Chairman's Message

The major teaching responsibility of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Louisville School of Medicine is to provide faculty, curriculum and a milieu which will encourage and assure that resident physicians are acquainted with the broad aspects of the genetic, environmental, infectious and oncological influences upon growth and development of the fetus, newborn, infant, child and adolescent, and the preventive, therapeutic and health maintenance procedures which are currently available. The training sites of our Kosair Children's Hospital, University of Louisville Hospital, UofL Pediatrics (Children and Youth Project, Broadway and Stonestreet), Weisskopf Child Evaluation Center, Child Development Unit, Research Laboratories, and the Area Health Experience in the offices of private pediatricians provide a unique opportunity for physicians seeking various aspects of training in child health and human development.

The educational experience for pediatric residents is geared to training general pediatricians while also providing a solid background for those interested in subspecialty training. We are committed to the premise that competence in the care of patients with common and critical illnesses is best gained in the caring for such patients with knowledge and experience derived through decision making commensurate with levels of training. Post residency training in many disciplines is available to provide in-depth knowledge of a subspecialty that will allow the individual to become board certified, to teach, to perform research, and, if desired, to obtain a medical center or university appointment.

Proof of the breadth of our residency program is the fact that over half of our residents go into the general practice of pediatrics, many in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, but others to the various states of our nation and even abroad; thirty percent into subspecialties or academic medicine and less than ten percent leave the program, usually to enter other closely related disciplines of pediatrics. Our faculty members are each jealous and protective of the allotted time with each resident and are fully committed to providing a good educational opportunity. We seek highly qualified young physicians who are willing to study and work and who have dedicated their lives to the health care of children.

Gerard Rabalais, M.D., M.H.A.
Chair, Department of Pediatrics