Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS/Laparoscopic) Fellowship

The Department of Surgery at Upstate Medical University offers advanced laparoscopic training in foregut, midgut, hindgut, solid organ extirpation and incisional and inguinal hernia repair. We also provide training in advanced laparoscopic bariatric procedures.

The laparoscopic fellow interacts with the chief and junior residents on a regular basis. Operating room participation is encouraged and a modular process for resident and fellow education is provided — a resident or fellows level of experience and preparation dictates performance in the operating room.

The MIS fellow participates in patient care for all patients on the MIS service and functions in a supervisory role with the chief and junior residents. The MIS fellow takes specific general surgical call on selected occasions but is not regularly incorporated into the resident call schedule.

MIS Fellow Objectives

1. Achieve competency in a broad spectrum of advanced laparoscopic procedures in conjunction with mastery of advanced laparoscopic skills such as intracorporeal suturing.
2. Gain extensive experience with upper and lower endoscopy with an aggregate of roughly 50 of each procedure.
3. Participate in clinical or basic research projects.
4. Submit a grant application and abstracts to national meetings

The laparoscopic fellow actively participates in resident education on a regular basis in the laparoscopic resident laboratory experience. Residents at the intern, junior and chief level meet for regularly scheduled laparoscopic educational sessions as outlined in the MIS curriculum on the departmental website.

The resident laboratory is located on the 8th floor of the hospital adjacent to the surgical offices and has 2 fully equipped stations for both inanimate skills and live animal procedures to be performed. Inanimate skills are practiced for the first six months of the year while large animal experience is emphasized for the latter half of the academic year. The laparoscopic fellow participates and supervises in all aspects of this component of resident education.