Research Fellowship The Division of Thoracic and Foregut Surgery at the University of Southern California is pleased to offer a 1 year Research Fellowship in Foregut and Thoracic surgery. The one year program provides for a pre-clinical research year, allowing the mastery of the fundamentals of foregut physiology and pathology and gaining experience in the evaluation of patients in the esophageal clinical laboratory. The Research Fellowship of the Foregut and Thoracic Division was inaugurated in 1990 and since the start of the Fellowship, every post has been filled and more then 60 students have been tutored. Fellows have come from all corners of the globe including Sweden, Germany, Italy, Portugal, France, the UK, Japan, Hong Kong, and other countries. The Fellowship has many arms of research including clinical research, molecular biology, radiographic studies, motility of the upper gastrointestinal tract, histopathology, and animal model studies. All Fellows receive practical instruction and experience in esophageal motility, pH studies of the esophagus and stomach, measurements of the duodeno-gastric reflux, and upper intestinal radiology. Fellows are involved in analyzing the studies recorded from the patients referred to the esophageal laboratory, and are critical to its performance. Results of their analysis are reported and presented to the attending staff. Fellows are also given the opportunity to present the results at the weekly Foregut Clinical Conference which is attended by students, residents, other Fellows, and attending staff. Fellows may also choose to do molecular studies related to carcinogenesis in one of the division’s molecular laboratories run by Dr. Peter Laird, PhD and Dr. Young Hong, PhD. In conjunction with senior faculty, Research Fellows design research projects as well as collect and analyze research data. They take these projects to completion by presenting at national conferences and publish scientific journals. Before presentation or manuscript submission, every study is presented to the attending staff for detailed review and correction. The division Fellows have presented regularly at annual meetings including Pacific Coast Surgical Association, the Western Surgical Society, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the America Association of Thoracic Surgeons, the Southwestern Surgical Congress, and the American Surgical Association. Publications from this division have appeared in “The Annals of Surgery,” “Archives of Surgery,” “Diseases of the Esophagus,” “American Journal of Gastroenterology,” “Annals of Thoracic Surgery,” “The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery,” and “The Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery.” Previous Research Fellows have been accepted for key positions at major universities and we are proud of the impact USC has made on the practice of Foregut/Pulmonary Surgery in the United States and all over the world. We accept that we are one of the foremost teams in this specialty in the world and believe that we have achieved this only by diligent leadership and contribution to research efforts. Our list of publications and presentations attests to this success. To apply for a Research Fellowship position, please click on this link to download an application or you may request an application by emailing Cheryl Correia at cheryl.correia@surgery.usc.edu. You may also request an application by mailing: Dr. Tom DeMeester, Chairman and Professor of Surgery, 1510 San Pablo Street, Suite #514, Los Angeles, California, 90033. Applications are accepted throughout the year; however the Committee does begin to review applications in August and/or September for the following academic year appointments. Up to four positions are available and the salary for the Research position is $45,000.00 Two years post graduate training is required and the appointment is scheduled to commence July 1. Applications are also accepted for a 2 year fellowship which includes the Research Fellowship followed by the Clinical Fellowship appointment, allowing the mastery of the fundamentals of foregut physiology and pathology. Surgeons interested in a career in the field of esophageal surgery are strongly encouraged to consider this combined research and clinical fellowship which will fully prepare them to establish a specialty practice including all diagnostic and therapeutic options for patients with esophageal disease. |
