#440 - 🔵 [PAS 2026] - Is the Real Fix to Neonatology Training Shorter Residency, Not Shorter Fellowship?

Dr. Satyan Lakshminrusimha, pediatric chair and neonatologist, joins Ben hot off the ONTPD meeting to share his perspective on the ABP fellowship reform debate — and it's more nuanced than a simple yes or no to a two-year fellowship. He argues that the real problem is a six-year training pipeline that is driving medical students away from pediatric subspecialties under crushing debt, and that the solution for procedure-heavy specialties like neonatology is not to shorten fellowship but to truncate the pediatric residency to two years — following the precedent already set by pediatric neurology. He also makes the case that the workforce crisis is ultimately an entry ticket problem: before debating fellowship length, we need to convince more medical students to choose pediatrics in the first place, and more pediatric residents to choose subspecialty training before it's too late.