Wake Forest Pediatric Residency

We care for kids and we vote! 🗳️

We know that our votes will impact the future: ours, our country’s, and our patients’ 🇺🇸 We also love adding friendly competition whenever possible, so our residents and preceptors are competing for most votes casted within their respective continuity clinic days. Thank you for this amazing idea and for funding the prize (a pizza party for the winning day!) 🍕 Which continuity clinic do you think will win?? ❤️💙🤍

✨Meet Our Resident Monday✨

A cool November day 🍁 calls for a warm introduction of our one and only, Ben Ramsey!

🏡 Crofton, MD

🏥 University of South Carolina SOM Columbia

🩺 Clinical Interests: PICU vs. NICU

🏀 Hobbies: Hanging out with my partner and our beautiful baby, basketball, intern book club, Wine Wednesdays with my continuity clinic cohort 🍷

🎩 Why Wake: My partner was 20 weeks pregnant when I interviewed at Wake. The residents and faculty assured me that my family would be well-taken care of during residency. The program has delivered on this promise in more ways than I could have imagined. I feel supported as a new parent and as a resident, which speaks to the great culture we have here at Wake Peds.

❤️ What we love about Ben: His thoughtfulness with patients and their families. He goes the extra mile to make sure his team and patients are well-taken care of. Also, his beautiful family! (Swipe ➡️ for proof).

Halloween was a graveyard smash as always! 🪦 We love getting together to celebrate spooky season and see everyone’s costumes 🎃 Which is your favorite??? 👀

✨Meet Our Resident Monday✨

It is time to introduce our North Carolina native, Dr. Kelly Pring!

🏡 Hometown: Raleigh, NC

🏥 Medical school: Wake Forest SOM

🩺 Clinical interests: Pediatric neurology 🧠

✈️ Hobbies: Traveling (been to over 20 countries), baking, bingeing Love Island, taking Pure Barre classes!

🎩 Why Wake: I loved my time here during medical school! The people are so great and Winston is the perfect size with plenty to do without the headaches of a big city.

❤️ What we love about Kelly: Her kind-hearted demeanor and thoughtfulness towards her patients and classmates. We are so lucky to have kept you here!

It’s been a busy weekend here at Wake Peds! Friday was full of fall foliage and friendship as our fabulous PGY2’s had their half-day class retreat and got to spend quality time together before our Open House 🍁

Pizzas, babies, puppies, residents, faculty, and applicants oh yay 🤗 Our first post-COVID In-Person Open House was a success! We love getting to show off our program to new folks and showing off our people even more❤️ Can’t wait to meet more of you all throughout the application season!

What do our pediatric hospitalists, intensivists and neurologists do after hours? Ultrasound-guided lumbar punctures of course! We are so thankful for the wide variety of subspecialties and resources we have here . We learned how to use ultrasound in guiding our bread and butter procedure (no actual LPs were done). We also had the cutest models to show-off!

✨ Meet our resident Monday ✨

We’re kicking off our week with our queen Jenny Durant! 💝

🏠 Hometown: Boca Raton, FL

🩺 Clinical interests: most likely gen peds!

🎨 Hobbies: yoga and Pilates, trying new restaurants, concerts/live music, reading

🎩 Why Wake: I was going through the couples match with my partner and the peds program was very supportive throughout the process! Plus all of the residents and faculty were very friendly and welcoming throughout the interview.

❤️ What we love about Jenny: Jenny is intelligent, humble, and sweet. She has a kind, calming demeanor and we love being around her!

Happy interview season to all prospective residents and fellows! 👋🏼

We hope you enjoyed spending time with us via our stories. If you are attending one of our in-person events or planning on visiting during the application process,
1. We cannot wait to meet you, and
2. Please enjoy this (NON-exhaustive!) guide to weekends in Winston!

If you’re a current or former resident, feel free to comment your own must-do’s of Winston-Salem below so our applicants can learn and ! ⬇️⬇️⬇️

✨ Where are they now? Wednesday ✨

It’s another blast from the past with Dr. Shubho Sarkar!

🏠 Hometown: New Orleans, LA

🩺 Medical school: The Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA

💊 Current position: Pediatric Hospital Medicine Attending. Also serve as Associate Chief Medical Information Officer at Children’s Hospital New Orleans

🫶 Favorite thing about your job: The camaraderie and team-feel of working in an academic hospital setting is fantastic. Working with great colleagues, training resident physicians and educating medical students, all while caring for patient’s is extremely rewarding.

