Cedars-Sinai's first accredited Complex Surgical Oncology Fellowship program established

The Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute has established the medical center's first accredited Complex Surgical Oncology Fellowship program, joining an elite group of 16 U.S. hospitals that have received accreditation for this type of training from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), a premier evaluator of physician education programs.

The Cedars-Sinai Complex Surgical Oncology Fellow will spend two years focusing primarily on hands-on surgical oncology training, as well as multidisciplinary care and clinical and translational research.

"Achieving accreditation is a milestone in the history of our cancer institute," said Armando E. Giuliano, MD, FACS, FRCSEd, program director of the Complex Surgical Oncology Fellowship program, professor and executive vice chair of Department of Surgery, associate director of Surgical Oncology, co-director of the Saul and Joyce Brandman Breast Center-A Project of Women's Guild and the Linda and Jim Lippman Chair in Surgical Oncology. "The trainee will participate in the management of surgical oncology patients, evaluate patients and coordinate care with multidisciplinary specialists — ensuring the fellow's full potential is met through the guidance and support of our institutions Complex Surgical Oncology Program team."

The two-year fellowship program includes 20 months of clinical rotations and four months of translational research. Focused on complex gastrointestinal tumors, pancreatic tumors, breast cancer, melanoma, head and neck cancer and bone and soft-tissue sarcoma, trainees will rotate on gynecologic oncology, medical oncology, radiation oncology, surgical pathology and interventional radiology. The core curriculum includes weekly surgical grand rounds, surgical oncology rounds, specialty specific meetings, conferences and clinical and translational research.

"The Complex Surgical Oncology Fellowship program confirms Cedars-Sinai's commitment to educating, training and mentoring the best and brightest minds in the medical community," said Mark S. Noah, MD, medical director of Graduate and Continuing Medical Education, director of the Internal Medicine Residency Training Program and the Melvin Brody, MD, Chair in Medical Education.