Fellowship Details & Requirements

Eligibility requirements include but are not limited to:

1. Successful completion of USMLE STEP 1, 2 and 3
2. Successful completion of an ACGME accredited General Pediatrics residency,
3. ECFMG certification, if applicable
4. Along with employment requirements as per UT MD Anderson Graduate Medical Education policy

Please refer to our GME eligibility requirements and the FRIEDA guidelines for a complete list.

Applicants must also submit required materials, including a current curriculum vitae, a personal statement, a recent photograph, and three letters of recommendation, including one from the applicant's residency program director. 

A sample contract for prospective trainees may be viewed here.

The fellowship aligns its goals  and objectives with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's (ACGME) six core competencies to ensure comprehensive training and development of fellows in the field of pediatric hematology-oncology.

Patient Care

Our program emphasizes providing fellows with comprehensive training in state-of-the-art clinical care for pediatric patients with hematological diseases and oncological conditions. Fellows will gain hands-on experience in both inpatient and outpatient settings, participating in the diagnosis, treatment, and long-term follow-up care of patients.

Medical Knowledge

Through structured educational activities, including lectures, journal clubs, and case conferences, fellows will acquire a thorough understanding of the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of hematological and oncological disorders in pediatric patients. Fellows will also engage in research endeavors to deepen their medical knowledge and contribute to advancing the field.

Practice-Based Learning and Improvement

Fellows will develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills through active participation in patient care, research projects, and scholarly activities. They will receive mentorship from experienced faculty members to continually assess and enhance their clinical practice and research endeavors.

Interpersonal and Communication Skills

Fellows will refine their communication skills to effectively interact with patients, families, and interdisciplinary healthcare teams. They will learn to convey complex medical information in a clear and empathetic manner, fostering meaningful relationships with patients and facilitating collaborative care.

Professionalism

Our program instills values of professionalism, integrity, and ethical conduct in fellows, preparing them to uphold the highest standards of patient care, research integrity, and professional responsibility. Fellows will learn to navigate challenging ethical dilemmas and demonstrate respect, compassion, and cultural sensitivity in their interactions with patients and colleagues.

Systems-Based Practice

Fellows will gain insight into the healthcare system's structure and function, learning to navigate complex healthcare environments and advocate for optimal patient outcomes. They will collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to improve patient care quality, safety, and efficiency, while also understanding the socioeconomic and cultural factors influencing healthcare delivery.

By integrating these core competencies into our fellowship program, we aim to produce highly skilled and compassionate pediatric hematology-oncology specialists who are equipped to excel in clinical practice, research, and leadership roles within academic medicine. Our fellows will emerge from the program with the knowledge, skills, and professionalism necessary to make meaningful contributions to the field of pediatric hematology-oncology and provide exceptional care to patients and their families.

The fellowship is a three-year program with an optional additional one-year component for fellows interested in advanced training.  The first year is dedicated to an in-depth clinical training experience.  Fellows gain inpatient and outpatient experiences on:

• adolescent and young adult care
• hematologic diseases
• leukemia and lymphoma
• neuro-oncology
• solid tumor
• bone marrow transplant
• survivorship 
• radiation oncology
• hematopathology
• transfusion medicine
• palliative and supportive care
• integrative medicine

Fellows are involved in the supervision and training of residents both through scheduled talks and direct patient care.  Fellows also participate in the presentation of weekly Patient Care Conference and multidisciplinary case conferences.  An oncology core curriculum conference of all disciplines is an institutional requirement.  In addition, lectures and journal clubs further the fellow’s education.  A dedicated fellow-driven board review course has been added to supplement this educational model.

Forty weeks of the first year are spent at UT MD Anderson, where the emphasis is on oncology and 10 weeks at the University of Texas Health Science Center and Memorial Hermann Hospital, emphasizing nonmalignant hematology.  Memorial Hermann Hospital is part of the Texas Medical Center and is a 10-minute walk from UT MD Anderson and hosts numerous hematologic disease-based clinics, including Gulf States Hemophilia and Thrombophilia Center, young women's bleeding disorders, and a comprehensive sickle cell clinic.

The Division of Pediatrics is active in translational research where laboratory-based investigations are brought to clinical trial. In keeping with our recognition of the shifting emphasis toward greater research skills among pediatric hematologist oncologists, the second and third years of the fellowship are oriented to gaining basic research skills through clinical, translational and/or laboratory-based research.  Each fellow selects a primary research sponsor. With the approval of the program director, Division Head, and research sponsor, the sponsor agrees to serve as the Fellow’s mentor and to provide sufficient resources, space, and guidance to provide a challenging and comprehensive research experience. 

