Welcome to the University of California, Irvine/CHOC Children’s Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program website. The information on this website will serve as an introduction to our program. The fellowship program is a three-year ACGME-accredited program encompassing a clinical year followed by two years of basic, translational and clinical research. The hospital tower provides individual rooms to our hematology/oncology patients and families.
CHOC Children’s Hyundai Cancer Institute diagnoses more than 120 new oncology patients annually and participates as a Phase I site for Children’s Oncology Group studies. CHOC Children’s Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant Program is accredited by the Federation for Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) and is performing approximately 25-35 hematopoietic stem cell transplants per year. The Oncology division participates in numerous clinical trials and has an on-site stem cell laboratory. In addition to inpatient care, Oncology outpatient services include the Oncology clinic, Outpatient Infusion Center, and subspecialty clinics, such as BMT clinic and Late Effects clinic.
CHOC Children’s houses the MCHB/CDC Federal grants for the Western Regional Hemophilia Treatment Centers. Our Hemophilia Treatment Center cares for over 500 patients with bleeding disorders with many new diagnoses each year. As a member of the Thalassemia Consortium Research Network, CHOC Children’s treats a large population of patients with significant thalassemic conditions. A special feature of our Comprehensive Sickle Cell Anemia Treatment Center is the close collaboration with the Newborn Screening Program and the Sickle Cell Foundation. Other Hematology subspecialty clinics include Immune Deficiency clinic, Hemangioma clinic, and BMT clinic. The Hematology division participates in various basic and translational research and numerous clinical trials. In addition, the Blood and Donor Services provides emergent apheresis care for exchange transfusions, plasmapheresis, therapeutic WBC pheresis, and stem cell collections.
Our distinguished faculty continues to grow and now includes ten oncologists and five hematologists. They are supported by nurse practitioners, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists, clinical research staff, and secretarial support. Members of the faculty include internationally- and nationally-recognized experts in various aspects of pediatric hematology/oncology.
The philosophy of our program emphasizes the patient as the best teacher. Therefore, we stress teaching before, during, and after patient care rounds as well as didactic sessions that are patient/case oriented.
A vital aspect of our fellowship program is education. Fellows have a weekly core lecture series on topics in hematology/oncology and participate in other didactic conferences including board review, journal club, tumor board, neuro-onc tumor board, BMT conference, recurrent cancer conference, hematology case conference, and noon conferences.
Fellows are paid according to the university/hospital pay scale for trainees based on their post-graduate year. This salary is competitive and considers the cost of living in Southern California.
Note: Fellowship applications are submitted through ERAS.
Please feel free to email me our call our office if you have additional questions. My email address is asoni@choc.org and our office number is (714) 509-8430.
Amit Soni, MD
Director, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program
