Baylor Scott & White Clinic/Texas A&M HSC

Institution:

Baylor Scott & White Clinic/Texas A&M HSC

Duration of Fellowship:

1 year - fully funded with a Junior Staff appointment in General Surgery/Surgical Oncology

Number of Available Fellowship Positions:

1

Program Director:
Program Director Email:

Associate Program Director:
Associate Program Director Email:

Stacey Milan, M.D.
[email protected]

Ryan Raju, MD
[email protected] 

Secondary Contact Name:
Secondary Contact Title:
Secondary Contact Email:

Robin Wilson
Endocrine Surgery Fellowship Coordinator
[email protected]

Address/Phone:

Baylor Scott & White Clinic, Department of Surgery - 7th floor MS-01-712
2401 South 31st Street
Temple, TX 76508

Phone: (254) 724-7315
Fax: (254) 724-4650

Objectives of the Program:

To train a specialist in the surgical care of endocrine disease, encompassing the scope of thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, and endocrine pancreas surgery, to become a leader in either academic surgery or community practice. Fellows will develop expertise in the four cornerstones of the fellowship: outpatient/inpatient care, operative care, research, and teaching.

Highlights of the Fellowship:

With outpatient care, the fellow will develop expertise in surgeon-directed ultrasound evaluation of thyroid, lymphatic, and parathyroid disease, same day US-directed FNA with immediate cytopathology, and laryngoscopy pre and postop. With at least 300 operative cases the fellow will develop expertise in the day surgery management of thyroid and parathyroid disease, routine central neck LN dissections with as indicated lateral neck LN dissections for thyroid cancer, extensive experience with intraoperative RLN monitoring, minimally invasive thyroid surgery and minimally invasive parathyroid surgery with intraoperative PTH, retroperitoneoscopic or laparoscopic adrenalectomy, and management of familial islet cell tumors of the pancreas. With research, the fellow will complete at least 1 major and 1 minor research project for abstract submission to a major surgical meeting and for anticipated publication. As Junior Staff the fellow will be responsible for the clinical instruction and supervision of general surgery residents and Baylor College of Medicine medical students.

The facilities for the fellowship include the Baylor Scott & White Clinic, a 1000+ physician, multispecialty, multi-site medical practice centered in Temple, Texas, a clinical teaching site for the Baylor College of Medicine; and the Central Texas Veterans Hospital and Clinic in Temple, Texas, as the fourth largest VA service area in the country. At the Baylor Scott & White Clinic currently >400 endocrine operations are performed yearly with experience in about 300 thyroidectomies, 100 parathyroidectomies, 50 lymph node dissections, and 25 adrenalectomies. With regards to their NET experience, our fellows have the opportunity to participate in approximately 8-10 NET cases of evaluation and diagnosis with 1 operative NET case each year. Fellows also have the opportunity to participate in multi-disciplinary NET Tumor Board bi-monthly which includes MEN patients that are our most common source of NET diagnoses. Our program is able to offer opportunities for more robust NET exposure during the fellowship. There is a robust option for NET operative experience with our HPB surgeons (our fellowship-trained endocrine surgeons rarely perform surgery outside of thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal spectrum). As we have a residency training program but very few fellows, there is ample opportunity to participate operatively for NET (mostly pancreatic). Endocrine surgery at our institution often receives the referral for many NET patients and all the newly diagnosed MEN patients from genetics and endocrinology. There is a strong working relationship between endocrine surgery and HPB due to the referral pattern of MEN patients to our office. Our endocrine surgeons take lead in the workup of MEN-related pancreatic tumors that are then operated on by our HPB surgeons and the HPB surgeons are generally happy with advanced operative assistance from the fellow. Admittedly, most of the fellows in our program historically have been more interested in thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal surgery and less eager to participate in pancreatic NET and carcinoid cases, but the experience is nonetheless available.

Average Thyroid Case Volume: 150
Average Parathyroid Case Volume: 150
Average Adrenal Case Volume: 25

Neuroendocrine Tumors (NET)

Number of evaluation & Management of NET (enteric and pancreatic only) cases per year: 10
Number of operative NET (enteric and pancreatic only) cases per year: 1
Number of NET case discussions: 5

Fellow has the option to participate in Multidisciplinary NET Tumor Board, which meets twice a month.

There is a robust option for NET operative experience with our HPB surgeons (our fellowship-trained endocrine surgeons rarely perform surgery outside of thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal spectrum). As we have a residency training program but very few fellows, there is ample opportunity to participate operatively for NET (mostly pancreatic). Endocrine surgery at our institution often receives the referral for many NET patients and all the newly diagnosed MEN patients from genetics and endocrinology. There is a strong working relationship between endocrine surgery and HPB due to the referral pattern of MEN patients to our office. Our endocrine surgeons take lead in the workup of MEN-related pancreatic tumors that are then operated on by our HPB surgeons and the HPB surgeons are generally happy with advanced operative assistance from the fellow. Admittedly, most of the fellows in our program historically have been more interested in thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal surgery and less eager to participate in pancreatic NET and carcinoid cases, but the experience is available.

International Medical Graduates -  our program is able to accept a fellow who:

Fellow must be American Board of Surgery eligible or certified:

Yes

Fellow must be able to obtain a full (unrestricted) state license:

Yes - Texas

Special Considerations:

Our AAES Endocrine Surgery Fellow is hired as a "Clinical Instructor" and NOT considered part of a GME-sponsored program.

More information can be found HERE.

Program Website for More Information:

https://www.bswhealth.med/education/Pages/gme/temple/endocrine-surgery-fellowship.aspx

Program Twitter:

Program Facebook:

Previous Fellows:

2023 Ginger Coleman, MD Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas
2022 Jacqueline Pastewski, MD Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH
2020 Britton Mehr, MD UPMC Pinnacle/Harrisburg, PA
2019 Victoria J.W. Lyness, MD Valley Health/Winchester Surgical Clinic/Winchester, VA
2018 Rebekah Campbell, MD MedStar Health/Baltimore, Maryland
2017 Henry A. Reinhart, III, MD University of Texas Rio Grande Valley | Edinburg, TX
2016 Courtney M. Edwards, MD Private Practice | Hollywood, FL
2015 Jessica M. Folek, MD Sacred Heart Medical Center | Springfield, OR
2014 Cara M. Govednik, MD Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Temple and Round Rock | Round Rock, TX
2013 Courtney Quinn (Gibson), MD Yale - New Haven Hospital | New Haven, CT
2012 Benjamin Sigmond, MD Penn State Health | Reading, PA
2011 Cortney Lee, MD University of Kentucky Good Samaritan Hospital and Lexington Veterans Affairs Medical Center | Lexington, KY