Training fills a niche at the Stollery

Jillian Popel completed medical school, residency training and a fellowship at the U of A

Judith Chrystal - 02 July 2019

Jillian Popel
Our fellowship programs allow physicians to develop specialized skills based on local need and become experts themselves to care for children and eventually train other physicians here.

Jillian Popel completed medical school at the U of A in 2012 and an additional four years in the general pediatrics residency program in 2016. Thanks to generous funding from the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation, Popel took the opportunity to pursue a one-year fellowship in child maltreatment pediatrics here, in collaboration with the University of Toronto.

She now works half time at the Stollery Child and Adolescent Protection Centre, helping to fill a niche vacated by retiring physician Lionel Dibden. Popel provides medical and trauma screening for children when there is a concern about maltreatment, including cases of physical and sexual abuse. She works through the medical investigation, communicating with police or children's services to make a safety plan if necessary. She also collaborates with the Zebra Child Protection Centre, a multidisciplinary centre in downtown Edmonton. Popel balances this often emotionally demanding role with work as a hospitalist seeing children with a wide variety of conditions.