Aline Baghdassarian, MD, MPH, FAAP
Program Director
The Altieri Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship
Thank you for your interest in the Altieri Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellowship program at Inova Children’s Hospital.
Our program's goals align with the Inova Mission statement to "provide world-class healthcare – every time, every touch – to each person in every community we have the privilege to serve."
We provide our learners with the individual support and environment necessary to achieve their full potential and develop their academic interests, hone their skills in education, research and leadership.
We foster a collegiate and positive work environment, where fellows are an integral part of the Emergency Department team. We emphasize the quality of our patient care and experience just as we prioritize the wellness of our team members.
Located 15 miles from downtown Washington, DC, we have the privilege to serve a culturally and socioeconomically diverse spectrum of patients from across the globe.
We consider it a privilege to contribute to your training and educational journey. We believe that adult learners are self-directed and motivated. It’s our responsibility to be the catalyst to help you achieve your goals. We greatly value teams and teamwork and look forward to having you join ours. We hope you will continue to explore the various opportunities that we offer our fellows and learn about life in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.
During these unprecedented times, we’re committed to your safety and that of our team members. For this reason, our interview process will be carried out virtually. We understand that this will be a challenge, for this reason, we will do our best to be available to you for questions and clarifications, should those be needed to supplement the information we share with you.
Sincerely,
Aline Baghdassarian, MD, MPH, FAAP
Program Director
Frederick C. Place, MD
Pediatric Medical Director
The Altieri Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship
Welcome to Inova Children’s Hospital, part of the Inova Fairfax Medical Campus. If you are reading this, you are likely curious about who we are and what motivates us.
Inova Children Hospital is a tertiary care, level 1 trauma center that cares for the children of Northern Virginia, a population of 2 million, in the shadow of the nation’s capital. Originally established as a community hospital in suburban Washington, DC, Inova Fairfax Hospital has evolved into the region’s dominant medical campus, ranking #1 for the National Capital Region in 2020 by U.S. News & World Report.
Inova Fairfax Hospital has a deep commitment to safety and quality and has embarked on a multi-year journey to become one of the leading healthcare systems in the United States with a relentless commitment to safety and quality. The 5-hospital Inova system is the only system in the country with more than three hospitals to have a 5-star rating by CMS. In 2020, Inova Fairfax Hospital was given a safety rating of “A” by the Leapfrog Group and was also honored with a Top Teaching Hospital award.
Inova Children’s Hospital is part of a large 920-bed campus and as such is able to leverage the extensive resources and experience available across the institution. The combined emergency department volume alone was over 130,000 in 2019; of these 45,000 were pediatric patients. The extraordinary support necessary to provide care for this huge volume of patients is a clear benefit to our physicians and patients with services available around the clock for almost every issue imaginable.
Our focus, in both the emergency department and the campus at large, is three-legged: quality of patient care, quality of the provider work environment, and education of the future workforce. Our department is the focal point for pediatric emergency care in Northern Virginia and we are committed to providing the highest quality care in the region – both in terms of the technical care we provide and our compassionate care.
Even as Northern Virginia is one of the wealthiest areas in the nation, we serve an incredibly diverse population, including vulnerable immigrants from across the planet – from Uyghur political refugees to those fleeing the instability of Central America. Fortunately, there is an interpreter for practically every language we encounter!
However, the primary reason our providers have established their careers at Inova Fairfax is their commitment to an environment of ongoing learning and educating the multitude of students, residents and fellows on our campus. We are a tight-knit, medium-sized group that has had very limited turnover in the past two decades. We care deeply about our nursing partners and work hard to create a close culture of trust and respect for everyone on our team. We love what we do, we love where we do it, and we love who we work with.
Frederick C. Place, MD
Pediatric Medical Director