Mount Sinai Beth Israel

Mount Sinai Beth Israel Phillips Ambulatory Care Center 10 Union Square East, Suite 5B New York, NY  10003 Mark Urken, MD, FACS – Fellowship Director (212) 844-8775 Raymond Chai, MD – Fellowship Director Erika Rauscher – Executive Director (212) 844-6832 Program Website Fellowship Fast Facts

Number of Fellowships: 1 Duration (in years) / Type: 1 year / clinical Faculty:  Daniel Buchbinder, DMD, MD Raymond Chai, MD Bruce Culliney, MD Azita Khorsandi, MD Cindy Ganz, MS Saadi Ghatan, MD Nazir Khan, MD Devin Okay, DDS Mike Turner, MD Mark L. Urken, MD, FACS Michael Via, MD Terry Davies, MD Margaret Brandwein Weber, MD Jerry Liu, MD Daniel Nicastri, MD Hua Chen, MD

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Overview: The fellow plays an integral role in both oncologic and reconstructive surgery. With a clinical team of three residents, and three full-time PAs the fellow is able to take the lead role in managing head and neck oncology and reconstruction patients as well as thyroid and parathyroid surgical patients. Over 80 free flaps and an equal number of regional flaps are performed annually, with the fellow acting as first surgeon on all reconstructive cases. The experience advances throughout the year from assistant to taking the lead on harvesting, insetting, and performing the microvascular anastomoses. Additionally, the fellow plays a key role in our weekly multidisciplinary head and neck tumor board where we discuss upcoming cases and determine the optimal treatment plan. The fellow also leads the monthly reconstruction conference in which difficult cases are presented and relevant journal articles are reviewed. Quarterly head and neck journal club provides a platform for the fellow to help to lead the discussion on contemporary topics. Weekly thyroid journal club meetings and monthly thyroid tumor boards provide a venue for an in-depth multidisciplinary discussion of challenging thyroid cancer patients and contemporary thyroid nodule and cancer literature.

Objectives: The program is designed to provide advanced clinical training in head and neck oncologic and microvascular reconstructive surgery as well as thyroid and parathyroid surgery. The fellow will be exposed to a significant number of advanced and recurrent thyroid cancer patients for surgical management. The fellowship also includes extensive training in Transoral Robotic Surgery (TORS) under the supervision of Raymond Chai, MD. There are extensive clinical research opportunities in both head and neck and thyroid cancer which will support the development of those candidates planning to pursue a career in academic medicine.

Strengths: The Institute for Head, Neck and Thyroid Cancer is composed of a team of world-renowned specialists who have integrated their respective expertise into a highly collegial and supportive multidisciplinary team to approach cancers of the head and neck. The group of more than 20 doctors and healthcare professionals is composed of Otolaryngologists, Head and Neck Radiologists, Oral-Maxillofacial Surgeons, Maxillofacial Prosthodontists, General Surgeons, Thoracic Surgeons, Neurosurgeons, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, Endocrinologists, Oculoplastic Surgeons, Dentists, Head and Neck Pathologists, Psychiatrists, Nutritionists, Pain Management Professionals and Speech Language Pathologists.

The group meets weekly for a multidisciplinary head and neck tumor board conference to discuss patients who present to Mount Sinai Downtown for management of a malignancy of the head and neck. The thyroid program meets monthly for multidisciplinary management of complex thyroid cancer patients.

Eligibility: Graduates of US medical schools—or must have passed all parts of the USMLE.

Fellows’ Duties/Responsibilities: The fellow is committed for a full year at Mount Sinai Downtown/Mount Sinai West and is involved in all aspects of head and neck patient care. The participant evaluates patients preoperatively in the office and actively participates in the work-up and treatment plan. The fellow meets all patients on the day of surgery, and is actively involved in each major head and neck ablation and reconstruction. In addition, the fellow manages all patients during the recovery period as well as evaluating them in the outpatient setting during the postoperative period.

The Fellow enhances resident education by rounding daily with the team and performing informal didactics on resident rounds.

Research Opportunities: Research is encouraged and expected to be an important part of the fellow’s growth throughout the training period. Our inhouse lab studies the impact of various treatments including surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and prosthetic rehabilitation on patients’ function and quality of life. The research program assesses outcomes with an eye toward helping to guide the future of patient care in head and neck and thyroid cancer. A team of research associates plays an important role in the clinical research program and helps in performing literature searches, IRB drafts, data collection, patient consent and accrual and manuscript preparation. A detailed database provides a rich source of information for retrospective clinical studies. There is a very close working relationship with head and neck pathology which permits significant opportunities for joint research initiatives. The fellow plays an integral role in ongoing and newly designed research studies. Attendance and presentations at national meetings are encouraged and funding is available.

