Dear Medical Students:
The Division of Pediatric Orthopedics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center invites 3rd-year medical students to apply for The David P. Roye, Jr., MD, Clinical Research Fellowship, a funded one-year clinical research fellowship. This is an exciting opportunity for highly motivated students interested in pursuing a career in Orthopedic Surgery. This fellowship aims to create a network of future orthopedic surgeons with extensive experience conducting high-level clinical research.
This position offers training in clinical research, clinical exposure, and hands-on mentorship with senior orthopedic surgeons and faculty. Our mission is to improve pediatric musculoskeletal health through evidence-based clinical research. As a renowned center for Pediatric Orthopedics, we can spearhead many initiatives to impact this field significantly.
While there is a focus on pediatric spine deformity, there will be opportunities for fellows to research a breadth of topics related to pediatric orthopedics, including cerebral palsy, community & health equity studies, conservative care, quality improvement, and education. Completed projects by our fellows are published in top orthopedic journals and presented at national and international research conferences.
Specific research areas of interest of our team are:
Clinical Research: Developing new analytical methods for evaluating various surgical and non-surgical techniques and applying these methods to innovate approaches to patient care.
Patient-Based Outcome Research: Developing and assessing quality of life and caregiver burden outcome measures reflecting issues of importance to patients and their caregivers.
Quality and Safety Research: Investigating and developing methods to improve the quality and safety of the surgical experience for patients and family members, such as preventing surgical site infections after spine surgery.
Research fellows will also have dedicated clinical time with our attendings during clinical hours, learning medical and surgical management of pediatric spine deformity from an extensive team. Fellows will train under Dr. Michael G. Vitale and Dr. Benjamin D. Roye. They are both Principal Investigators with high-volume surgical cases annually. Furthermore, Dr. Vitale and Dr. Roye will provide invaluable operative experience and mentorship to students. They have mentored research fellows for the past twenty-five years, establishing a longstanding clinical research center in the Division of Pediatric Orthopedics at The Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York Presbyterian. Furthermore, they have been conducting clinical research with international groups, such as the Pediatric Spine Study Group and the HARMS Study Group, for decades.
Every year, medical students work in our research center with tremendous success. Our previous students have been matched to their top choice residency programs, including Columbia University Medical Center, Harvard University, Hospital for Special Surgery, and many more.
To apply for this position, please email your CV, one letter of recommendation, USMLE scores (if available), an unofficial transcript, a brief statement of interest (limit to one page), and one writing sample to Alexander Park ([email protected]), Michael Brown ([email protected]), and Mehdi Elfilali ([email protected]). Applications will be accepted from October 1st to December 5th, 2025.
For more information, please see the official website here , but please follow the instructions on this post to apply. If you have any questions, please contact our Research Fellows, Alexander Park (
[email protected]) and Michael Brown (
[email protected]), and Research Coordinator Mehdi Elfilali (
[email protected]).
Sincerely,
Michael G. Vitale, MD-MPH
Ana Lucia Professor of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery and Neurosurgery
Vice Chair, Clinical Affairs, Quality and Strategy
Director, Division of Pediatric Orthopaedics
Chief, Pediatric Spine and Scoliosis Service
Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York - Presbyterian
