Fellows

First Year Fellows

David Artin, MD, MPH

David Artin, MD, MPH

Medical School: American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine
Residency: Rutgers Health/RWJ Barnabas Health/Children's Hospital of New Jersey at Newark Beth Israel
Research Interests: DEI/Social Determinants of Health
Outside of work interests? Exercise, Travel, Investing/financial independence
Why did you choose Inova's program? Had a great interview experience, great people, VA is home!

Louis Durkac, MD

Louis Durkac, MD

Medical School: St. George's University School of Medicine
Residency: Nicklaus Children's Hospital
Research Interests: EMS, QI, Simulation and Education
Outside of work interests? Hiking, camping, spending time with family, home repairs, baking/cooking
Why did you choose Inova's program? Location to family, EMS interaction, trauma and skills exposures

Second Year Fellows

Dr. Steve Garbin

Steve Garbin, MD

Medical School: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Residency: University of Virginia
Research Interests: Pediatric Cardiac Arrest; Pediatric Trauma; Toxicology
Outside of work interests? Reading, writing, movies, golf, hiking, skiing
Why did you choose Inova's program? For the wonderful attendings, ED staff and excellent training opportunities

Dr. Seth Gerard

Seth Gerard, MD

Medical School: Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Residency: Wellspan York Hospital
Research Interests: Pediatric resuscitation/centrally inserted peripheral lines
Outside of work interests? Weightlifting, motorcycling, and raising my kids
Why did you choose Inova's program? I rotated at Inova as a resident and loved it.

Third Year Fellows

Dr. George Nassar

George Nassar, MD

Medical Education: St George's University School of Medicine 
Residency: New York University Langone Medical Center Pediatrics 
Research Interests: Pediatric Sepsis, Trauma Simulation 
Outside of work interests? Traveling, Cooking/Food, Sports 
What do you like about our program? Flexible schedule, broad range of pathology seen in a large catchment area, amazing and supportive group of doctors/nurses. 
What do you like about northern VA? Very clean, close to DC, so many things to do and see

Dr. Erin Thomas

Erin Thomas, MD

Medical School: Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
Residency: Nemours, Alfred I duPont Hospital for Children
Research Interests: QI
Outside of work interests? Reading, Peloton, tennis, going to trivia with friends, trying new restaurants
What do you like about our program? Our department is very close, everyone treats you like family. Our attendings love having fellows and are great educators. The combination of EM trained and Peds trained attendings give us a lot of unique viewpoints and really enhances our learning. We have a great SIM lab and get great hands-on learning through that with combined trainings with other departments such as OBGyn and trauma.

What do you like about Northern VA? It's a beautiful area. I live in Alexandria, and I love exploring Old Town, walking along the river, and trying new restaurants. You have the benefits of living very close to a major city. It's very easy to get into DC either via car or public transportation and appreciate all of the culture and history DC has to offer.
 

Leadership

Aline Baghdassarian, MD

Program Director

Aline Baghdassarian, MD serves as Program Director, Inova Altieri Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship.

Faculty

Maybelle Kou, MD
Maybelle Kou, MD
Specialty
Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Emergency Medicine
Years of Experience
31

APPs

Our ED is also staffed by Advance Practice Providers (APPs). Their excellent clinical care allows us to focus on taking care of the acutely ill children and focusing on our education.

Administrative Staff

“From a curriculum standpoint, the advanced digital electronic and traditional modalities gave me the extra edge with respect to my knowledge base and ability to learn and teach effectively."
“Coming from an emergency medicine background, I had different educational needs than the majority of fellows that come from a pediatrics background. The EM specific curriculum, and the adjustments we made to the curriculum based on my personal experience and knowledge gaps coming out of residency meant that rotations outside the ED were as relevant and useful as possible."
“I received support for any endeavour in setting up electives that were not traditional to the curriculum, and as a result, felt that my personal goals were valued and fostered. Most importantly, I still miss my INOVA family and am grateful for the lifetime relationships that I developed there."
"Since graduating from fellowship I have been in a hybrid academic/community Pediatric Emergency Room. At Inova, coming from a Peds residency, I was ecstatic about the varied backgrounds of our PEM attendings from both Gen Peds and Gen EM backgrounds. This allowed me to tap into each of their fortes, whether as simple as navigating difficult parents to doing more invasive procedures. This made for bedside learning that I have not seen replicated at any institution that I've come thru since."
"In the ED, I worked with attendings who had taken every different route to PEM, and were very flexible in helping me meet my educational needs."
"Team based learning, and the significant level of involvement fellows had in our educational conferences have made me a more efficient and flexible educator. Tonight, I am putting together a "one pager" for the fellows I work with in my new position, something I never thought I would have done if you asked me 2 years ago!"
"The high expectation for involvement in creating educational materials and presentations for our conferences was a significant time commitment. I was definitely forced out of my comfort zone at times."
"The fellowship training goes far beyond the standard core curriculum and truly aims to instill its fellows with the clinical expertise, analytical thinking capability, and leadership skills to practice in any environment. I personally found the greatest benefit with regards to maturing as a leader both in the clinical setting as well as academics."
"The fellow-driven and faculty supported conference curriculum centers around a flipped classroom model whereby each fellow contributes to the education of their peers as well as faculty, residents and medical students. This is perhaps most evident in the robust medical simulation sessions which occur in our newly designed, high-fidelity simulation center. It is by participating in and ultimately leading and designing these scenarios that I have gained confidence in leading my clinical team in critical resuscitation in the department as an attending."
"This program is ideally suited for well-rounded and self-motivated individuals seeking a rigorous but high-caliber academic experience."

Program videos

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Inova L.J. Murphy Children's Hospital
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Graduate Medical Education at Inova
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Altieri PEM Fellowship - Welcome and highlights