Welcome
Residency training is an exciting, challenging and rewarding time as you advance toward your goal of becoming a pediatrician. At the KU School of Medicine - Wichita program you will build the knowledge and skills needed to provide comprehensive general pediatric care for children. Pediatricians find this to be a great responsibility and a remarkable gift. Promoting health and advocating for children and their families is a unique opportunity. In addition to being a diagnostician, you will come to realize the importance you play as an educator, listener and cheerleader, in the lives of the children you help become healthy young adults.
We offer a challenging program that will enable you to achieve the goal of being a well-rounded clinician. Your pediatric experience in Wichita will provide you with an excellent foundation in general pediatrics, balanced with outpatient, subspecialty and critical care, to prepare you for practice or further pediatric training. Preventive care, child advocacy and the importance of seeing the child within the context of the family and community are emphasized throughout our training program. KU-Wichita residents graduate as confident and competent pediatricians, able to integrate their clinical and psychosocial skills with their medical knowledge.
Residency training is done in a supportive, nurturing environment, while also encouraging autonomy and independent thinking. Whether in our tertiary care community hospital inpatient units, the newly renovated pediatric clinic or in one of our affiliated community or rural practices, since there are no fellows in our program, you work side-by-side with professional and encouraging faculty who give you the opportunity to take ownership of patient management, perform procedures and participate in clinical research. Additionally, our residents work as peers, not competitors. They learn the importance of team work and leadership, encouraging and challenging each other to perform at their best in all areas of training.
In addition to teaching in clinical settings, our full-time faculty is active in advising - each resident is paired with a faculty mentor who is his/her advocate and counselor throughout the training program. Faculty advisors are selected early in the first year and will help guide you not only through the challenges of residency, but also with the personal growth issues all residents face as they complete training.
Wichita is a friendly, family-oriented, Midwestern city. Our population mix and cultural opportunities are very similar to average national statistics. We have no mountains and no ocean, but we make up for that with a lower cost of living, an easy to navigate city, and plenty of activities at local attractions such as the nationally recognized Sedgwick County Zoo and Music Theatre of Wichita, Exploration Place with local and traveling exhibits, the beautiful gardens at Botanica, the Wichita Symphony and an interesting variety of dining establishments in Old Town Wichita and throughout the city.
Our residents would be happy to share their experiences with you. I also encourage you to contact me or our residency coordinator with any questions. Thank you for your interest in our program and I wish you the best in your search for a good program match!
Katherine Melhorn, M.D.
Clinical Professor and Residency Program Director
Department of Pediatrics
