Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a nonprofit academic medical center with approximately 900 licensed beds. The medical center serves Los Angeles and the surrounding area as a major tertiary and quaternary referral center for California and is one of the largest medical centers in the United States. Cedars-Sinai provides care to the uninsured and underinsured every day through programs in and with schools, clinics, homeless shelters and community centers to elevate the health of the region. The institution’s facilities are among the most advanced in the world with state-of-the-art equipment and application of new technologies. Cedars-Sinai is ranked 2nd in the nation in U.S. News & World Report 2022-2023 “Best Hospitals” report and No. 10 in the country among non-university-owned hospitals receiving National Institutes of Health funding. 

About the Program

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center offers a one-year SSO-approved clinical breast oncology fellowship to two (2) candidates who have completed a general surgery or OB-GYN residency and who are Board-eligible or Board-certified. The Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship program is an integrated multidisciplinary program that encompasses the study of benign and malignant diseases, clinical research, epidemiology, risk factors, prevention, genetics, early detection, staging, treatment, continuity of care, survivorship, psycho-oncology, and quality of life. Major emphasis is placed on breast surgical oncology training, multidisciplinary care, and clinical research. There are 40 faculty members involved in the care of patients and teaching of fellows.  The breast surgical oncology trainee will participate fully in the management of complex breast problems, evaluate patients with both benign and malignant breast conditions, and coordinate care with multidisciplinary specialists. The trainee will participate in the recruitment of patients for clinical and translational research studies and will attend didactic lectures and multidisciplinary clinical conferences. Interested candidates will be considered for an additional year of research.

Rotations

The fellowship program includes dedicated core rotations in breast surgery, medical oncology, pathology, radiation oncology, plastic and reconstructive surgery, and breast imaging. Of the one-year fellowship, seven to eight months are dedicated to the surgical management of benign and malignant breast conditions. During this time, the fellow works closely with the breast oncology surgical faculty members of the Saul and Joyce Brandman Breast Center – A Project of Women’s Guild. The fellow will receive intensive training in surgical procedures including sentinel lymph node biopsy techniques, various types of tumor resections, nipple-sparing mastectomy, oncoplastic surgery, reconstructive procedures, image-guided procedures, and minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The remaining core rotations allow for dedicated time to learn both the foundation and nuances of multidisciplinary oncologic care and allow the fellow to work with multiple faculty members in each discipline. Additional rotations offer experience in genetics, psycho-oncology, survivorship and rehabilitation, palliative care and research. The core curriculum includes didactic sessions, multidisciplinary conferences, clinical specialty research seminars, and breast journal club.

Teaching, Research, Presentations, and Publications

Fellows will present new patients at Multidisciplinary Breast Tumor Board where slides and images are reviewed with multiple attending physicians and multidisciplinary care is discussed. Additionally, fellows will mentor first- and second-year residents and will prepare and deliver presentations to the lay community and community physicians. Under the guidance of a mentor, the fellow will participate in writing journal articles and may participate in writing research protocols and grant proposals. As part of the educational experience in clinical research, fellows will assist with the accrual of patients into both institutional and regional/national cooperative group protocols. Fellows are mentored to evaluate scientific publications and to prepare research results for submission to peer-reviewed medical/scientific journals. In addition, the fellow will be encouraged to present research findings at local and national meetings and have manuscripts published or ready for publication prior to completing the fellowship. We participate in national cooperative group trials including Alliance, NSABP, RTOG, and SWOG. Previously trained fellows have presented their work at the annual meetings of the Society of Surgical Oncology, American College of Surgeons, Pacific Coast Surgical Association, American Society of Breast Surgeons, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and other national and international meetings.

Eligibility

Applicants should be eligible or certified by the American Board of Surgery or an equivalent certifying body and must be eligible for medical licensure in the state of California.

Contact Information