FELLOWSHIP IN ADVANCED TRAINING IN
HEAD AND NECK ONCOLOGICAL SURGERY
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

 
The Fellowship Program in the Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery is one of 18 in North America and under the auspices of the Advanced Training Council of the American Head and Neck Society. The Program has three mentors, Drs. Freeman, Gilbert and Gullane. This Program, as all in the ATC system, has to gain initial approval after a rigorous vetting and scrutiny process and is re-evaluated every five years as a quality assurance measure.

The Fellowship Director is Dr. Jeremy Freeman and information regarding the program may be obtained from Ms. Caroline Prato, the Fellowship administrator at the following email address: cprato@mtsinai.on.ca

Fellows are chosen thought the matching system of the American Head and Neck Society (check the Society website for eligibility criteria). After the match some fellows are chosen from applicants from those countries ineligible for the match. The fellows rotate with the three mentors.

The focus of the Fellowship is head and neck oncological extirpative surgery, reconstructive surgery with an emphasis on micro free tissue transfer and endocrine and salivary surgery. The Fellowship Program is tailored to the needs of the perspective fellows as well as the needs of their site of proposed practice. The Fellowship is one year in duration with the option for a two year program.

The fellowship is in the process of being amalgamated with other existing fellowships in the city to have one seamless program.

Salary is $50,000 per annum.

The fellow is expected to act as a junior faculty member and provide backup call for the residents approximately one night or weekend in seven.

Although basic science and clinical research are a component of the program, there is no protected time for this as the emphasis of the fellowship is clinical; however there are opportunities in both of these arenas for research.

There is a prodigious volume of head and neck oncological surgery done at the University Health Network and the Mount Sinai Hospital and it is expected that the fellow will participate in many of these procedures. In addition there are numerous academic rounds in which the fellow is expected to participate and present. There are a number of outpatient clinics specializing in oncological patients and again the fellow is expected to attend in these.

There is ample opportunity to attend local, national and international meetings and Departmental support will nurture fellows’ attendance at these forums.

Many of our fellows are sponsored by academic institutions and have gone on to important academic portfolios.