NYU Langone Health's Department of Pediatrics in the US has obtained a $9.8m donation from Trudy Elbaum Gottesman and Robert W Gottesman, founders of the Sala Institute for Child and Family Centered Care.

This donation aims to advance paediatric medicine and promote clinical research for childhood diseases.

The primary focus of the donation is to establish the Sala Elbaum Pediatric Research Scholars Program, providing early-career clinicians with support and time for intensive career development in biomedical, behavioural, or clinical research.

Two scholars have been selected, Dr Carol Duh-Leong and Dr Kirsty Hillier, who will receive four years of support and training.

Additionally, the Gottesmans' donation has established the Sala Elbaum Fellowship Endowment Fund, ensuring a competitive fellowship programme in the Department of Pediatrics.

This programme recruits young doctors and trains them to diagnose and care for children with complex and chronic conditions.

Two fellows in the paediatric department will be known as Sala Elbaum Fellows in key paediatric subspecialty areas.

Pediatric subspecialists need to undergo an additional two to three years of fellowship training after completing four years of medical school and three years of residency.

NYU Langone Health CEO Robert I. Grossman said: “Providing exceptional care means understanding the unique needs of the patients we see at NYU Langone Health—and there is often no patient more vulnerable, or more resilient, than a child.

“We are fortunate to have supporters like the Gottesmans, who know this so well and are deeply committed to ensuring that Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital, through Sala Institute, remains the best place for any parent to seek care for their child.

“Their most recent gift allows us to continue to enhance research, fellowship training, and the next generation of paediatricians.”