2025 Q&A Fellowship Series: Spinal Cord Injury Medicine-AAP Fellowship Summer Series- Spinal Cord Injury

Video Transcription

Video Summary

This seminar, part of the AAP fellowship summer series, focused on spinal cord injury (SCI) fellowships featuring panelists from University of Louisville, University of Texas, and Stanford University. Programs generally offer one-year training covering inpatient and outpatient SCI care, acute consults, chronic management, procedural skills like spasticity injections, and mechanical ventilation management. Fellowship curricula often include longitudinal patient care, didactics (some virtually collaborative across programs), mentorship, and research opportunities, with significant flexibility to tailor training based on fellows’ clinical and research interests.<br /><br />Applicants to SCI fellowships do not need extensive prior SCI experience; passion, curiosity, and motivation to learn are paramount. Exposure during residency, even brief consult rotations, internship as a team player, and relationship-building skills prepare candidates well. Programs value individualization, allowing fellows to set personal goals and focus on areas such as education, research, or clinical leadership.<br /><br />Career paths post-fellowship vary: some focus on inpatient care, others outpatient, and some blend consult roles. Academic SCI providers typically work within multidisciplinary teams at specialized centers, while community or private practice roles tend to be broader in scope. Virtual learning and inter-institutional collaboration have enhanced SCI education, enabling shared resources and ongoing professional support among a small but connected field. The panel encouraged prospective applicants to reach out for exposure opportunities and emphasized that genuine interest remains the key to competitiveness.

Keywords

spinal cord injury fellowship

SCI training programs

inpatient and outpatient care

spasticity injections

mechanical ventilation management

virtual didactics

mentorship and research

multidisciplinary SCI teams

career paths in SCI