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Surgical Oncology Research Fellowship

Surgical Oncology Program, National Cancer Institute

About

The Surgical Oncology Research Fellowship at the National Cancer Institute

The Surgical Oncology Research Fellowship at the National Cancer Institute is a fully-funded, 2- or 3-year program designed to educate and develop future leaders in the field of Surgical Oncology. The fellowship connects fundamental basic science research in cancer biology to translational studies in patients and patient-derived tissues.

Fellowship training involves three components:

  • Focused laboratory-based and clinical research in cancer biology, particularly related to surgical aspects of the disease
  • Formal didactic teaching in modern cancer biology, including the molecular basis of cancer and mechanisms of current cancer therapies
  • Operative clinical rotations in key surgical oncology subspecialties

Research Component

This includes 18 months of bench laboratory experience in one of the many NCI laboratories with the option to extend for an additional year. In addition, Fellows participate in clinical research projects and have first-hand exposure to the design and conduct of clinical trials, including statistical analysis of clinical data.

Previous Surgical Oncology Research Fellows have gained experiences in the following research tracks, among others:

  • Surgical Oncology: Metastasis biology modeling and analysis, hereditary diffuse gastric cancer syndrome, wild-type gastrointestinal stromal tumors
  • Thoracic Surgery: Epigenetics of thoracic malignancies, tumor predisposition syndrome, microRNA therapeutics for mesothelioma
  • Endocrine Surgery: Adrenocortical cancer modeling and analysis, neuroendocrine tumor and carcinoma imaging and targeting

Didactic Component

All Fellows participate in a formal didactic lecture and discussion curriculum, Foundations of Modern Cancer Biology, designed to quickly bring surgical residents up to speed in understanding the current state of molecular oncology. The curriculum covers current and historical breakthroughs in cancer and cancer treatment through a series of lectures and literature-based discussions, focusing on experimental methods and data interpretation in tumor types of particular interest to surgical oncologists. A summary of the course content can be found here.

Clinical Component

This includes operative rotations in the areas of gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary, endocrine, thoracic, and peritoneal surface and gynecologic malignancies. Fellows actively participate in all aspects of patient care including conducting the pre-operative evaluation, performing the operative procedure, and providing post-operative care and subsequent outpatient follow-up. In addition to daily rounds with the attending surgeons, clinical training is further enhanced by a series of weekly conferences including multidisciplinary molecular-based tumor boards, a weekly clinical service meeting, a diverse array of talks on the latest topics in cancer and biomedical science in general by some of the world’s most outstanding scientists through lecture series and Grand Rounds held across the entire NIH campus.

Expectations

At the conclusion of their laboratory, clinical, and didactic training, Fellows will be able to:

  • Identify critically important questions in surgical oncology
  • Independently design, perform, and interpret experiments and their results to directly address these questions
  • Attain mastery in oral and written communication of both scientific research and clinical patient management.

Graduates of the Fellowship are expected to become the next generation of leaders in Surgical Oncology

Training at the NIH Clinical Center

All CCR residents and clinical fellows train at the 240-bed NIH Clinical Center, internationally recognized as the premier hospital dedicated to translational research and clinical care. Clinical rotations offer fellows the opportunity to have direct experience in the care of patients enrolled in investigational oncology-related treatment protocols. Participants will have first-hand exposure to the design, conduct, and management of clinical trials. 

All of CCR’s clinical training programs are part of Graduate Medical Education at NIH.

Contacts

Fellowship Program Director
Andrew M. Blakely, M.D.

Program Administrator
Ms. Joanna Lamot
Ph: 240.858.3731

How to Apply

Surgical Oncology Research Fellowship applications are accepted from August 1st through November 1st each year. Matriculants to the fellowship start on July 1st of the following year. A statement of interest in the program, curriculum vitae, and at least two (2) if not three (3) letters of recommendation should be sent directly to the Program Administrator.

