About ONTPD

Our Mission

The mission of the Organization of Neonatal Program Directors is to work with all Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Program Directors on issues pertinent to the educational objectives, administration and funding of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine subspecialty training programs.

Our History

The ONTPD was formed in 1991 to provide an annual forum for program directors to identify and address issues relevant to Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine (NPM) Fellowship Training. Its membership consists of the program directors from all accredited ACGME training programs in the US and Puerto Rico. The leadership structure of the ONTPD is a Council consisting of 6 program directors elected by the membership; one council member serves as the Chair. A 7th member is a representative from the TECaN (Trainees and Early Career Neonatologists) Council.

In the intervening years since its creation, the ONTPD has evolved into an important instrument for information dissemination and advocacy for ACGME fellowship training programs. The ONTPD represents the interests of training program directors with the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP). The Chair of the ONTPD serves as a liaison member of the Executive Committee of the AAP Section on Neonatal Perinatal Medicine (SoNPM), which has supported the ONTPD administratively and financially since its inception. With the 2006 decision by the ONTPD membership to participate in a National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) sanctioned Match and to use the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) as the common platform for fellowship recruitment and applications, the ONTPD now serves as the instrument for communication between its membership, ERAS and NRMP.

ONTPD Past Chairs and Council Members

Past Chairs:

Heather French MD, MSed, FAAP
Patricia Chess, MD, FAAP
Av Fanaroff, MD, FAAP
Tom Hansen, MD, FAAP
William Truogg, MD, FAAP
Judy Aschner, MD, FAAP
Josef Neu, MD, FAAP
Rita Ryan, MD, FAAP
Thomas Parker. MD, FAAP
Susan Aucott, MD, FAAP
Christiane Dammann, MD, FAAP
Patricia Chess, MD, FAAP

Past Council Members:

Melissa Carbajal, MD
Lindsay Johnston, MD, MEd
David Adamkin, MD, FAAP
Eduardo Bancalari, MD, FAAP
Roberta Ballard, MD, FAAP
Luc Brion, MD, FAAP
Wally Carlo, MD, FAAP
James J Cummings, MD, FAAP
Christine Gleason, MD, FAAP
Susan Guttentag, MD, FAAP
William Hay, MD, FAAP
Sandra "Sunny" Juul, MD, FAAP
Krithika Lingappan, MD, FAAP
Josh Petrikin, MD, FAAP
Renate Savich, MD, FAAP
Fiona Wertheimer, MD, FAAP
Jack Widness, MD, FAAP
Catherine Bendel, MD, FAAP
Brian Hackett, MD, FAAP
Jae Kim, MD, PhD, FAAP
Suzanne Lopez, MD, FAAP
Ward R Rice, MD, PhD, FAAP​