Welcome

Audra Pritt, MD
Program Director

I welcome your interest in the residency program at Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine. It is a very exciting time to begin your career in pediatrics. Healthcare as a whole is being influenced by societal demands, technological advancement, and changes within academic health centers. To prepare you to meet the demands of this evolving system, our training program offers a breadth of pediatric medicine that includes general pediatrics, intensive care, and subspecialty pediatrics.

Located in Huntington, West Virginia, the Department of Pediatrics at Marshall University serves as a referral center for pediatric patients from more than 29 counties throughout West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and southern Ohio. The Department of Pediatrics represents the region’s most comprehensive team for meeting the health care needs of infants, children and adolescents.

The real strengths of our program are the residents and faculty. The department is committed to providing a supportive and nurturing environment in which residents flourish. The diversity of the faculty and the residents assures an exciting learning environment that thrives on challenging questions and new approaches to pediatric issues.

We are committed to fostering inclusion, recruitment, and retainment of a diverse workforce which will meet the healthcare needs of children in the 21st century. We encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds (inclusive of age, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, and socioeconomic status) to apply.

I challenge you to discover for yourself what our program has to offer. I hope you will find the time to visit our program and look forward to meeting you at that time.

Additional Program Leadership

From our Department Chair

Susan Flesher, MD
Chair, Pediatrics

Children are truly our world's future and pediatricians are charged with the responsibility of caring for this precious resource.

The Department of Pediatrics at Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University offers a fully accredited residency program committed to training outstanding pediatricians for community practice or further subspecialty training and academic careers. Our faculty is young, energetic and dedicated to providing an educational environment which motivates a resident to become the best pediatrician he or she can be. Our faculty interacts directly, usually one-on-one, with our residents as teachers, role models, advisors and friends. We occupy a 35 million dollar university medical center which houses our pediatric offices, ambulatory clinics, specialty clinics, child development center and adolescent clinic which is adjacent to Cabell Huntington Hospital and Joan C. Edwards Cancer Center. At the end of 2007, Cabell Huntington Hospital added an 80 million dollar patient tower which houses state of the art facilities for patient care.

As a resident here, you will see a wide range of pediatric diseases. We serve as a referral area for much of southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southeastern Ohio. The "case mix" is excellent, reflecting a referral base including both urban and rural areas and patients requiring primary and tertiary care. There is a balance between inpatient and outpatient experiences. The ratio of patients to residents allows a good clinical experience without an oppressive work load. We encourage resident time for study and family.

Residency training covers all areas of inpatient management, including acute pediatrics and pediatric and neonatal intensive care. We also run an active patient transport service, bringing children from community hospitals to our tertiary center. Residents rotate through our ambulatory care center and for those patients who cannot come here our faculty and residents operate a mobile pediatric clinic that visits the most rural regions of southern West Virginia. We also offer a full range of subspecialty electives.

We encourage you to come and see for yourself. You will meet our house officers and faculty and you will have ample opportunity to inquire about the program and tour our facilities. We look forward to greeting you personally.