The New Agents Program in the Division of Pediatrics is dedicated to identifying making available to our patients new and investigational agents that might not be available to them otherwise.  Research opportunities exist not only in the Division of Pediatrics and throughout UT MD Anderson but also throughout the Texas Medical Center. Fellows are required to present their findings in a division-wide seminar, and to be eligible to sit for the American Board of Pediatrics Hematology/Oncology sub-specialty board exam, the fellow must author a manuscript of their research findings.

To increase expertise and help develop decision-making opportunities, the fellow will run their own continuity clinic, held weekly throughout their entire fellowship.  This experience allows the fellow to participate in the long-term care of a selected group of patients throughout their fellowship in various disease sub-specialties including: non-neuro solid tumors, neural tumors, leukemia and lymphoma, stem cell transplant and cellular therapies, and classical hematology.

Inpatient Service

• Fellows rotating on the inpatient service are expected to coordinate patient care under the supervision of the attending physician and to supervise and teach house staff and advanced practice providers, as needed. Fellows are expected to coordinate patient discharges and provide communication to the primary oncology team so that appropriate follow-up is done. 
• Our inpatient services, both at UT MD Anderson and Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital, have moved to a hospitalist model, whereby the fellows can serve on the dedicated oncology consultation services. This model is consistent with the classical hematology consultation service at Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital. 

Outpatient Clinical Rotations

• Fellows rotating in the outpatient clinic are expected to take an active role in providing outstanding patient care. 
  
• Fellows are expected to see as many new patients as possible during their outpatient rotation and are responsible for dictating the PME (primary medical evaluations) on those that they have seen on the same day that patient is seen. 
• During the leukemia/lymphoma and procedure rotations, the fellow is expected to be proficient with bone marrow aspirates and biopsies, lumbar punctures and intrathecal chemotherapy administration.  All procedures are logged and submitted to the accreditation board for future career placement. 
• Given the nature of our field, fellows are encouraged to observe and to particiapte in as many challenging conversations with their preceptors as possible. This involves, but is not limited to, intial cancer diagnosis, any disesase progression, and/or relapse, plans of therapy, obtaining informed consent, and end of life conversations. By having these talks with families, faculty can supervise the discussion and provide feedback to the felllow so they may develop their own style. 
• Fellows are also required to attend a two-day Vital Talk seminar where they conduct these challenging conversations under the direct supervision of their mentors with trained, standardized patients.  

Continuity Clinic  

Our fellows each have protected time for their continuity clinics which consists of a full day clinic during their first year followed by a ½ day of clinic during the second and third year of fellowship.  During clinic they do not have any other assigned responsibilities, and this allows full integration with their clinic patients. 

The continuity clinic structure, which is designed and highly rated by our trainees, allows fellows to have immersive outpatient clinic experiences within all our specialized clinics while working with subject experts as their preceptors.  These clinics include advanced practice providers who are integral in the continuity and help provide further subject area expertise. 

Throughout the entirety of training, fellows form very close relationships with their patients, families, and the comprehensive clinical teams.  They serve an integral role in the care of our patients.

On-Call Duties

Fellows participate in on-call duties as a part of their educational experience.  These calls are structured with concepts of ‘back to bedside’ as per ACGME's mission with the goal of preparing fellows to step into a clinical leader role.

Division faculty are readily available for clinical discussion, education and decision making. 

An in-depth training course in clinical research, the "Clinical Research Curriculum (CRC), is offered by UT Health Houston through McGovern Medical School. This is an extensive two-year research training program designed specifically for the fellow or junior faculty. For those interested in developing an academic career in clinical research, UT Health Houston also sponsors a Master’s in Clinical Research. Fellows must complete the first year of the CRC and then may apply for the master’s program, for an additional two years of study.

Our fellows participate in national conferences each year, including the 2026 American Society of Pediatric Hematology Oncology Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where they gave poster presentations.

