Valley Children’s Hospital now has a nationally accredited pediatric residency program. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) notified Valley Children’s this week of its decision to grant accreditation to the Valley Children’s Pediatric Residency Program, Affiliated with Stanford University School of Medicine. The ACGME is a nonprofit council that oversees graduate medical training programs in hospitals throughout the country.

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“We are incredibly proud of this moment,” said Valley Children’s President and CEO Todd Suntrapak. “Valley Children’s has trained physicians for more than 40 years. Our own hospital-based pediatric residency program will help us attract more pediatricians to our area and keep them here in Central California.”

“Our residency program will help recruit some of the brightest young doctors,” said Dr. Jolie Limon, Valley Children’s chief of pediatrics and executive director of medical education. “Our resident recruitment team involves an interprofessional panel of physicians, nurses, social workers and pharmacists. We want to make sure we attract the best medical students. They’ll learn from our incredible team and practice in a region that is in critical need of pediatricians and pediatric specialists.”

The accreditation process took more than a year to complete. Valley Children’s pediatric residency team began working with the ACGME in January 2015, when Valley Children’s announced the creation of its own hospital-based pediatric residency program. The ACGME reviewed Valley Children’s proposed residency program curriculum, performed site visits and interviewed physicians and staff members.

The Valley Children’s Pediatric Residency Program, affiliated with Stanford University School of Medicine will begin interviewing medical students this fall, with the inaugural class of residents arriving in Madera in July 2017. Stanford residents will begin rotations through Valley Children’s Emergency Department this summer.

In addition to Valley Children’s affiliation with Stanford University School of Medicine, the pediatric residency program also features partnerships with hospitals and medical groups throughout the area. Valley Children’s residents will have the opportunity for rotations at partner locations – including Kaiser Permanente and Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno and Dignity Health – and local pediatricians’ offices.

Valley Children’s Hospital continues to serve as a teaching site for more than 190 residents and medical students in a dozen other programs, including those based at Kaweah Delta Health Care District in Visalia, Mercy Medical Center in Merced and Clinica Sierra Vista in Fresno.