University of Calgary

 

Institution:

University of Calgary

Duration of Fellowship:

1 year with possible 2nd year if fellows apply to complete the Royal College of Canada Surgical Oncology accredited program.

Number of Available Fellowship Positions:

1

Program Director:
Program Director Email:

Adrian Harvey, MD
[email protected]

Secondary Contact Name:
Secondary Contact Title:
Secondary Contact Email:

Francesca Isaacs
Program Coordinator, Office of Surgical Fellowship Program
[email protected]

Address/Phone:

Office of Surgical Fellowship Program
Foothills Medical Centre
North Tower, 7th Floor, Rm 733
1403 29 Street NW
Calgary, Alberta, T2N 2T9, Canada
Phone: 403 944 0966
Fax: 403 944 4301

Objectives of the Program:

The University of Calgary program aims to provide advanced training in the field of endocrine surgery including parathyroid, thyroid, adrenal pancreatic, and GI neuroendocrine tumors. This includes comprehensive care of the endocrine surgical patients including pathophysiology of these diseases, work up, surgical indications, technical surgical skills, multidisciplinary care and follow-up.
This program is dedicated to meeting the AAES objectives in Endocrine Surgery. Our goal is to produce Endocrine Surgeons with the skills knowledge and attitudes to excel in whatever practice environment they chose to pursue (Community to tertiary care, academic). We endeavor to provide an environment that fosters education, research, and collegiality in the field of Endocrine Surgery. Upon completion the candidate will be competent in providing advanced care in the field of Endocrine Surgery at their home institution. We aim to produce graduating fellows that provide outstanding care to their patients, support to their colleagues and advancement to the field of endocrine surgery.
The Fellow will be expected to participate in scholarly activity resulting in at least one publishable work by completion of the fellowship.

Highlights of the Fellowship:

Location:
Welcome to the City of Calgary. The City is home to just over 1.3 million residents. Infrastructure is well developed with good traffic flow and safe streets. Calgary is a vibrant city with an underrated culinary scene and arts scene. For sports enthusiasts, the NHL’s Calgary Flames and CFL’s Calgary Stampeders (Canadian Football) call this city home. The Rocky Mountains are less than an hour away making this a prime location for outdoor enthusiasts!

Clinical Experiences:
The core Endocrine Surgery service is a high-volume practice involving the full breadth of the specialty.
Surgical Cases: The candidate will be surgically involved in at least:
90-120 thyroid cases (including central & lateral neck dissection)
80-100 parathyroid cases (including renal hyperparathyroidism)
30-60 Adrenal cases
10-30 GNET/PNETcases

Clinics:
In addition to regular dedicated endocrine surgery clinics fellows will attend multidisciplinary Neuroendocrine Tumor and Hereditary Neuroendocrine clinics
Tumor Boards: Fellows will attend and participate in multidisciplinary tumor boards for Thyroid Cancer and Neuroendocrine Tumors. Clinics with endocrine surgeons will involve intra-office ultrasound, laryngoscopy and FNA.
Focused clinical experiences in Pathology, Radiology and Endocrinology will be organized within the one-year fellowship.

Call:
Fellows can participate in call at the Senior level in the general surgery program in order to assist with transition back to practice. Call is paid (surgical assist billings or extender stipend). Call is limited to a maximum of 2 calls per month to ensure the objectives of the fellowship are met.

Educational Rounds:
Fellows will attend and participate in: Weekly Surgical Oncology/Endocrine Rounds as well as General Surgery M&M rounds. Fellows will have the opportunity to present at surgical oncology rounds. Journal clubs in conjunction with the surgical oncology program are run quarterly.

Research:
Basics of research course will be provided by the Office of Surgery Fellowship. Fellows will participate in research. Attendance at Endocrine Surgery University will be funded. Fellows will be expected to attend the AAES annual meeting. Funding for conference presentations will be provided. The Office of Surgical Fellowship runs a yearly Fellow’s Research Day at which the fellow will present their research.

Average Thyroid Case Volume: 100
Average Parathyroid Case Volume: 100
Average Adrenal Case Volume: 40

Neuroendocrine Tumors (NET)

Number of evaluation and management of NET (enteric and pancreatic only) cases per year: 20
Number of operative NET (enteric and pancreatic only) cases per year: 10
Number of NET case discussions per year: 15

The fellow has an opportunity to participate in a Multidisciplinary NET (enteric and pancreatic only) Tumor Board which meets monthly.

If the fellow desires, there is an internal opportunity to engage in a more robust NET experience. Our fellowships can be tailored to fellows needs, including joining our HPB colleagues when they perform pancreatic surgery on these tumors.

International Medical Graduates:

Our program can accept international applicants who have a Canadian work visa.

Fellow must be American Board of Surgery eligible or certified:

No

Fellow must obtain a full (unrestricted) state license:

Educational and Surgical Assist License (College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta)

Special Considerations:

Must have completed, or be completing, a Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Canada (or the equivalent) accredited residency program in General Surgery.

Must be eligible for an Educational or Independent license to practice medicine by the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA).

Prospective Fellows must be proficient in spoken and written English. If language of medical school is not English: Unless exempt, candidates need to complete IELTS (International English Language Testing System) academic version within 24 months before submitting their application to CPSA

Program Website for More Information:

https://cumming.ucalgary.ca/departments/surgery/education/graduate-education/fellowship-programs

Program Twitter:

 

Program Facebook:

 

Previous Fellows:

Dr. Mark Sywak 2000-2002 - Sydney, Australia
[email protected]

Dr. Juan Chavez 2003-2004 - Mexico City

Dr. Anthony Chambers 2007-2009 - Sydney Australia
www.anthonychambers.com.au

Dr Laura Chin-Lenn 2011-2013 - Melbourne, Australia
[email protected]

Dr. Raj Patel 2013-2014 - Auckland, NZ
[email protected]

Dr. Johanna Basa 2014-2015 - California, USA
[email protected]

Dr. Jane Mills 2017-2018 – Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
[email protected]

Dr. Steven Craig 2018-2019 – Milton, NSW, Australia
[email protected]

Dr. Caitlin Yeo 2019-2020 – Calgary, Alberta
[email protected]

Dr. Elizabeth Tacl 2020-2021 – St Cloud Minnesota
[email protected]

Dr. Emily Harris 2022-2023 - Vineland, New Jersey

Dr. Rebecca Lahamm-Andraos - Current Fellow