inpatients and patients in longer-term care with rehabilitation concerns. We also provide consultation for babies in the neonatal intensive care unit for immediate intervention and identification of long-term developmental concerns including cerebral palsy. We have a comprehensive multidisciplinary pain program which includes an inpatient component.
Outpatient Care
We provide care to children and adults with rehabilitative concerns in general and specialty multidisciplinary clinics. We provide care through California Children’s Services clinics at our main campus and in community-based clinics. Some of our multidisciplinary specialty clinics include:
- Muscle Disease clinic
- Limb differences clinic
- Spinal defects clinic
- Rett syndrome clinic
- Brachial plexus clinic
- Upper extremity tone and function clinic
- Pain Clinic
Common diagnoses also seen in our program include cerebral palsy, genetic disorders, developmental delay, stroke, encephalopathies, brain injury including concussion, spinal cord injury, torticollis, and peripheral nerve injury and pathology.
Tone management and diagnostic procedures
We specialize in tone management including systemic medications, intrathecal baclofen pump therapy, and non-selective and selective dorsal rhizotomy. Our focal tone management interventions include toxin injections (including ultrasound-guided injections) and alcohol neurolysis done in clinic and in the operating room. We are also developing a cryoneurolysis program for abnormal tone and pain.
We provide electrodiagnostics and multidisciplinary motion analysis and have access to advanced genetic testing.
Research, Quality Improvement and Education
We are involved in active clinical research with many publications and have a dedicated staff of research assistants. Our multidisciplinary quality improvement program, with a focus on the care of patients with cerebral palsy, has had long-term success in improving patient care. In addition to our fellowship, our providers have presented in the community and at many national and international conferences.
The Mission of Our Fellowship
We strive to support the development of the next generation of pediatric physiatrists who can expand the presence of pediatric rehabilitation medicine nationally and internationally and advance the knowledge of our field.
Contact
The Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Fellowship is currently accepting applications through the ERAS system.
For more information contact:
Susan Biffl, M.D. Fellowship Director, Associate Clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, UC San Diego
Email: sbiffl@rchsd.org