Nicklaus Children’s and Florida International University seal the deal with new partnership

Nicklaus Children’s and Florida International University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine have officially launched an academic partnership that will expand pediatric training opportunities, enhance patient care, and strengthen research in South Florida and beyond.

The collaboration, celebrated today at FIU’s Earlene and Albert Dotson Pavilion, brings together South Florida’s top public research university and its leading pediatric hospital to address a shared mission: improve child health outcomes through education, innovation, and clinical excellence.

“This partnership represents a powerful opportunity to innovate, educate and lead in the academic healthcare space,” said Matthew A. Love, president and CEO of Nicklaus Children’s Health System. “Coming together as the leading pediatric hospital and the leading research university in South Florida, the possibilities of changing the healthcare landscape are endless and will reinforce our commitment to provide every child a healthier and brighter future.”

The two organizations plan to increase the number of physicians by expanding graduate medical education programs like residencies and fellowships and help attract highly specialized physicians who will lead groundbreaking research to treat and cure childhood illnesses.

“This partnership unites two cornerstone institutions, FIU as Miami’s public research university and Nicklaus Children’s as the region’s top pediatric hospital, with a shared purpose: to improve the health and well-being of our community’s children,” said Jeanette M. Nuñez, interim president of FIU. “By combining our strengths in education, research, and clinical care, we are creating a pipeline of future physicians and groundbreaking discoveries that will transform pediatric care in South Florida and beyond.”

The collaboration between FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and Nicklaus Children's will help address the anticipated nationwide pediatric physician shortage of nearly 13,000 doctors by 2037, by encouraging medical students to pursue careers in pediatrics, training the next generation of pediatricians, and recruiting world-class experts to live and practice in South Florida. 

“We believe that when a public university medical school joins with a children’s hospital, we can do more than educate doctors, we can create cures and train pediatricians who understand our neighbors and their special needs,” said Dr. Juan C. Cendan, dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. “Through our shared vision and expertise, we can offer hope to families who may have once been told there was none.”

FIU medical students are already embedded in the pediatric care environment at Nicklaus Children’s. As part of their third-year requirements, all medical students complete a pediatric clerkship at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. On average, about 120 students rotate through the hospital each year, reflecting the college’s full class size.

The announcement was especially meaningful for Dr. Stephanie San Martin.

“FIU has been more than a university to me, it’s been a place of growth, of belonging, of possibility,” she said. “Matching at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital six years ago was a dream come true, and after completing my residency, serving as chief resident, and now finishing a pediatric hospitalist fellowship, I am a proud alumna of FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and soon to be attending physician at Nicklaus Children’s. It’s a full-circle moment that fills me with gratitude and hope.”

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