Skip to main content

Child Abuse Research Education and Service Institute

Educating the Next Generation of Professionals

In addition to providing the highest level of pediatric care, our faculty and staff are committed, dedicated and enthusiastic teachers. Our commitment to educating the next generation of experts in child abuse pediatrics is unparalleled. We offer three fellowship opportunities.

The Rowan-Virtua CARES Institute has proudly partnered with Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU) and Cooper University Health Care to establish the first accredited three-year Child Abuse Pediatrics Fellowship Program in New Jersey. This CAP fellowship is fully-funded by the CARES Institute, Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine (SOM), and the New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF), accepting one fellow per year.

The program will launch a fellow’s career in Child Abuse Pediatrics by building a foundation and experience evaluating children who may have been affected by child maltreatment. The fellow will be an integral part of both the child abuse pediatric team at the CARES Institute of Rowan-Virtua SOM and the inpatient CARES multi-disciplinary team at Cooper University Health Care.

For years, CARES has partnered with the Cooper to provide medical services for children who may have suffered abuse and neglect. The Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper is committed to excellence in education, research and high quality, safe, family-centered care for pediatric patients and their families. As the only state-designated acute children’s hospital, hospital-based pediatric surgery program, and Level 1 Trauma Center in southern New Jersey, the Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper provides exceptional pediatric primary care and comprehensive specialty support services for every patient, every day. 

At CARES, the fellow will work with six board-certified child abuse pediatricians, general pediatricians, psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers. In addition to clinical experience, the fellow will gain skills by participating in regional and/or national systems including: multidisciplinary teams (MDTs), child fatality review, and child abuse prevention programs. The fellow will have opportunities to develop pertinent skills for administration of a child abuse program, as well as the communication skills necessary to provide expert opinions in documentation and while testifying in court.

The fellow will also be provided ample time to conduct research to further the knowledge in the field. Due to our unique relationship with two premier medical schools, the fellow will have access to a wide variety of mentors from various academic and medical specialties from Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Cooper University Health Care, Rowan-Virtua SOM, and the CARES Institute.

For complete information, including application details, please visit this Child Abuse Pediatrics Fellowship page at Cooper Health. The full brochure can be downloaded here.

Fellowship Director
Rachel Silliman Cohen, MD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
CARES Institute, Rowan-Virtua SOM
856-566-6744 or sillimancohen@rowan.edu

Associate Fellowship Director
Laura Brennan, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
CARES Institute, Rowan-Virtua SOM
856-566-6444 or brennanl@rowan.edu

Fellowship Administrator
Yolanda Virella, BS
CARES Institute, Rowan-Virtua SOM
856-566-6744 or virellyo@rowan.edu