Fellowship
The Stanford Vascular Surgery Fellowship is an RRC-accredited two-year fellowship leading to board eligibility for a certificate of Special Qualifications in Vascular Surgery granted by the American Board of Surgery. The first year is devoted to a busy clinical experience involving, as the primary surgeon, a large number and variety of open and endovascular cases and supervising the management of an active inpatient vascular surgery service at the VA Palo Alto Hospital. The second year is an intensive year spent as the priamary surgeon at Stanford University Hospital, superivsing and running one of the busiest practices in the country. There is an emphasis on complex aortic pathology, advanced endovascular interventions, noninvasive diagnosis, and clinical research. There is ample opportunity to present at national meetings and produce peer-reviewed publications during both years.
VA Palo Alto Vascular Surgery - First Year
The first year of the fellowship involves a clinical experience in the total preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative management of complex vascular patients characteristic of a VA vascular practice. Approximately 10 months will be spent at the VA, with the final two months a transition time at Stanford University Medical Center. Call responsibilities are shared between the 1st and 2nd year fellow.
The first year experience includes:
- Operative experience: The operative experience consistently involves over 200 open and endovascular cases during a 12-month period, over 150 of which are RRC Category I major vascular reconstructions. This is well above the 90% percentile of all the vascular fellowships in the country. The case mix is relatively evenly distributed among aortic, cerebrovascular, and distal arterial revascularizations. Within each of the major categories, approximately 25% are "redo" reconstructions. The first year fellow also is invovled with a large proportion of endovascular cases, including aortic stent-grafting, diagnostic arteriograms, and peripheral angioplasty/stenting.
- Vascular Surgery Service: The VA vascular surgery service is comprised of the Fellow, a clinical PGY-4 general surgery resident, one surgery intern, and one 3rd year medical student. On-call evening and weekend coverage is shared between the PGY-4 resident and the other Fellow. The Fellow does not participate in any other general surgery call. A dedicated Clinical Nurse Coordinator provides preoperative teaching, scheduling of routine studies, and aids in the discharge planning, as well as supports other daily clinical activities of the service.
-
Conferences: The first year Fellow is responsible for organizing the weekly vascular conference, which is held every Monday morning. The conference alternates every other week between Interesting Case presentations and vascular M&M. There is a weekly didactic Rutherford basic science review conference organized by the fellows. Journal club is held on a quarterly basis reviewing current controversial topics.
Dr. Christopher Zarins with former fellow and current faculty, Jason T. Lee, MD - Outpatient Experience: The Fellow is assigned to the outpatient clinic 1-2 days a week, and participates in the preoperative evaluation and postoperative follow-up of patients with the attending surgeons.
- Benefits: Time is allowed for presentations at national meetings, board examinations, and up to three weeks of paid vacation. The cost of California licensure and a $1000 educational stipend is provided through the Residency Office. In addition, a $1500 stipend is also given to cover moving expenses to Northern California.
Stanford Vascular Surgery- Second Year
The second year is devoted to an intense clinical experience at Stanford University Medical Center, a quarternary care referral center with emphasis on open coplex reconstructive surgery, endovascular surgery, clinical/basic research, and active participation in the noninvasive vascular laboratory.
The second year experience includes:
- Stanford Vascular Service: An intense operative experience consistently involves over 400 open and endovascular cases during a 12-month period, over 350 of which are RRC Category I major vascular reconstructions. This is well above the 90% percentile of all the vascular fellowships in the country. The case mix is relatively evenly distributed among aortic, cerebrovascular, and distal arterial revascularizations. Within each of the major categories, approximately 25% are "redo" reconstructions. The 2nd year fellow also is invovled with a large proportion of endovascular cases, including aortic stent-grafting, diagnostic arteriograms, and peripheral angioplasty/stenting. The team consists of the 2nd year fellow, a PGY-3 resident, 1 surgical intern, one vascular sub-intern, and one 3rd year medical student The vascular surgery service shares a 28-bed Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit with the Cardiothoracic service. It has an open-service structure and all the vascular patients are managed by the vascular service in conjunction with a Surgical Intensive Care Unit service. There is no in-house call.
- Endovascular Surgery: The second year Fellow devotes approximately 50% of his/her time in the endovascular program. This involves the preoperative evaluation and the postoperative follow-up of aortic stent graft patients. The Endovascular Fellow gains considerable experience in diagnostic angiography, carotid, visceral and peripheral interventional procedures, balloon angioplasty, and stenting techniques. At the completion of the year, the Endovascular Fellow will have performed enough cases to meet the SVS/ISCVS standards for hospital credentialing interventional peripheral vascular privileges.
- Research: The Division has an active clinical trials program as well as well-funded research laboratories in biomechanical engineering and vascular biology. Stanford's location near the heart of Silicon Valley provides a unique opportunity for collaboration with biotechnology industries for medical device research and development. In addition, the vast case volume offers a tremendous amount of material for conducting prospective and retrospective clinical studies, either within the Division or with our vascular imaging divisions (Interventional, MR, and CT). The Fellow is expected to participate in research projects leading to presentations at national meetings and write peer-reviewed publications.
- Conferences: In addition to the weekly vascular conference, the Endovascular Fellow is expected to actively participate in the weekly Joint Cardiovascular Interventional Radiology-Vascular Surgery conference. Other educational activities include the weekly Basic Science Conference, quarterly Vascular Surgery Journal Club, and weekly teaching sessions with residents and medical students.
- Other Responsibilities: The 2nd yearFellow shares call responsibilities with the first year VA Fellow.
Vascular Surgery Training in General Surgery
General Surgery residents receive their vascular training as junior residents on the University Vascular Surgery service during their PGY-I and PGY-III years, when they are actively involved in the daily management of the vascular patients. The PGY-IV in General Surgery obtains additional vascular experience at the Palo Alto VA hospital and affiliated institutions. At the completion of their training, the General Surgery Chief Residents typically will have performed 70 to 120 major vascular cases, which is well above the RRC guidelines.
Application Instructions
Important Dates
Deadline to Apply - February 28, 2009
Interview Dates - March 11and 27, 2009
Fellowship Begins - July 1, 2010
We appreciate your interest in the Vascular Surgery Fellowship at Stanford University Medical Center. Applications will be open on the ERAS website for the 2009 match to begin fellowship July 1, 2010. Applicants must have completed at least 4 years of an ACGME-approved general surgery training program prior to enrolling in our fellowship. Any questions should be directed to Ronald L. Dalman, MD, chief and program director ( ) or Jason T. Lee, MD, associate program director (). One or two vascular fellows are chosen yearly in the match sponsored by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). All applicants must register with the NRMP match to be considered.
Applications and all supporting materials should be entered on the Electronic Residency Application System (ERAS) sponsored by the AAMC. The deadline for submission of a completed application for the 2009 match will be February 28, 2009.
The scheduled dates for interviewing prospective applicants will be Wednesday, March 11, 2009, and Friday, March 27, 2009. Invitations for interviews will be mailed out beginning at the end of January 2009 for those who have completed their application. If you do not hear from us by the the 1st week in March regarding the status of your application, please contact us immediately.
All applicants invited for interview should plan to be here the evening prior to interview day for dinner with the faculty and fellows. A preliminary agenda of last year's schedule is available for download so you can get an idea of what to expect.