🎩 Reflection on peds residency at Wake: Wake Forest Baptist did an excellent job training me. After finishing residency, I initially did outpatient pediatrics for a couple of years before changing roles to being a hospitalist. All experiences and rotations definitely set me up for success - I felt very prepared coming out of training. Additionally, being “on the ground” during Wake’s transition to Epic (yes, I’m that old) set me up for the other part of my job - Clinical Informatics! During residency, I loved the dedication and trust that all the attending providers had - they valued providing autonomy and giving real practical experience, making the transition to being an attending as smooth as it could be. Also, Class of 2015 was definitely the best, and it was like a second family! 😄 Y’all may see some of us around soon.... 10 year reunion is coming up!

💭 What do you miss about Wake/Winston-Salem? So many things! Definitely all of the people and the truly fun times, the sound of the Harley Davidsons during Christmas toy donation, and of course The Silvermoon Saloon...

❤️ What we loved about Shubho: His love for Hawaiian shirts, wonderful sense of humor, and countless Mardi Gras pictures and stories! Bonus fun fact - Shubho’s chief resident is now our current program director!

✨Meet Our Resident Monday✨

Hello from one of our favorite Monday Clinic residents, Jacob Jones!

🏡 Hometown: Littleton, Colorado

🏥 Medical School: Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine

🩺 Clinical interest: General Pediatrics

🐶 Hobbies: Spending time with my family, my two boys are always keeping me active and on my toes. I enjoy reading fiction books (big LOTR fan). Going on walks with our dog, Zoey, and exploring areas of Winston-Salem.

🎩 Why Wake: Medium-size program that I felt I could form relationships/mentorship with the faculty. This was evident when I interviewed and has continued to be true as I have progressed in residency. I was looking for a city that would fit my growing family. My family and I could not be more happy to be here!

❤️ What we love about Jacob: He is very thoughtful with his colleagues and patients. We also enjoy the unexpected dad humor in the workroom which makes our day increasingly fun!

Another favorite fall activity in Winston-Salem…Wake Forest football! 🏈 Our residents love attending games, tailgating, and cheering on the Demon Deacons (or their own Alma maters!) 🎩

NC State Representative (and former WF Baptist President) Donny Lambeth visited our outpatient clinic today in support of Reach Out and Read (ROR)! 📚

The DHP was chosen due to our clinic’s history of innovation and excellence in this space, most notably in starting the national model for ROR in the newborn to 4-month visits. Our very own Dr. Anna Miller-Fitzwater also helped contribute to a new AAP policy statement on literacy promotion in primary care!

We are passionate about this initiative and so excited to have had a state representative in our clinic to support…all while repping his Wake Forest gear! 🎩

Some of our PGY2’s enjoyed the this past weekend, one of our favorite Winston-Salem fall activities! For , that meant enjoying the ferris wheel and a “slop bucket” safely from the ground 🎡

✨ Meet our Resident Monday ✨

Happy Monday from our fave Tolu Odukoya 👋🏼

🏠 Hometown: Toronto, Ontario

🏥 Med school: University of Kentucky

🩺 Clinical interests: ED, Child Psych, Adolescent Medicine

👟 Hobbies: Music ; gardening ; hiking ; fitness

🎩 Why Wake?: because of the people, the location, the faculty, the residents. I feel welcomed and wanted, and it makes all the difference.

❤️ What we love about Tolu: Tolu is our social butterfly!He is a curious learner, and always shows up with positivity and a can-do attitude

It was a great end of the week for our residents! Our PGY-1s had their first half-day retreat yesterday and our residents could not wait to get their flu shots 🤗

Per report, there were 200 pediatrics deaths for the 2023-2024 flu season. 80% were not fully vaccinated. This is a reminder for you and your loved ones to get the flu vaccine this season to not only protect yourselves but others around you!

✨ Meet our Faculty Friday ✨

We’re ending our week by introducing the one and only Dr. Cherece Grier!

🏡 Hometown: Fayetteville, NC

🩺 Medical training: Brody School of Medicine. Residency at Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando, Fl

💊 Clinical interests: I am a general pediatrician and love everything about it but have special interests in anticipatory guidance, well newborn medicine, breastfeeding education and equity, and early introduction to inclusive books.

🍱 Favorite thing about Winston-Salem: I love the different options of authentic cuisines. The patient population in the Triad area is rich with immigrants and refugees so you suprisingly get really good authentic foods.

🎩 Why did you choose Wake Peds?: I have been here for almost 5 years and love the family that I have here. I have my work aunties and uncles that give me career and parenting advice when asked and I have my work cousins to grow with, to encourage and to relax with after work. And just like my biological family we all get together to celebrate each other and are there for each other in times of loss and need.

❤️ What we love about Dr. Grier: She is a champion for all her patients and residents, and cares deeply for everyone she meets. Her laugh is contagious, and we owe Taco Tuesday all to her!

