University of Toronto

 

Institution:

University of Toronto

Duration of Fellowship:

1 year

Number of Available Fellowship Positions:

1

Program Director:
Program Director Email:

Jesse Pasternak, MD, FACS
[email protected]

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

Amin Madani
Program Administration
[email protected]

Address/Phone:

Toronto General Hospital – University Health Network
10 EN 214, 200 Elizabeth Street 
Toronto ON M5G2C4

Phone: 4163404792
Fax:  4163403808

Objectives of the Program:

To train the future leaders in the field of Endocrine Surgery. This includes providing the environment to become a future leader in clinical surgery, research and patient advocacy.

Highlights of the Fellowship:

As a quaternary care academic practice in the public health system of Canada, we enjoy a centralization of referrals which creates a very clinically busy Endocrine section in our Division. Further, our section is located in a highly prolific academic milieu involving 6 teaching hospital networks and the University of Toronto campus, which harbors a vast amount of scientific and academic opportunities with respect to clinical, educational, basic science, translational and ethics research. Our staff surgeons include 4 academic fellowship trained endocrine surgeons (Rotstein, Devon, Pasternak, Madani) and affiliated HPB faculty who are very active clinically, and are highly engaged in the endocrine oncology academic community. Our surgeons work at 4 affiliated hospitals located in the downtown core in the City of Toronto including Toronto General Hospital, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Western Hospital and Women’s College Hospital. We expect fellows to complete between 300 and 350 cases per year including thyroidectomy (with central and lateral neck dissections), parathyroidectomy, adrenalectomy (including laparoscopic transabdominal, retroperitoneoscopic, and open approaches), as well as resection of GI/pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Further, We perform TOETVA and RFA of thyroid nodules on a regular basis. Fellows will have large volume exposure to outpatient clinic patients and will routinely perform neck ultrasounds, fine-needle aspirations and flexible laryngoscopy. According to their learning objectives, the fellow may attend several multidisciplinary tumor boards including 1) Thyroid/Parathyroid Tumor Board (2 per month), 2) Adrenal Tumor Board (1 per month), 3) GI/Neuroendocrine Tumor Board (1 per month), 4) Province-Wide Neuroendocrine Tumor board (1 per month), as well as 5) weekly Quality-Improvement Rounds and Endocrine Teaching Conference.
They will gain skills to ultimately become leaders in the field of Endocrine Surgery both technically in the operating room and with regards to the perioperative management of complex surgical endocrinology. The fellow as well as the entire team will interact regularly with various non-surgical team members who are leaders in their field, including endocrine oncology, endocrinology, radiology, genetics, nuclear medicine, medical oncology, radiation oncology and pathology. There is especially a high volume of exposure to rare endocrine disorders given the quaternary care nature of this endocrine surgery section, and management of these patients as a multidisciplinary team will be stressed.
Depending on the career plans of the clinical fellow, there will be opportunity for funding in an additional year for a research fellowship with potential for obtaining an advanced degree (MSc or other) from the University of Toronto.

Average Thyroid Case Volume: 150
Average Parathyroid Case Volume: 75
Average Adrenal Case Volume: 75

Neuroendocrine Tumors (NET)

Number of evaluation and management of NET (enteric and pancreatic only) cases per year: 15
Number of operative NET (enteric and pancreatic only) cases per year: 5
Number of NET case discussions per year: 150

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

If the fellow desires, there is an internal opportunity to engage in a more robust NET experience. Our associate faculty members in HPB have an interest in GI/Panc NET and can be accommodated if desired.

International Medical Graduates:

Graduates of International Medical Schools outside of USA/Canada will be considered provided they can obtain an educational license for the practice of medicine in Canada.

American citizens and graduates of American medical schools will be considered for selection provided they can obtain a license to practice medicine in Ontario.

Fellow must be American Board of Surgery eligible or certified:

No

Fellow must obtain a full (unrestricted) state license:

Yes - Must be eligible to obtain and educational license or Independent license with the CPSO

Special Considerations:

 

Program Website for More Information:

https://surgery.utoronto.ca/node/1525/

https://www.uhn.ca/Surgery/Clinics/Endocrine_Surgery_Clinic

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Program Facebook:

 

Previous Fellows:

2021-2022 Bianka Saravana-Bawan - Endocrine Surgeon - British Columbia
2022-2023 Rogeh Habashi - Academic Endocrine Surgeon - McMaster University (Brantford General Hospital)
2023-2024 Dan Moldoveanu - Academic Endocrine Surgeon - University of Montreal