Pediatric Pulmonary Fellowship Program

Our Mission

The Mission of the Pediatric Pulmonology Training program at UT McGovern Medical School is to provide the next generation of Pediatric Pulmonologists with the skills needed to advance the health and quality of care for infants, children, adolescents and young adults with acute and/or chronic respiratory disorders in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and beyond. This will be accomplished through advanced education in clinical care, scholarly activities, research, quality improvement, patient safety, and patient advocacy in collaboration with other Pediatric subspecialties and Departments in the McGovern Medical School. We are dedicated to educate a diverse body of physicians to advance patient-centered care and pursue innovative research.

Brief History

We are a 3-year training program accredited by the ACGME and recognized by the American Board of Pediatrics. All graduates of our program have passed the ABP Pediatric Pulmonology board on their first attempt.

Dr. Giuseppe Colasurdo established our Pediatric Pulmonary Fellowship program in 2001 with the first trainee entering the program in 2003. Over time, our faculty have come from all over the world to add their unique clinical and cultural input into the educational curriculum and clinical care of patients.

In the beginning, the ‘3-musketeer’ faculty = Dr. Giuseppe Colasurdo, Dr. Okan Elidemir, Dr. James Stark

As we expanded our faculty depth, we offered more educational opportunities in Fellowship training to expand the career paths for our fellows, as demonstrated by our graduates’ specialty interests, publications and leadership roles.

Our graduates:

2003 Dr. Marc Schecter Pediatric Lung Transplantation, Division Chief of Pediatric Pulmonary at University of Florida at Gainesville

2004 Dr. Cindy Jon Pediatric Pulmonary/Sleep, Pediatric Pulmonary Fellowship Program Director at UT-McGovern at Houston

2007 Dr. Ricardo Mosquera Pediatric Complex Care, Division Chief of Pediatric Pulmonary at UT-McGovern at Houston

2007 Dr. Derek Pepiak Regional Medical Director, National Inpatient Care Management, Enterprise Clinical Services, Optum

2008 Dr. Pragya Rai Associate Director, Providence Pediatric Pulmonology & Cystic fibrosis clinic at Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital

2011 Dr. Aravind Yadav Medical Director of the Sickle Cell-Pediatric Pulmonary clinic at UT-McGovern at Houston

2014 Dr. Katrina McBeth Director of Pediatric Pulmonary clinic at LBJ General Hospital

2015 Dr. Wilfredo De Jesus Rojas Medical Director of the PCD center and Pediatric Rare Lung Institute at Ponce, Puerto Rico

2017 Dr. Hina Emanuel Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics – Pulmonary Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine

2018 Dr. Carlos Flores Oria Private practice

Our group has weathered Tropical Storm Allison and Hurricanes Ike and Harvey, and the recent challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through it all, we work together as a team and adapt our program to care for our patients and educate our trainees. Our current faculty and staff:

As we train our Fellows, we always cherish and respect the personal connections that we develop with everyone in our program.

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