The Cleveland Clinic Health System

Cleveland, Ohio

Training Program Director: Stephanie A. Valente, DO, FACS

The Cleveland Clinic is an internationally renowned leader in health care. It is consistently ranked as one of the top hospitals in cancer care by the US News and World Report. The Cleveland Clinic Breast Center is an NABPC accredited multidisciplinary academic breast center located on the Clinic’s main campus. It offers a full spectrum of care for patients with all types of breast problems. Over 2,800 breast surgeries are performed annually across the health system.

Within the Cleveland Clinic Health System are Fairview and Hillcrest Hospitals, which are community-based hospitals through which the fellow also rotates to gain experience in this setting.

The Cleveland Clinic offers a one-year breast surgery fellowship. The program focuses on advanced training in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with breast cancer and breast diseases. The goal of the fellowship is to create a leader in breast cancer care, well equipped to practice in either an academic or community setting.

Curriculum

The Breast Center’s surgery teaching staff includes 7 breast surgical oncologists with whom the fellow will rotate. The fellow will become proficient in many of the advanced breast surgery techniques performed by the breast surgeons at our institution such as nipple sparing mastectomies, hidden scars, oncoplastic surgery, tissue rearrangement, intraoperative radiation therapy, axillary reverse mapping and lymphedema prevention surgery.

The fellowship curriculum provides dedicated multidisciplinary rotations in breast surgery, plastic & reconstructive surgery, breast radiology and diagnostic intervention, breast pathology, medical oncology and radiation oncology. Additionally, the fellow rotates in our high-risk, genetic, benign breast disease, and survivorship clinics.

Educational Conferences

The breast fellow benefits from a multidisciplinary cancer care experience both in the Center’s team-oriented clinics as well as the weekly Tumor Board conference where current cases are presented for management decisions. Conference topics range from diagnosis and treatment to risk assessment and prevention.

The breast department has weekly dedicated breast educational lectures given by multidisciplinary staff for the fellow and residents. The fellow leads the monthly breast journal club and attends the monthly department research meetings.

Research

As an academic institution, there is appropriate focus on evidence based medicine. Fellows are expected to complete a research project during the training year and are given dedicated research time and support to do so. The fellow attends monthly research seminars through the Cleveland Clinic. These courses are designed for fellows to learn and implement research design and data analysis. The Department of General Surgery employs a dedicated research team to assist the fellow with implementation and completion of their research projects. The fellow is expected to submit their research project to a national meeting for presentation and prepare a manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal.

Eligibility

The Cleveland Clinic currently selects one fellow per year for our one-year Society of Surgical Oncology accredited Surgical Breast Oncology fellowship. Applicants must have successfully completed an accredited General Surgery residency program prior to the start of the fellowship. The applicant must be board eligible or certified and able to obtain an unrestricted Ohio General Surgery medical license. The Cleveland Clinic participates in the SSO fellowship match and the application required materials and interview timeline can be found on their website.

Contact Information