Meet Our Team
Chair, Department of Pediatrics
Vikas R. Dharnindharka, MD, MPH
Welcome to our pediatric residency program! Our residents are the heart of our department. Their vitality, curiosity and dedication to our patients reminds the faculty daily why we chose this profession. Our residents are a diverse and ambitious group headed by our dedicated medical education leaders. As you embark on this journey of apprenticeship, know that we will be there to help you succeed. Your success equates directly to ours!
In fact, one of our goals is to create a program where you will want to come back and work alongside us. Our program is unique in that we are centralized in a strong Children’s Health campus where you can explore your various interests. The partnerships between the Department of Pediatrics of RWJMS and Child Health Institute of New Jersey, Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, and PSE&G Children's Specialized Hospital along with the many partners of Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health opens the door to exploration of many career paths.
Whether you wish to go into primary pediatric care or a subspecialty, whether your track is advocacy, global, or research, know that we will help you become proficient in that area (or) in your dream area. We are growing our clinical and research programs, and I invite you to join us during this exciting journey ahead! Along the way, both residents and faculty will enrich each other through shared experiences and skills – promising a fun journey for you!
Program Director
Joann Carlson, MD
Thank you so much for visiting our website! We are so excited to share with you the highlights of our residency program. As the world around us is changing, we are ready to face the new challenges of residency training and building virtual learning curriculums. Our main goal continues to be to train excellent, well-rounded, and dedicated pediatricians.
My favorite part of our program is certainly the people. We have amazing faculty in all of the subspecialties who are not only astute clinicians but also incredible educators who love to teach. We also are so lucky to have extraordinary residents. Our residents continue to impress me throughout their training with their dedication to their patients, to learning and to each other. It is privilege to both teach and mentor them. We see their hard work paying off when they become true leaders in both general pediatrics and the subspecialities. Our graduates are one of the best ways to measure our program’s success. Please review our website but I encourage you all to contact us for more information and any questions you have. I am thrilled to be the program director and hope through this website you can start to see why I love being a leader in the residency program at RWJ/Rutgers. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you!
Associate Program Director
Natalie Torres-Feliz, MD
Welcome to our website! We are so excited to share with you all the exciting opportunities that we have in our program. We have a diverse resident physician population that reflects the population that we care for in the New Brunswick area. Our close knit team of attending physicians are able to form close working relationships with resident physicians. One of the strong points of our program is the group of physicians and nurses that make this program a close-knit and welcoming learning environment. I look forward to discussing with you all more about how we provide inclusive patient care and graduate strong, well-rounded pediatricians.
Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs
Doug Baker, MD
Vice Chair for Academic Development
Larry Kleinman, MD
2026-2027 Pediatric Chief Residents