We are heartbroken about the devastating floods, homes lost and most importantly lives lost because of Hurricane Helene. Our hearts go out to the people of West North Carolina and surrounding states. We see you and we care for you. As we reflect on the loss we are encouraged by our local community. We would like to take the chance to share some local opportunities to help WNC. We also appreciate and their comprehensive list of ways to help, check them out for even more opportunities.

We ask our residents, alumni and faculty why Winston. This is why, we stand together as one to help our neighbors, patients and friends!

Thank you for all that you are doing thus far!

We may be a day late but we couldn’t let Latino/a Physician Day go by without recognizing a few of our favorite residents ☺️

“Did you know that only 6% of physicians are Latino or Latina in the United States, despite the country being made up of 19% Latino? California has an even higher Latino population reaching 40% with further increases projected to 50% by the year 2050. There are significant health care barriers, inequalities, and poorer outcomes in the Latino/Hispanic population. Having Latinos better represented in medicine is necessary for our communities and for the future of medicine in the United States.”

Thank you for raising awareness and thank you to our amazing Latino/a resident physicians for providing such excellent care to your patients! ✨ 6% is not enough ✨

Fact: Pediatrics have more fun and this was proven at the 2024 AAP National Conference and Exhibition. We are so proud of our faculty who are making enormous strides in the world of pediatrics especially, Dr. Joey Skelton, Dr. Miller-Fitzwater and Dr. Kimberly Montez. The future is brighter for our kids because of you all! Only at a pediatrics conference can you have this much fun, meet marine animals, meet up with alumni and get captured by the First Order. Can’t wait to see how will represent next year!

✨Meet Our Resident Monday✨

We are ending our Monday introducing our wonderful pediatric neurology resident, Dr. Natalie Smith!

🏡 Hometown: Miami, FL

🏥 Medical School: Nova Southeastern University KPCOM

🧠 Clinical Interests: Pediatric Neurology

☕️ Hobbies: Binge watching Netflix (and anything with reality TV), walking around downtown, going to local coffee shops, wineries, hiking, and hot yoga

🎩 Why Wake: Many reasons. At the time of making my rank list, I loved the location, the patient population (especially at DHP), and knowing I would have supportive admin both on general peds and neuro side. I’m really thankful to be training here alongside the best co-residents and faculty ever!

❤️ What we love about Natalie: She is the funnest person to be around! Her outgoing personality and sense of adventure is incredible. Her outfits and key phrases are always on point 🤗

To the folks that make our team a dream. Happy APP week!!! 🥳

Words and actions cannot express how thankful we are for all of you! Our residents learn so much from you all and you truly make Brenner’s a fun and amazing place. Thank you for everything that you do!

✨Where Are They Now Wednesday✨

We love it when our residents stick around as fellows and are excited to introduce our alum and current A/I fellow, Dr. Alex Fender!

🏡 Hometown: Asheville, NC

🏥 Medical School: East Carolina University

🩺 Current position: 2nd year Allergy and Immunology fellow at Wake Forest

🥜Favorite thing about your job? I really enjoy being an expert in managing asthma, eczema, allergies, and immunodeficiency. With social media, there is so much medical misinformation and it’s very rewarding to be able to educate patients and their families on these topics.

🎩Reflection on Wake: The faculty are great teachers and are all very passionate about medical education. There is also so much camaraderie between the residents and many will be lifelong friends. I miss Wednesday continuity clinic! Dr. Goodpasture and Dr. Downs are amazing preceptors and I loved the time with my co-residents.

❤️ What we love about Alex: His love for Twilight 🧛 and sense of humor while at work. He made it such a fun time on the wards. His love for his family and colleagues is admirable!

✨ Meet our Resident Monday ✨

It’s Rachel Davila! 👋🏼

🏡 Hometown: Ormond Beach, FL

📚 Med school: Alabama College of Osteopathic Medical school

🩺 Clinical interests: Gen Peds!!

🐶 Hobbies/ interests: Hiking hanging rock🥾 Hot yoga/pilates 🧘🏻‍♀️ Love a good weekend stroll at Reynolda with our dog Levi!

🏂 Fun fact: I learned how to snowboard when I moved to NC, s/o to Sugar Mountain!! 🫶🏼

🎩 Why wake: Every resident and faculty member was so welcoming on my interview day. I could see myself enjoying working alongside those that I met. When I got here my co residents became friends, and not only do I enjoy working with them but I look forward to it because they make work fun! Winston is also a great place to live, accessibility to both the beach and the mountains can’t be beat!

❤️ What we love about Rachel: her positive attitude, calm and strong leadership, and her obsession with babies make her one of our fave peds residents to work with 👶🏼

Casual Friday or Wacky Tacky Day at DHP? 👀 Either way the clinic drip is 🔥🔥