Fellowship

Shaping the next generation of pediatric surgical leaders.

The MWPSC Fellowship program offers aspiring pediatric surgeons the unique opportunity to engage in cutting-edge research and multi-institutional studies focused on high-impact pediatric surgical diseases. Fellows will gain invaluable experience working alongside expert surgeons from 11 leading children's hospitals, contributing to groundbreaking research that drives best practices and improves patient outcomes in pediatric surgery.

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MWPSC Research Scholar Application

Next fellowship application will begin in Fall 2025 for a position beginning July 2026.

The MWPSC is seeking applicants for its Research Scholarship who are highly motivated, intelligent, hard-working, and committed to improving the outcomes of pediatric surgical patients through rigorous clinical research. The MWPSC Research Scholarship is a two-year position with potential for partial funding and is focused on the development of multi-institutional clinical research skills through the design, execution, and management of projects across the 11 member institutions of the MWPSC. Applicants who have completed at least 2 years of clinical training can apply from any ACGME accredited general surgical training program. Scholars should be planning on performing their research years with a PI from one of the MWPSC institutions, where their primary mentorship will occur. The host institution is responsible for the salary support in full, unless funding, up to 25% is approved by the committee and will be reviewed on a case by case basis. The scholar’s research portfolio will include a variety of clinical research projects reflective of a diverse group of methodologies in order to ensure a broad-based educational experience in clinical research. Scholars will have the opportunity to collaborate with principal investigators from all MWPSC sites and will attend the biannual in-person MWPSC meetings. Scholars may attend educational seminars and courses on research methods, analytic techniques, scientific writing, grant preparation, and career development with support from their host institution.

MWPSC Fellows

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    Samantha Leonard, MD

    Current, MWPSC Fellow

    Samantha Leonard, MD, MEd is the current fellow. Samantha is a general surgery resident at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Previously she was an EMT and obtained a Master of Education focused on adult education. She is a research fellow at Children's Wisconsin under the mentorship of Dr. Katy Flynn-O'Brien focused primarily on trauma and burn research. Within the consortium she will be working on a variety of projects studying esophageal atresia/tracheoesophageal fistulas and pilonidal disease.

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    Katie Bergus, MD

    2022-2024, MWPSC Fellow

    Katie Bergus, MD is the current fellow. Katie is a general surgery resident at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. She is currently a research fellow at Nationwide Children’s Hospital under the mentorship of Dr. Peter Minneci. Prior to her entry into medicine, she was a successful national competitor and coach of high school and collegiate speech and debate. Her current research dossier focuses on pediatric trauma and burns care and treatment of ovarian neoplasms in children. 

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    Amelia Rogers, MD

    2020-2022, MWPSC Fellow

    Amelia is a general surgery resident at the University of Louisville and a research fellow at Indiana University, mentored by Dr. Matthew Landman. She also serves as the guidelines fellow for SAGES and an ACS-AEI surgical education research fellow. Previously a Division I equestrian athlete, Amelia’s research focuses on pediatric trauma care and pilonidal disease treatment, with current studies examining the impact of COVID-19 on injury patterns and trauma care, as well as the effectiveness of the GIPS procedure in children.

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    Amy Lawrence, MD

    2018-2020, MWPSC Fellow

    Amy is a general surgery resident at the University of Rochester and a research fellow at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, mentored by Drs. Deans and Minneci. Before pursuing medicine, she directed a non-profit for impoverished indigenous children in Guatemala and conducted maternal-fetal medicine research. Her current research focuses on surgical care for adolescent females, including reducing unnecessary oophorectomies in pediatric ovarian masses, addressing disparities in abdominal pain diagnosis and treatment, and evaluating racial and gender-based disparities in opioid prescribing post-surgery.

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Avery Angels Fellowship

The inaugural Fellowship was made in honor of Navaiah Fulk. This fellowship is specifically designed to study the outcomes of patients with gastroschisis within the Midwest Pediatric Surgical Consortium (MWPSC). Avery’s Angels intends to fund this program for the foundation's lifetime. The inaugural Fellow selected is Charlene Dekonenko, MD, a current surgical resident who will hold the title of Avery’s Angels Gastroschisis Foundation Fellowship in memory of Navaiah Fulk.

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    Derek R. Marlor, MD

    2022-2023, Avery Angels Fellow

    Derek R. Marlor, MD is the current fellow. He was born in Colorado Springs Co and grew up in the outdoors hunting, fishing, and playing sports period he completed his undergraduate training at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT. He attended medical school at the University of Colorado in Aurora, CO. He completed his third year of general surgery training at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas. He's currently a research fellow in the Surgical Scholars Program within the Department of Pediatric Surgery at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO

    Derek is currently working on evaluating the outcomes of necrotizing enterocolitis in patients with gastroschisis, as well as evaluating the treatment of intestinal atresia in patients with gastroschisis. Additionally, Derek has research interests in trauma and education.

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    Charlene J. Dekonenko, MD

    2020-2022, Avery Angels Fellow

    Charlene J. Dekonenko, MD of Children’s Mercy Hospital, Kansas City (CMH) was selected for the Fellowship as she has been an excellent research fellow this year at CMH and will continue on as a research fellow with us next year as well. She is incredibly hard working, diligent, and focused and is able to produce excellent research.

    Charlene was born in Texas and did her undergraduate training in San Antonio, TX at St. Mary’s University. She then went to medical school at University of New Mexico and has finished her third year general surgery resident at the University of Kansas. She has taken time off from her general surgery residency to pursue additional training in pediatric surgery research as a Surgical Scholar at Children’s Mercy Kansas City. Dr. Dekonenko is married and has one young child

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    James A. Fraser, MD

    2020-2022, Avery Angels Fellow

    James A. Fraser, MD was born in Montreal, Canada and grew up in Los Angeles, California where he completed his undergraduate training at the University of Southern California (USC). He attended medical school in Hamden, Connecticut at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine and has finished his third year of General Surgery training at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is currently a research fellow in the Surgical Scholars Program within the department of pediatric surgery at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri.

    James is currently working on a study titled: “Evaluating the Risk of Peri-Umbilical Hernia after Sutured or Sutureless Gastroschisis Closure” and will present this data at the American College of Surgeons 2021 Clinical Congress with submission of a manuscript of the same title in the near future.