Recent Faculty & Fellow Publications

Gemcitabine, Docetaxel, Melphalan, Carboplatin as Part of Sequential Cycles of High-Dose Chemotherapy with Autologous Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Rescue for Multiply Relapsed/Refractory Pediatric Germ Cell Tumors

Publication: Pediatric Blood & Cancer

Authors: Maria Frost, Olayinka Okeleji, Amr Elgehiny, Douglas Harrison, Cynthia Herzog, Jeremy Connors, Demetrios Petropoulos, Priti Tewari, Dristhi Ragoonanan, Yago Nieto, Irtiza N. Sheikh

Primary breast malignancies in adolescents and young adults: The MD Anderson Cancer Center Experience 

Publication. 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting, Journal of Clinical Oncology

Authors: Samanta Catueno, Adrian Gutierrez, Amanda Balch, Lavinia P. Middleton, Clark Andersen, Mariana Chavez Mac Gregor, J. Andrew Livingston, Michael Roth, Kelly Hunt, and Najat C. Daw

Managing and Preventing Hypofibrinogenemia in Pediatric and AYA Leukemia Patients: Insights from MD Anderson Cancer Center

Publication: Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology

Authors: Jiasen He, Faryal Munir, Camila Ayerbe, Samantha Dickson, Samanta Catueno, Branko Cuglievan, Amber Gibson, David McCall, Cesar Nunez, Michael Roth, Priti Tewari, Miriam B Garcia, Nidra Rodriguez, Jose Cortes

Calasparagase Pegol Induced Hemolytic Anemia [Letter to the Editor]

Publication: Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology

Authors: Ariel Nash, Christine Nguyen Dinh, Jitesh Kawedia, David McCall, Stacy Weinman, Miriam Garcia, Michael Roth, Cesar Nunez, Branko Cuglievan, Amber Gibson

STAT5 Activation Enhances Adoptive Therapy Combined with Peptide Vaccination by Preventing PD-1 Inhibition

Publication: Molecular Cancer Therapeutics

Authors: Aaron E Fan, Hussein Sultan, Takumi Kumai, Valentyna I Fesenkova, Juan Wu, John D Klement, Joshua D Bernstock, Gregory K Friedman, Esteban Celis

The multilayered control of acetylation during adenovirus-based immunotherapy of cancer

Publication: Molecular Therapy: Oncolytics

Authors: Akhila Parthasarathy, Maria Frost, Andrew G Gillard, Marta M Alonso, Candelaria Gomez-Manzano, Juan Fueyo

Beyond Cellular Therapies: The Expanding Role of Antibody-Driven Immunotherapy in Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Publication: Acta Haematologica
Authors: David McCall, Samanta Catueno, Ramya Ramakrishnan, Priti Tewari, Irtiza Sheikh, Amber Gibson, Cesar A Nuñez, Miriam B Garcia,

Branko Cuglievan

Pediatric Lymphomas: Key Concepts and Clinical Approaches for Pediatricians

Publication: Pediatrics in Review

Authors: Samanta Catueno, Branko Cuglievan

Severe Hypertriglyceridemia Secondary to Long-acting Asparaginase in Pediatric Patients With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Publication: Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology

Authors: Amr Elgehiny, Alexander Hsu, David McCall, Amber Gibson, Branko Cuglievan, Cesar Nunez, Miriam B Garcia, Luz Castellanos, Alexander Funck, Shehla Razvi

Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant for an Unknown Inherited Bone Marrow Failure Syndrome with a Novel Compound Heterozygous Mutation

Publication: Pediatric Blood & Cancer

Authors: Olayinka Okeleji, Sajad Khazal, Kris M Mahadeo, Dristhi Ragoonanan, Nidra Rodriguez, Courtney DiNardo, Jeremy Connors, Demetrios Petropoulos, Priti Tewari, Irtiza N Sheikh

Lymphoid Malignancies in Ataxia-Telangiectasia: Experience with Novel Targeted Therapies

Publication: Pediatric Blood & Cancer

Authors: Samanta Catueno, Ramya Ramakrishnan, Sarah Elitzur, Miriam B Garcia, David McCall, Cesar Nunez, Michael Roth, Alessandra Ferrajoli, Branko Cuglievan, Amber Gibson

Spinal Cord Stroke in the Pediatric Population: A Clinical Overview

Publication: Pediatric Neurology

Authors: Amr Elgehiny, Matthew Wright, Lakshmi Srivaths, Sishir Mannava, Shaikha AlQahtani, Jiasen He, Daniel Davila-Williams, Stuart Fraser

Characteristics and outcomes of newly diagnosed pediatric acute myeloid leukemia patients who were removed from standard regimens and received alternative therapy

Publication: Haematologica

Authors: Andrew Wahba, Samanta Catueno, Katie Na, Samantha Dickson, Alexandra Stevens, Branko Cuglievan, Michele S Redell

STAT5 Activation Enhances Adoptive Therapy Combined with Peptide Vaccination by Preventing PD-1 Inhibition

Publication: Molecular Cancer Therapeutics

Authors: Aaron E Fan, Hussein Sultan, Takumi Kumai, Valentyna I Fesenkova, Juan Wu, John D Klement, Joshua D Bernstock, Gregory K Friedman, Esteban Celis

