Current Residents

Welcome to the UPMC Child Neurology Residency Website! Thank you for your interest in our program! With the COVID-19 pandemic making program visits a challenge, even though we may not be able to meet you in-person, we wanted to give you a sense of what our program is like and why we chose UPMC.

Our training at UPMC begins in general pediatrics, where you will have the opportunity to hone your skills as a pediatrician and build relationships with your pediatrics colleagues. At the same time, you are a part of the Child Neurology and NDD family from Day 1. Every resident is assigned a mentor, and CN/NDD residents are linked with Child Neurology / Neurodevelopmental Disabilities faculty from the start. We welcome you to our conferences and social events, and we also respect this period of your training as a critical time to develop your pediatrics knowledge. We encourage you to have the full pediatrics experience, and we are always available to help however we can! During your third year of training, you will complete your inpatient adult neurology rotations while in the capable hands of our Adult Neurology colleagues at UPMC. You will experience the entire scope of neurology, learn to diagnose and manage neurologic disease, and become more confident in your neuro exam. You won’t be entirely removed from us, though! You will have your weekly Child Neurology continuity clinic where you will get your own panel of Child Neurology patients. Residents also start their research project this year (if they haven’t already), and electives can be pursued in many neurologic sub-specialties!

You will be extremely well-prepared by the time you reach your 4th and 5th (and 6th for our NDD friends!) years of training, so you can really focus in on developing your skills in Child Neurology and do a lot of career exploration. Our faculty is excited to teach, and we have people who specialize in every area of neurology, so we have no doubt that you can find your perfect fit! When we say there is a family feel to our department, we mean it. Our attendings insist on being called by their first name, and everyone’s voice is heard and respected when developing a plan. We also have a yearly gala (when not limited by COVID) where we can all relax and get to know one another in a social atmosphere. There are also less formal, spur-of-the-moment gatherings organized by co-residents.

We work hard, but Pittsburgh is an exciting city that allows you to make the most of your free time! Whether you like sports, the performing arts, history, food festivals, outdoor adventuring, or all the above, Pittsburgh has a lot to offer! Whatever your personal interests and career goals, we think that you can find a home in Pittsburgh that allows you to flourish.

We look forward to meeting you this year, and please contact us if you have any questions!

The Chiefs:

Medha and Seth  

• Seth VanZant, MD (NDD PGY-6)
• Elizabeth Harrison, MD
• Hitoshi Koshiya, MD
• Medha Parulekar, MD
• Kate Kielty, MD (NDD)

• Laura Grezzo, MD
• Ryan Malave, MD
• Jasmine Sondhi, MD
• Mikaela Speakes, MD

• John Collyer, MD (NDD)
• Krish Nair, MD
• Himadri Patel, MD
• Geetha Vasudevan, MD

• Nicholas Benjamin, MD
• Katsiah Cadet, MD
• Aarane Ratnaseelan, MD (NDD)
• Sushma Thapa, MD

• Stephanie DeCarvalho, MD
• Kyoko Fukahori, MD
• Meghana Ganapathiraju, MD (NDD)
• Vera Iakovleva, MD