Complex General Surgical Oncology Fellowship

Even in this age of monoclonal antibodies and gene therapy, surgical excision is still the standard of care for many solid tumors, while debulking is often helpful in palliative treatment.

Our Complex General Surgical Oncology Fellowship is a two-year Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited program dedicated to training future leaders in surgical oncology -- with the integrity and compassion for patients; the knowledge, skill and training to direct and educate; and the intellectual imperative to advance cures for cancer.

The program combines rigorous training in clinical surgical oncology with nonsurgical oncologic modalities and research. We appoint three new clinical fellows each year for six fellows over a two-year fellowship period.

 
complex surgical oncology

Clinical and Surgical Oncology Training

The close collaboration of City of Hope clinicians and basic scientists creates an environment with immense potential for medical discovery and innovation. As part of this vibrant community, fellows can learn from top cancer specialists.
 
Surgical Oncology fellows gain practical insight into cancer's clinical manifestations and the experience needed to manage patients at all stages of the disease. Fellows spend two years on focused clinical surgical oncology rotations as the only fellows. Services include Breast, Hepatopancreatobiliary, Colorectal, Peritoneal Service Malignancy, Gynecologic Oncology, Upper Gastrointestinal and Mixed Tumor rotations. We train fellows in advanced laparoscopic and robotic upper gastrointestinal, colorectal, thoracic and gynecologic surgery. Each fellow completes an average of 40-50 complex, advanced laparoscopic/robotic cases.

Clinical Trials

Fellows are strongly encouraged to gain experience with clinical trials: Both in-house and national cooperative group protocols support a dynamic clinical research environment.

Research Opportunities

Research is at the core of City of Hope's mission. Investigations by our fellows target promising cancer-related topics in cellular and molecular immunology, molecular carcinogenesis, multiple drug resistance, oncogenic expression and modulation, radio-immunotherapy, growth regulation, viral-induced carcinogenesis, tumor and vaccine immunology, and clinical outcomes research.
 
Fellows are encouraged to explore and define research interests and goals. After evaluation and approval, they carry out specific projects under the supervision of a City of Hope mentor. These projects are excellent opportunities to gain practical experience in biostatistics, clinical protocol development and clinical research. Fellows should expect to complete at least three to four peer-reviewed manuscripts before completion of the fellowship. To ensure the validity of investigations, the Department of Biostatistics provides didactic and interactive support, including a graduate course in biostatistics, protocol preparation and design. Fellows may also attend the Clinical Investigation Training Program, a yearlong curriculum designed to present the principles and practices used in the planning and execution of patient-oriented research, including principles and methods in biostatistics, clinical epidemiology, clinical trial and protocol development, ethics and good clinical practices of research.
 
Program director Lily Lai, M.D.
Program administrator: Christina Perez, C-TAGME
 
For more information, please contact:
 
Christina Perez, C-TAGME
Division of Surgical Oncology
Department of Surgery
1500 E. Duarte Road
Duarte, CA 91010