Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship

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The UC San Francisco Department of Emergency Medicine and the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine offer a two- to three-year Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship Program.  

Thank you for your interest in the Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) Fellowship Program at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals! Our PEM fellowship has trained leaders in PEM for more than 40 years, initially at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland (formerly Children's Hospital Oakland), and more recently, at two main sites:  

1. UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland  
2. UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco

We offer three years of training for pediatrics-trained fellows and two or three years for emergency medicine-trained fellows, depending on your individual background and career goals. Both pathways provide rigorous clinical and academic development within a collegial, high-acuity learning environment. Fellows gain broad exposure to pediatric emergency cases across our two main sites, benefiting from the depth of resources and expertise that have defined UCSF’s leadership in pediatric emergency medicine for more than four decades.

Our mission is to equip fellows with the skills and confidence to deliver excellent patient care, conduct independent research, teach the principles and practices of pediatric emergency medicine, and effectively lead and manage a pediatric emergency department.

Recruitment mission statement

The Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship is committed to training pediatricians and emergency medicine physicians to become future leaders in pediatric emergency medicine.  

We seek to recruit fellows who:

• Demonstrate a passion for pediatric emergency care and a desire to develop expertise within a specialized niche of the field.
• Exemplify a growth mindset and interest in lifelong learning, taking initiative in professional development and seeking out opportunities to expand their knowledge and skills.
• Embrace innovation and collaboration to pursue a broad range of unique experiences, leveraging UCSF’s extensive institutional resources and the Bay Area’s dynamic health care landscape.  

Are committed to welcoming and serving all people, honoring the dignity of every individual without preference or prejudice, in support of UCSF's public mission and in alignment with the UCSF PRIDE Values and Principles of Community.

Why Choose UCSF for pediatric emergency medicine training

• Diverse clinical settings, including one of just two stand-alone pediatric trauma centers in Northern California: Fellows work in high-acuity, high-volume settings, serving diverse patient populations.  
• The people: Fellows learn from a multidisciplinary team of dedicated faculty who are recognized for their leadership in pediatric emergency medicine, mentorship, and scholarship.
• Robust research curriculum and scholarly development: Fellows benefit from a structured research curriculum, dedicated mentorship, and access to funding and collaborative opportunities through PECARN and UCSF’s broad network of research faculty across the division, department, and university.  
• Comprehensive, interdisciplinary curriculum: Weekly didactics integrate simulation, procedures, safety, and quality improvement, evidence-based medicine, and a dedicated point-of-care ultrasound curriculum with hands-on scanning shifts and workshops. Fellows also participate in an annual bootcamp to strengthen core clinical and leadership skills.  
• Outstanding teaching and educator training: Fellows supervise, work, and learn with trainees in pediatrics, emergency medicine, and family medicine, with robust opportunities to develop their clinical, classroom, and simulation teaching skills, as well as their medical educator portfolio. This includes access to world-class medical education mentorship and training programs, such as the Teach for UCSF Certificate and the UCSF Health Professions Education Pathway.
• Bay Area lifestyle: Live and train in San Francisco, one of the most dynamic and culturally rich cities in the United States, with access to world-class food, outdoor activities, and a vibrant medical and academic community.  

New program name & identification number

New program name & identification number  

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In 2025, the UCSF School of Medicine officially sponsored the Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) Fellowship Program at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals through UCSF Graduate Medical Education.

While our program name and identification numbers have changed, the fellowship remains the same. This transition only affects administrative details and does not impact the structure or content of the fellowship. As such, our curriculum, training locations, faculty, and other elements of our program have not changed.

 

Please use the following new program information when applying:

• New Program Name: University of California (San Francisco) School of Medicine Program
• Specialty: Pediatric Emergency Medicine (Emergency Medicine)
• New ACGME #: 1140500001
• New NRMP #: 1062114F0

We recommend searching by the new program name or ACGME number to ensure you find the correct listing. Our program’s previous name (provided only for reference) may now appear as closed or non-participating in application portals: UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Program

 

As a reminder, you will need to locate our program in the following two systems:

• ERAS: This is where you submit your application and where we review and schedule interviews, etc.
• NRMP: This is where you register and submit your rank list to match with us.

If you have any questions or difficulty locating our program in these systems, please don’t hesitate to contact [email protected][email protected] , program coordinator, and [email protected][email protected] , program director.

Heidi Werner, MD – Program Director

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Dr. Heidi Werner is a professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, where she serves as Program Director for the UCSF Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship and Education Director for the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Division. She completed medical school at Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, followed by a residency in pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine at Boston Children's Hospital. She subsequently earned a Master of Science in Health Professions Education through the Harvard Macy Institute and the MGH Institute of Health Professions. Dr. Werner's academic work centers on curriculum development and educational innovation in pediatric emergency medicine. She collaborates on national efforts in pediatric emergency medicine fellowship curriculum development and assessment and supports faculty development programming at UCSF with a focus on bedside teaching. As fellowship program director, she oversees six fellows across UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland, building a training program grounded in competency-based education and the development of future clinician-educators.  She also serves as co-chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Section on Emergency Medicine Pediatric Emergency Medicine Program Directors Subcommittee and is a member of the UCSF Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators.

Ashkon Shaahinfar, MD, MPH – Associate Program Director

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Dr. Ashkon Shaahinfar is an associate clinical professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, where he practices at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals in Oakland and San Francisco and serves as associate program director of the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship. He completed his medical degree at UCSF, followed by a pediatric residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, a pediatric emergency medicine fellowship at Children's Hospital Oakland, and an emergency ultrasound fellowship at Highland Hospital–Alameda Health System. He also earned a Master of Public Health in Global Health and Population from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Shaahinfar's scholarly interests span firearm violence and injury prevention, point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), regional analgesia, and medical education. He has mentored pediatric emergency medicine fellows' research across POCUS in pediatric trauma, social determinants of health, procedural education, and immigrant child health.  As a clinician-educator and medical education innovator, Dr. Shaahinfar served as Emergency Ultrasound Director at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland from 2018 to 2026, co-developed a longitudinal point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) curriculum for Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellows, and created an anti-racism clinical skills curriculum in his role as UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program Clinical Mentor. A member of the UCSF Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators (AME) and recipient of the AME Excellence in Teaching Award (2021) and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland Dr. Peter J. Sheaff Memorial Award (2025), he is committed to fostering clinical reasoning, self-directed learning, and a growth mindset within a welcoming and supportive learning environment.