Abdominal Transplantation and Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary

The Fellowship Program in Abdominal Transplantation and Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB) Surgery at Western University has a long tradition of training fully qualified surgeons. The Fellowship Program has been in place for more than 30 years and have trained transplant and HPB surgeons from many parts of the world who have gone on to successful careers in this discipline. We have had continued certification as an accredited surgical training program from the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) for more than 20 years. We adhere to the training guidelines and education curriculum set forth by the ASTS for both abdominal organ transplantation and HPB surgery and are subject to their reaccreditation cycle that requires renewal every three years. We currently have one fellowship position per year. The fellows are involved with the clinical services of liver and kidney transplantation and are integral to the daily running of these teams. Fellows also participate in the HPB oncology / surgery teams which are resident driven teams. We have struck an even balance in the training of both fellows and residents in their involvement during the surgical procedures as well as preoperative evaluation and postoperative care. The fellowship program is sensitive to the resident experience and follow closely, the comments and recommendations from the Residency Program Committee in General Surgery. Fellows are evaluated every 3-4 months with input from the attending surgeons as well as from the hepatologists on the transplant team. The fellows are required to maintain their surgical logs and undergo an annual written exam administered by the ASTS.

Formalized teaching for the fellows include: Multi-organ Transplant grand rounds (monthly), fellows seminar series (weekly), Journal Club (monthly), daily patient care rounds as well as various tumor boards, and general surgery grand rounds. Although there is emphasis on clinical training, research training is incorporated into the fellowship. There are regularly scheduled meetings with different research groups (clinical and basic science) that occur weekly and bi-weekly in addition to other research and educational activities that may take place outside of the hospital and normal working hours. We have a baseline goal for all fellows to complete one project per year that is to be presented at a national or international meeting with follow-up publication.

Interested applicants are encouraged to apply through the Fellowship Council Match.