Novel immunotherapeutic approaches for pediatric classical Hodgkin lymphoma: Nivolumab or brentuximab vedotin with the AVD regimen

Publication: Pediatric Blood & Cancer

Authors: Olayinka Okeleji, Amber Gibson, Cesar Nunez, Miriam B. Garcia, Michael Roth, Branko Cuglievan, David McCall

Post transplant maintenance therapy with newly FDA-approved revumenib for high-risk KMT2Ar acute leukemia

Publication: Blood Advances

Authors: Olayinka Okeleji, David McCall, Amber Gibson, Miriam B Garcia, Cesar Nunez, Michael Roth, Jeremy Connors, Demetrios Petropoulos, Priti Tewari, Branko Cuglievan, Irtiza N Sheikh

Variability in the Recommendations for Management of Vaso-occlusive Crisis and Acute Chest Syndrome in Sickle Cell Disease: Review of Institutional Algorithms of Pediatric Hospitals Across the United States

Publication: Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology

Authors: Amr Elgehiny, Mariam Z Quraishi, Aravind Yadav, Lakshmi V Srivaths, Olayinka Okeleji, Deborah L Brown, Neethu M Menon

Our trainees have the opportunity to work alongside leading pediatric cancer experts at our Children's Cancer Hospital and institutions across the Texas Medical Center. Additionally, our trainees receive exceptional support from the fellowship leadership team: 

The fellowship includes an optional component for additional advanced clinical research training in pediatric hematology/oncology specifically designed for outstanding fellows who are pursuing a career in academic medicine. This program will provide advanced clinical research training for pediatric hematology/oncology fellows and prepare them to be highly competitive for faculty positions.  The advanced training program will:

(1) Provide extended protected research time under the mentorship of a senior, independent investigator at UT MD Anderson.  The goal is to allow the fellow to develop nationally recognized expertise in an area of research in pediatric hematology/oncology and to develop adequate experience and preliminary data to allow them to establish independent research programs with extramural funding.

(2) Providing the fellow the opportunity to experience intense clinical activity in one area of pediatric hematology/oncology and equip them to be national experts one of the following areas:

• hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy
• leukemia and lymphoma
• non-neural solid tumors
• neuro-oncology
• phase 1 research

The advanced training component lasts one year.  During this time advanced fellows participate in patient care, education and research activities.

The advanced trainee is expected to participate in several research courses administered by the Graduate School of UT Health Houston.  These courses include Biostatistics and Clinical Trial Design.

In addition to gaining unparalleled education and training experience, UT MD Anderson trainees have access to exceptional resources and benefits to help them build meaningful careers and lead fulfilling lives.

Institutional benefits and support

GME trainees’ salary stipends are updated every year based on the ACGME’s recommendations. Our trainees are considered workforce members and also enjoy UT MD Anderson’s employee benefits, including health insurance, retirement planning, disability insurance, and six weeks of parental leave.

Our GME House Staff Senate offers trainees the opportunity to experience a leadership role, and the institution’s Academic Mentoring Council provides avenues to secure tailored academic mentoring from faculty. Our GME trainees benefit from the extensive support offered to our research trainees. They are invited to participate in grant application workshops and to apply for pilot grants or extramural awards to support their research ideas.

Trainee wellness is of utmost importance at UT MD Anderson. Our trainees have access to UT MD Anderson’s employee networks, fitness centers, our Employee Assistance Program, and other wellness resources provided by the institution. Additionally, our Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC), which provides oversight of our accredited programs, regularly assess our trainees’ needs and implements various initiatives, such as providing free call meals. Our efforts to ensure a welcoming and supportive education and training experience have been commended nationally.

In 2023, the Office of Graduate Medical Education received the DeWitt C. Baldwin, Jr. Award, a prestigious national award that recognized UT MD Anderson for its respectful and supportive environment for delivering medical education and patient care.

Beyond UT MD Anderson

UT MD Anderson’s location has many benefits, too. Our main campus is nestled inside the Texas Medical Center (TMC), the world’s largest medical center, which boasts over 10 million patient encounters each year. Many of our faculty are involved in interorganizational research collaborations, both within the TMC and across the nation, exposing trainees to groundbreaking advancements in medical care in real time.

Most importantly, the city of Houston is a great place to call home and raise a family. Houston is the most diverse city in the nation, with over 145 different languages spoken across the city. There is a place for you here!

Visit our Why Houston page to learn more about our city’s affordable housing, fine dining, entertainment scene, nationally renowned museums and other great attributes.