Pediatric Obesity Medicine Fellowship Program

We appreciate your interest in the University of Minnesota's Pediatric Obesity Medicine Fellowship Program and look forward to reviewing your application. Please feel free to contact the Program Director Sarah Raatz at [email protected], if you have any questions not answered here on the webpage.

Please Note:

• Applicants must be Board eligible/Board certified (BE/BC) in Pediatrics
• Interested applicants should submit an application through the Obesity Medicine Fellowship Council

The University of Minnesota demonstrates a commitment to leveraging the transformative power of equity and diversity to advance excellence in teaching, learning and community engagement. Applications from individuals who self-identify as members of underrepresented groups are particularly welcome.

The Pediatric Obesity Medicine fellowship is a one-year clinical. The clinical year includes a combination of guided observation and shadowing, direct patient care under the supervision of an attending physician, and didactics. The fellow is directly supervised for the first 8-12 weeks of training with shared visits and observation of patient interactions and counseling. Once the fellow demonstrates competence in managing treatment protocols and various strategies, they begin to see patients independently with oversight provided by the assigned attending in the Pediatric Weight Management Clinic. In this setting, the fellow briefly discusses the case with the attending to review the assessment and plan. The level of responsibility gradually increases again after 8 weeks and proficiency will be demonstrated with many of the common case presentations. Through this process, fellows will complete the required patient care experience to sit for the American Board of Obesity Medicine certification exam.

During the one-year fellowship, fellows are required to complete a research or quality improvement project. Fellows will have mentorship through the process of developing and completing a project. The Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine co-directors, Dr. Claudia Fox and Dr. Aaron Kelly, are both internationally recognized researchers in the field of pediatric obesity medicine. 

With the first year of training focusing on clinical care to prepare and ensure eligibility for American Board of Obesity Medicine certification exam (need 500 hours of obesity training) the goal of the optional second year is to prepare the clinical researcher to independently execute a clinical research project. Research faculty are experts in the field of pediatric obesity medicine. The fellowship director and Center co-director, Dr. Claudia Fox, is a nationally recognized leader in the clinical management of severe pediatric obesity and Dr. Aaron Kelly, Center co-director, is an internationally recognized researcher in the treatment of severe pediatric obesity.

This page provides access to information on stipends and benefits for medical residents & fellows.

Additionally, each medical fellow receives:

• Funding of the ABP General Pediatrics Certifying Exam
• MN medical license
• AAP membership with subspecialty section membership