Fellow - Surgical Oncology

Fellowship in Surgical Oncology

**The Department**:
The Department of Surgical Oncology aims to offer site-specific surgical services and is staffed by
experienced full time Consultants. The department is divided into the following seven sub-units:
Head-Neck, Gastrointestinal and Hepato, Pancriatico Biliary, Breast, Urology, Gynecology, Thoracic,
and Plastic, which also handles sarcoma. Neurosurgery, Orthopaedic and Pead surg is handled by
visiting consultants. The hospital has 10 operation theatres and 1 operation theatre for
brachytherapy. The theatres boast of positive pressure laminar air flow, HEPA filter, sophisticated
anesthetic equipments, pendants, state-of
- the-art operating lights and tables, touch-screen
surgeon’s panels, PACS, mínimally invasive equipments, vessel sealing devices, operating
microscope, laser, sentinel node biopsy, intra-operative ultrasonography, frozen section biopsy,
TEG etc. Robotic Surgery is being done too, at TMC

**Fellowship Objectives**:
The Fellowship module aims to tutor personnel willing to devote their subsequent career in
oncology. Ingrained in the training program, is the mandated philosophy of multidisciplinary
approach to cancer treatment. The Fellows would be involved in out-patient and in-patient care
with assessment of new and review patients, and also in the operation theatres. This would help
Fellows develop skills to judge and decide independently. Active efforts would be made to ensure
that Fellows understand the value of molecular medicine in diagnosis and they would undergo
brief structured laboratory training. The Department is keen on site-specialization and it is
expected that the multi-disciplinary format would enthuse Fellows to develop site-specialty
interest.

**No of Fellowship Positions**:
14 positions at any given time.

**Fellowship Duration**:
3 years

**Eligibility Criteria**

**Essential**:
M.S. or DNB degree in General Surgery

**Desirable**:
Worked for more than 1 year following a Masters Degree, preferably in an oncology unit**.**

**Clinical responsibilities**:
The Fellows will be involved in the managing out-patient and in-patient clinical services,
and actively assisting or operating in the theatre. They have to be resident while being on
- call for night cover.

**Academic responsibilities**:
The Fellows will be involved in case presentation, discussing contemporary publications,
seminars and organizing multidisciplinary meetings. These will be reinforced by periodic
Faculty lectures. During this tenure they may be required to submit a dissertation. In
addition, the Fellows may be expected to teach the nursing staff.

**Expected Rotations/Work Schema**:
5 months rotation in each in the following 7 Depts
- Breast Surgery, GI PHB, Gynaec
Oncosurgery,Head and Neck, Plastic and Sarcoma, Thoracic and Urology. Last one month to be
utilized for critical care, Palliative care etc. Exposure to allied specialties like radiation
oncology, medical oncology, molecular medicine, hematology, pathology, radi ology etc will
be given during the weekly Multidisciplinary Team meetings. They may choose to use the last
one month for p o s t i n g to a nationally acclaimed centre. If any Fellow chooses a subspecialty,
The Fellows will have to carry a Log Book to chronicle their operative/academic exposure.

**Opportunities for career advancement**
The Fellows will be closely monitored using a structured assessment scale. Taken in
conjunction with their academic performance. The Fellows may be considered for
subsequent advancement in this institution or a possible placement in other centers.

**Evaluation**:
The Fellows will be assessed by periodic examinations, (Mid-term and Exit Exams)
but in addition, a point-based system has been developed in house. The Continuous
Assessment of Structured Training (CAST) score takes into account several parameters
like the aptitude to take independent decision, communication skills, ability to work in a
team etc.

**Mr. Suvasish Mukherjee, Head-Human Resources, Tata Medical Center, 14 MAR (EW),**
**New Town, Kolkata - 700160, West Bengal, India.