Supervision, Teaching & Call: The fellow is supervised by the fellowship program directors and other faculty. As the year progresses experience is graduated—and the fellow performs more surgery independently and takes the lead on many aspects of each ablative and reconstructive case—including the microsurgery portions. The fellow is expected to teach residents both in the operating room as well as on rounds. All licensed fellows will obtain privileges to be able to operate independently on patients deemed appropriate for their scope of expertise and experience.

PAST FELLOWS

• Ricardo Ramirez, MD (Incoming Fellow 2023-2024)
• Samuel Rubin, MD (Current Fellow 2022-2023) Resident, Boston University.
• Eric Dowling, MD (Fellow 2021-2022) Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology at University of Virginia Charlottesville
• Neil Mundi, MD (Fellow 2020-2021) Assistant Professor, Southern Illinois University, Springfield, IL
• Edward Ansari, MD (Fellow 2019-2020) Attending Surgeon, Department of Maxillofacial & Reconstructive Surgery, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Amiens-Picardie, Amiens, France.
• John Sims, MD (Fellow 2018-2019) Head & Neck Oncologic & Microvascular Reconstructive Surgeon, CARTI Cancer Center.
• Fred Baik, MD (Fellow 2017-2018) Assistant Professor, Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery at Stanford University.
• Ansley Roche, MD (Fellow 2016-17) Assistant Professor of Surgery (Otolaryngology), Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT.
• Sami Moubayed, MD (Fellow 2015-2016) Assistant Professor of Surgery at Université de Montréal.
• Ilya Likhterov, MD (Fellow 2014-15) ENT Specialty Care, Minneapolis, MN.
• Jerry Castro, MD (Fellow 2013-2014) Attending at Guam Memorial Hospital, Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery.
• Saral Mehra, MD (Fellow 2012-2013) Associate Professor of Surgery (Otolaryngology)—Head and Neck Cancer Reconstructive Surgery, Yale University, School of Medicine
• Sumeet Anand, MD (Fellow 2011-2012) Otolaryngologist–Head & Neck; Neck Surgeon, Private Practice Affiliated with Department of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, University of Toronto.
• Jose Zevallos, MD, MPH, FACS (Fellow 2010-2011) Chairman, Department of Otolaryngology, UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA
• Eran Alon, MD (Fellow 2009-2010) Attending Physician, Department of Otolaryngology Head Neck Surgery, The Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel
• Matthew Bak, MD (Fellow 2008-2009) Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, East Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia.
• Adam Jacobson, MD (Fellow 2007-2008) Associate Professor Department of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery NYU School of Medicine
• Michael Most, MD (Fellow 2006-2007) Attending, Division of General Surgery at Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York.
• Charles “Chuck” Stewart IV, MD (Fellow 2005-2006) Assistant Professor of Surgery, Division of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Loma Linda University Medical Center, Loma Linda, California.
• Bryant Lee, MD (Fellow 2003-2005) Attending in Otolaryngology at the St Barnabas Hospital in New Jersey.
• Kevin Higgins, MD (Fellow 2002-2003) Attending at Stony Brook Hospital, University of Toronto 2002-2003.
• Rod Rezaee, MD (Fellow 2001-2002) Assistant Professor in Otolaryngology at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH.
• Derrick Wallace, MD (Fellow 2001-2002) Attending in Otolaryngology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, NJ.
• Jeff Harris, MD (Fellow 2000-2001) Attending in Otolaryngology at University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
• Andrew Bridger, MBBS, FRACS (Fellow 1999-2000) Attending, Sutherland Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia.
• Eric Genden, MD (Fellow 1998-99) Professor and Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY.
• John Chaplin, MBBCh (Fellow 1997-98) Attending in Otolaryngology at Green Lane Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand.
• Edgar Lueg, MD (Fellow 1997-98) Attending in Otolaryngology in Los Angeles, California.
• Christopher Shaari, MD (Fellow 1996-97) Attending in Otolaryngology in Hackensack Hospital, New Jersey.
• Uttam Sinha, MD (Fellow 1995-96) Vice Chairman, Department of Otolaryngology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
• Keith Blackwell, MD (Fellow 1994-95) Associate Professor of Otolaryngology, University of California, Los Angeles.
• Steven H. Sloan, MD (Fellow 1993-94) Attending in Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, San Francisco, California.
• Neal D. Futran, MD (Fellow 1992-93) Professor of Otolaryngology and Chairman, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
• Juan F. Moscoso, MD (Fellow 1991-92) Attending in Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery in Panorama City, California.
• Jonathan E. Aviv, MD (Fellow 1990-91) Adjunct Professor of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY