Elaine Fielder, MD, associate professor of pediatrics-emergency medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, has been appointed director of the Pediatric Residency Program. She succeeded Mark Ward, MD, who stepped down from the position after serving 14 years.
The Baylor Residency Program is one of the largest pediatric programs in the country. The program director has major responsibility for the overall education of the pediatric residents and for the education of medical students in core pediatrics and pediatrics electives. The percentage of graduating residents who passed the qualifying pediatrics board examination increased from 81 percent in 2007 to 97 percent in 2017.
Fielder has been a member of the Baylor-Texas Children’s Hospital faculty since 2010 and is board-certified in both pediatrics and pediatric emergency medicine. She has directed the Pediatric Core Clerkship since 2013.
She completed Baylor’s Master Teachers Fellowship Program and received the Fulbright and Jaworski Faculty Excellence Award in 2016, the Dr. Milton H. Nirken Excellence in Teaching Award in 2016, and the Baylor Women of Excellence Award in 2019.
A member of the Baylor-Texas Children’s faculty since 1992, Ward was an active member of the National Association of Pediatric Program Directors, for which he led workshops and served on the Educational Task Force.
He was one of three editors of the Clinician-Educator’s Handbook, published in 2008. He was one of five authors of the book Communicating with Pediatric Patients and their Families: The Texas Children’s Hospital Guide for Physicians, Nurses and other Healthcare Professionals, published in 2015, and an author of the Code Card for Clinical Teaching, a multipage, pocket-size card highlighting strategies and techniques for teaching in the clinical setting.