The Transplant Surgery Fellowship is a two-year clinical fellowship which combines the experience of adult and pediatric organ transplantation with hepatobiliary surgery. Our American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) accredited program trains fellows in liver, kidney and intestine transplantation as well as hepatobiliary surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine.
Our intensive training program prepares fellows in all aspects of liver, kidney, and small bowel transplantation. Our annual clinical activity includes more than 120 liver transplants, 200 kidney transplants, 12-15 small bowel/multi-visceral transplants, and over 200 hepatic procedures.
Each clinical transplant fellow is responsible to provide thorough and complete clinical care to all patients during transplant rotations. Fellows are involved in every aspect of pre-and post-transplant evaluation and care. Fellows are particularly involved in the work-up and listing of transplant candidates, living and deceased donor evaluation and the side effects and complications of immunosuppression management.
From the very first rotation, fellows participate in all operative procedures and their operative responsibilities increase with experience and skills. Fellows must demonstrate excellent clinical documentation skills and be knowledgeable and compliant with federal and state law, hospital policy, legal precedent, the American Board of Surgery, ASTS, and the United Network for Organ Sharing. Fellows are subject to work hour limitations as required by New York State Hospital Code 405.
Fellows will develop expertise in procurement techniques for liver, small bowel, pancreas and kidneys. Understanding the concepts of organ preservation is also a priority.
Fellows independently lead procurement teams within months of starting their training and participate in all recipient procedures. We are able to provide sufficient experience for fellows to be fully accredited by ASTS in kidney, liver, and intestine transplantation as well as hepatobiliary surgery.
Please review the ASTS list of requirements
Rotations
Our fellowship is comprised of four rotations: adult liver transplant, pediatric liver transplant and intestinal transplant (pediatric and adult), kidney/pancreas and hepatobiliary surgery.
Fellows will rotate through these services in one-three month increments during fellowship. Each transplant’s service team consists of an attending surgeon, a fellow surgeon, an attending hepatologist/nephrologist/pediatrician, resident/physician assistants, nurse practitioners, a social worker, a nurse coordinator, a nutritionist, a pharmacist, and other allied health personnel as required.
Fellows usually serve as the primary back-up to resident, physician assistants and nurse practitioners. Attending physicians serve as back-up when fellows are unavailable.
Transplant Meetings and Lectures
It is required for fellows to attend clinics and conferences on each rotation. Fellows are also expected to attend several conferences. These conferences cover issues in histopathology, immunology, allograft biopsy interpretation, tissue typing and histocompatibility.
Research
There are no laboratory research requirements in the fellowship training program. But we encourage Fellows to identify clinical research projects early in training with a faculty member. Our fellows usually contribute to ongoing clinical projects and develop abstracts, papers and presentations by the completion of the fellowship.
Special Topics
Our fellows visit a histocompatability laboratory to learn a hands-on approach to HLA typing, cross matching, flow cytometry, donor specific antibody testing, ELISAs, and other advanced immunologic testing. Fellows will spend the day learning about organ allocation issues, the operations of UNOS and DonorNet, the conduct of deceased donor evaluations, and the operations of the kidney preservation laboratory at the OPO.
Mentoring
Fellows are formally evaluated each month by the attendings they work with. The director of the program reviews these evaluations with each fellow. Our program provides daily, direct and ongoing teaching and mentorship between attending physicians and the fellows. The program director also meets weekly with fellows to review administrative topics, address any communication issues or concerns and to receive any feedback on the difficulties in the fellowship.
How to Apply
Eligibility Requirements:
- Completion of a General Surgery Residency (applicants who do not have at least 3-years of U.S. post-graduate training, must have a minimum of six-years non-us, clinical post-graduate training, subject to approval by NYSED and required for New York State Licensure.)
- ECFMG certification
- Passing score on the USMLE Step III
Application Requirements:
- Current CV (clearly outline all post-graduate training)
- Copy of ECFMG Certificate
- USMLE Step 3 Score Report
- Application Form
3 original letters of recommendation addressed to Kishore Iyer, Program Director.
Please contact RMTI’s Education Coordinator, Jessica Dumont for a copy of the application form and additional application information.