McMaster University's non-accredited, two-year Pediatric Complex Care Fellowship Program offers certified pediatricians with an exciting and challenging learning opportunity at McMaster Children's Hospital, one of the country's leading academic pediatric hospitals.

Upon completing the training, McMaster University's Postgraduate Medical Education will issue a certificate of completion.

We are seeking candidates who have a keen interest in pediatric complex care and who have demonstrated a strong work ethic.

The McMaster Pediatric Complex Care Fellowship Program accepts self-funded applications from a home institution, hospital or bureau. To apply, please visit the link below.

McMaster Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) provides an environment where learners can develop the skills to become expert physicians and leaders in health care.

The length of training is two years.

The cornerstone of the fellowship experience is a weekly teaching curriculum that is fully integrated with the clinical experience. Fellows contribute to the inpatient teaching unit for approximately six months each year. During these service months, fellows lead and teach a multidisciplinary team consisting of a nurse practitioner, a senior pediatric resident, medical students and allied health-care staff including: respiratory therapists, social workers, occupational/physiotherapists, and dietitians.   

Fellows participate in regular weekly clinical teaching sessions, a protected half-day outpatient clinic, and biweekly academic half days designed to build knowledge and teaching skills during service blocks.   

To enrich and broaden clinical experience in complex care, fellows have three months of elective/selective opportunities including, developmental pediatrics, epilepsy and seizure management, spasticity, Botox, and salivation control.   

Fellows are entitled to four weeks’ vacation and one week of relevant external continuing medical education activities.  

Our work at McMaster Children’s Hospital and the surrounding regions is driven by a philosophy of family-centred care. Drawn from a catchment area that serves two million people, our practice supports patients who have underlying conditions including metabolic and genetic disorders, cerebral palsy, developmental disorders, and brain injuries. These conditions make our patients extremely medically fragile, frequently requiring technology-dependent medical modalities such as tracheostomies, home mechanical ventilation, and gastrostomy tubes (G tubes) and gastrojejunostomy tubes (GJ tubes).

Our inpatient unit has eight dedicated pediatric beds and four beds for patients with multiple medical issues in Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Units. In addition to covering the inpatient teaching unit, fellows also cover approximately one or two weekend on-call shifts per month for general pediatrics.

McMaster Children's Hospital

Throughout the academic year, fellows are allocated four weeks of protected research time during which a mandatory quality assurance or research project must be completed. Trainees can also choose to enhance their experience by completing a university teaching program or research methodology certification concurrently during their fellowship.