Alternatively, interested applicants may submit materials through the NIH Graduate Medical Education page; if using this system, the applicant should contact the Program Administrator to ensure that application materials have been received.

Applications will be reviewed by faculty from both the Surgical Oncology Program and the Surgery Branch. Joint interviews are offered in the fall of each year.

Please contact the Program Administrator, Joanna Lamot, for additional information.

Fellows

Shruthi Perati
Shruthi Reddy Perati, M.D.
2023-2025
Alyssa Eade
Alyssa Eade, M.D.
2023-2025
Lindsay Friedman
Lindsay Friedman, M.D., M.S.
2023-2025
Carolina Larrain
Carolina Larrain, M.D.
2023-2025
Katherine Barrows
Katherine M. Barrows, M.D.
2023-2025
Amber Famigleitti
Amber Famiglietti-Gallanis, M.D.
2022-2024
Shadin Ghabra
Shadin Ghabra, M.D.
2022-2024
Kenneth Luberice
Kenneth Luberice, M.D.
2022-2024
Tracey Pu
Tracey Pu, M.D.
2022-2024
Vijay Putatunda
Vijay Putatunda, M.D.
2022-2024
Bhavishya Ramamoorthy
Bhavishya Ramamoorthy, M.D.
2022-2024
Leila Sarvestani
A. Leila Sarvestani, M.D.
2021-2024
Frank Villa
Frank Villa, M.D.
2021-2024
Shay Behrens
Shay Behrens, M.D.
2021-2023
Stephanie Gregory
Stephanie Gregory, M.D.
2021-2023
Jacob Lambdin
Jacob Lambdin, M.D.
2021-2023
Carrie Ryan
Carrie Ryan, M.D.
2021-2023
 Martha Teke
Martha Teke, M.D.
2020-2023
Robert Grant
Robert R. C. Grant, M.D.
2020-2022
Benjamin Green
Benjamin L. Green, M.D.
2020-2022
Areeba Saif
Areeba Saif, M.D.
2020-2022
Emily Verbus
Emily Verbus, M.D.
2020-2022
Lauren Gamble
Lauren Gamble, M.D.
2019-2022
Tahsin Khan
Tahsin Khan, M.D.
2019-2022
George Alyateem
George Alyateem, M.D.
2019-2021
Alexander Rossi
Alexander Rossi, M.D.
2019-2021
John Aversa
John G. Aversa, M.D.
2018-2020
Dana Dominguez
Dana A. Dominguez, M.D.
2018-2020
Shreya Gupta
Shreya Gupta, M.D.
2018-2020
Brendan Hagerty
Brendan L. Hagerty, M.D.
2018-2020
James McDonald
James D. McDonald, M.D.
2018-2020

Didactics

Multiple educational conferences highlighting the principles of clinical research are integrated throughout the fellowship experience.

Surgical Oncology Fellows’ Educational Conference - Weekly lecture series throughout the academic year with presentations from NCI faculty addressing the fundamentals of clinical study design and interpretation, design and progress of current NCI clinical trials, and fellow-led debates on current questions in surgical oncology.

Weekly Clinical Conference - Weekly departmental meeting similar to Grand Rounds as well as Morbidity/Mortality conference focusing on clinical management and translational and basic science correlates of challenging cases of the NCI Surgical Oncology Clinical Service.

Surgical Oncology Clinical Research Meeting - Quarterly clinical research think-tank focused on the development and support of clinical research projects for fellows.

Multidisciplinary Oncology Meetings

Multiple clinically and translationally oriented meetings focus on care of complex general surgical oncology, thoracic and endocrine diseases:

  • NIH Foregut Team manages patients with tumors of the gastrointestinal and hepatopancreaticobiliary tracts
  • Thoracic Tumor Board
  • Endocrine Oncology Tumor Board

NIH-Wide Lecture and Educational Opportunities

Diverse, NIH-wide lecture series focusing on basic science, translational and clinical work as well as traditional classroom educational opportunities in basic and clinical science available through the NIH Graduate School.