The Pediatric and Perinatal Fellowship Program

The Pediatric & Perinatal Fellowship Program at Children's Hospital of Michigan provides an intensive, high-quality, one-year ACGME-accredited training aiming at developing highly skilled pediatric & perinatal pathologists. We offer one fellowship position each year encompassing rotations in general pediatric surgical pathology, gastrointestinal pathology, perinatal pathology, and pediatric hematopathology. Elective time is available for clinical and/or research pursuits.

The strength of our program lies in the diversity of the cases. We have a busy pediatric gastrointestinal service, perinatal pathology service, and a robust heart and liver transplantation service. We pride ourselves in being part of a highly dedicated and collegial group of clinicians at Children’s Hospital of Michigan who strive to provide the best care possible to our patients. This translate into numerous tumor boards and combined conferences providing the fellow with great exposure to clinical decisions and management.

We are one of a handful programs in the United States where the fellow is actively exposed to pediatric and perinatal specimens throughout the training. The program offers a structured curriculum that gives the fellow high-quality exposure to pediatric and perinatal pathology specimens as well as perinatal and pediatric autopsies. The program consists of three highly experiences Pediatric and/or Perinatal pathologists. There are abundant opportunities for collaborative research and teaching.

Applicants must be either a current resident in an ACGME-accredited program or graduates of approved medical schools in the United Staes and Canada or hold a valid ECFMG certificate. To apply or inquire about our program, please contact the fellowship coordinator at ht2701@wayne.edu or directly e-mail the director of the fellowship program.

Brief Biography

Dr. Saad is board certified in pediatric pathology and Neuropathology. He did his residency at the University of Cincinnati with subsequent fellowship in pediatric pathology at Boston Children’s Hospital and Neuropathology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Saad is an accomplished academician with over 90 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He has written three pathology books on Meningiomas in children and young adults, Tumors of Bone and Soft Tissue in Children, and the pediatric pathology book in the Pathology Survival Guides Series. His areas of interest include pediatric bone and soft tissue pathology, gastrointestinal pathology, and pediatric brain tumors.

Dr. Poulik is a highly experienced and senior pediatric pathologist. She did her residency at Wiliam Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI with subsequent fellowship in Pediatric Pathology at Wayne State University/Children’s Hospital of Michigan. Her primary areas of interests include cardiovascular pathology, bone and soft tissue pathology, and pediatric gastrointestinal pathology.

Dr Jacques’ primary area of interest is in perinatal pathology, particularly surgical pathology of the placenta. She has been a pathologist at Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center for over 30 years and became the Associate Director of Obstetric and Perinatal Pathology at Hutzel Women's Hospital in 1993. She has also worked in support of the Perinatology Research Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health (NICHD/NIH). She has microscopically examined tens of thousands of placentas in the course of her career and has also performed over 1000 fetal and neonatal autopsies.

Her expertise in perinatal pathology allows for involvement in research that may significantly expand the understanding of the maternal-fetal-placental unit, particularly regarding the correlation between placental lesions and pregnancy outcome. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed original observations, case reports, and letters to the editor, the majority of which are in the field of perinatal pathology, including placental pathology and issues related to the fetal autopsy, as well as gynecologic pathology. She is also a member of the Amsterdam Placental Workshop Group, an international group of invited research-active placental pathologists that originally convened in Amsterdam in 2014 to address the need for a consensus-determined protocol for sampling the placenta and collectively agreed upon definitions of placental lesions. The published placental gross descriptors, sampling specifications, pathologic terminologies, and diagnostic criteria provided a much-needed systematic scheme, now with worldwide implementation and also used by pathologists in general practice, improving the value of their placental pathology and perinatal autopsy reports. The Amsterdam Placental Workshop Group is now in the process of revising and updating these recommendations.