The duties of the Fellow are confined to evaluating surgical resection and biopsy specimens and intraoperative consultations (frozen sections and gross examinations). There are no autopsy responsibilities, except rarely as an advisor on specific cases.
The fellow spends nine months on clinical services. The rotations during these nine months include primarily "GI Bigs" ("GIB" = large resections) and "GI Quicks" ("GIQ" = GI biopsies), with additional weeks on Transplant/Liver Pathology (biopsies and resections; 4-6 weeks) and Molecular Anatomic Pathology (4 weeks; optional). In the remaining three months, the fellow is encouraged to participate in at least one research project and educational activities; there is also an option to spend this time non-GI related elective rotations within the department.
Fellow clinical responsibilities when on GIB and GIQ:
- First 6 months: On GIB, the fellow will gross GI specimens, will supervise the grossing of the resident and will work with the PAs to make sure specimens are grossed appropriately and efficiently. All intraoperative consultations (including frozen sections) will be performed by the fellow under direct faculty supervision. The fellows will preview the cases they themselves grossed, as well as some/all cases that the PA grossed (the resident, if on service, will preview all of the cases he/she grossed, plus some of the cases the PA grossed). On GIQ, the workload will be divided among those on service. Once the cases are previewed, the fellow will signout together with the attending (and resident).
- Second 6 months: Based on the progress of the fellow and the 6-month evaluation, the fellow will function as a junior faculty member, either with full signout responsibilities as a Clinical Instructor (with attending backup) or with "mock" signout responsibilities as a GME fellow. On GIB, grossing will be selective and the fellow will supervise the workflow of GI specimens in the gross room. Intraoperative consultations will be performed independently by the fellow with backup faculty supervision. The fellows are to completely workup the cases as needed on both GIQ and GIB. The GME fellow will "mock signout" the cases that the resident previewed one-on-one with the resident (on both GIB and GIQ).
Normal working hours:
- GI Bigs: The typical workday lasts from 7:30am until about 6pm Monday through Friday; intraoperative consult responsibility ends at 5 pm. On Saturday, cases for Monday's signout are previewed and some cases may need to be signed out with the attending (in general, the fellow will spend 3-6 hours working on Saturday).
- GI Quicks: The typical workday lasts from 7:30am until 5pm Monday through Friday. Saturday is not a working day, but new cases will have to be previewed for Monday's signout at some point over the weekend (typically, 2-3 hours are spent previewing slides on the weekend).
Conferences/Presentations:
- GI Pathology QA/Case Review Conference
- GI Tumor Board
- Journal Club
- Microscopic slide review, usually organ-based, for the clinical GI fellows
- GI COE business/research meeting
- Pancreas Cancer Conference
- GI/Liver Grand Rounds
- Surgical Oncology Conference
- Other departmental AP-oriented conferences, such as Surgical Pathology QA Conference and Diagnostic Pathology Conference
- The fellows will also be expected give one 45-50 minute talk on their research or interesting topic, and also one 20-minute interesting case presentation at our departmental Diagnostic Pathology Conference.
Research/education: The fellow is encouraged to pursue one or two research projects that will be suitable for publication in a peer-review journal. The fellow will also be involved in resident education.