Emory University School of Medicine 1365 A Clifton Road NE Atlanta, GA 30322 (404) 778-2178 Mark W. El-Deiry, MD – Fellowship Director (404) 778-0278 H. Michael Baddour, MD, – Fellowship Co-Director Renita Varnado – Coordinator

Number of Fellowships: 1 Duration (in years) / Type: 1 year / Clinical Faculty: Primary Surgical Faculty involved with Fellowship: Michael Baddour, MD Mark W. El-Deiry, M Azeem Kaka, MD Mihir Patel, MD Brian J. Boyce, MD Nikki Schmitt, MD Merry Sebelik, MD C. Arturo Solares, MD Jennifer Gross, MD Amy Y. Chen, MD, MPH

Non-surgical faculty involved with Fellowship: Ashley Aiken, MD (Neuroradiology) Kristen Baugnon, MD (Neuroradiology) Kelly Magliocca, DDS, MPH (H&N Pathology) Soumon Rudra, MD (Radiation Oncology) James Bates, MD (Radiation Oncology) William Stokes, MD (Radiation Oncology) Nabil Saba, MD (Medical Oncology) Dong Shin, MD (Medical Oncology) Conor Steuer, MD (Medical Oncology)

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Overview: The Emory Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery is a vibrant department in Atlanta, Georgia.  Its residency program is only one of two programs in the state of Georgia with 4 residents per year.  Its Winship Cancer Institute is the only NCI Comprehensive Designated Cancer Center in Georgia.  The Head and Neck Surgery Division cares for nearly 2000 new patients, performs approximately 4000 surgical procedures, and sees over 7500 outpatient visits annually in a state-of-the-art surgical and clinical facility.   The division represents the primary referral center in the region and consists of 10 surgeons, four outpatient advanced practice providers, two inpatient APPs, five H&N specialist speech language pathologists, and a dedicated social worker.

The well-developed microvascular program consists of five microvascular reconstruction trained surgeons (HMB, MWE, AK, BJB, JG), and performs over 250 microvascular cases per year consisting of the full breadth of donor sites.  The endocrine program has two surgeons specializing in endocrine surgery (AYC, MS), performing complex endocrine procedures (>300 annually) and outpatient ultrasound and biopsies.  Our TORS program is one of the busiest in the Southeast performing 50+ cases per year (MP, AK, BJB). The open and endoscopic skullbase program (CAS) is shared with rhinology (approximately 40+ per year). Sialoendoscopy and facial reanimation are also performed by BJB and HMB, respectively.  The HN program is also actively involved with both institutional and cooperative group clinical trials.

The Head and Neck Multidisciplinary Tumor Board is a robust, collaborative program that includes surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, speech pathologists, nurses, social workers, nutritionists, oral surgeons, and neuroradiologists.  The newly established multi-disciplinary Head and Neck clinic sees 4 new cancer patients daily with simultaneous tumor board discussion. This allows the clinic to see ~20 new cancer patients weekly.  The Thyroid Tumor conference is equally robust consisting of surgeons, endocrinologists, nuclear medicine physicians, ultrasound radiologists, pathologists and clinical staff and meets monthly.

Objectives: The one year fellowship is designed to provide a comprehensive program in clinical head and neck ablative surgery, microvascular reconstruction, Transoral Robotic surgery (TORS), skull base surgery, thyroid/parathyroid surgery, sialoendoscopy and facial reanimation.

Strengths:

• high volume endocrine surgery with in-clinic ultrasound and ultrasound guided biopsy procedures.
• high volume microvascular surgery with a wide variety of donor sites and defects
• high volume extirpative surgery
• high volume TORS surgery
• sialoendoscopy experience
• facial reanimation experience

Eligibility: To be considered for the position, the candidate for the head and neck fellowship must have completed an ACGME accredited residency in Otolaryngology and must be qualified to sit for the American Board of Otolaryngology written and oral exams.  The candidate must be able to secure a Georgia Medical License.  Salary is commensurate with PGY level.

Fellows’ Duties/Responsibilities: The Head and Neck Surgery Fellow will be appointed Instructor in the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery.  The Fellow is expected to be a Primary or Teaching surgeon in head and neck surgery ablative cases and microvascular reconstruction cases.   It is estimated that the Fellow will be primary surgeon or teaching surgeon on at least 500 cases and at least 100 free flap cases.   The Fellow will care for the patients postoperatively with the HN Team and be expected to discuss management with the Attending Physician in order to maximize educational opportunities.  In addition, the Fellow will be in the Call Pool for Attending Faculty in the Department and will have an independent outpatient clinical and surgical experience.  There are also opportunities for autonomous free flap cases commensurate with experience and skill.  Teaching opportunities include staffing head and neck surgery cases at Grady Memorial Hospital and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, resident lectures, journal clubs, and a Grand Rounds presentation.   The Fellow is expected to produce at least one abstract for a national meeting and/or a manuscript during the year, but ample opportunity for more research is provided.

Research Opportunities:  The Department of Otolaryngology has ERGO (Emory Research Group in Otolaryngology) with expertise in clinical research.  In addition, Winship Cancer Institute, the NCI-CCC, has core resources in research.  Several faculty also collaborate with many departments both within Emory and with other institutions.

Supervision, Teaching & Call:  The Fellow will be in the Call Pool for Attending Faculty in the Department and will have an independent outpatient clinical and surgical experience.  There are also opportunities for autonomous free flap cases commensurate with experience and skill.  Teaching opportunities include staffing head and neck surgery cases at Grady Memorial Hospital and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, resident lectures, journal clubs, and a Grand Rounds presentation.

PAST FELLOWS
2020-2021     Christopher Nickel, MD, University of South Florida
2019-2020     Oleksandr Butskiy, MD, Assistant Professor, Vancouver BC
2019-2020     Avanti Verma, MD, Assistant Professor, Yale SOM
2018-2019     James Hamilton, MD, Assistant Professor, Emory SOM
2017-2018     Natasha Cohen, MD, Assistant Professor, Queen’s University SOM
2016-2017     Andres Bur, MD, Assistant Professor, University of Kansas
2015-2016     H. Michael Baddour, MD, Assistant Professor, Emory SOM
2014-2015     Pardis Javadi, MD, Assistant Professor, Southern Illinois University
2013-2014     Sung Cho, MD, DMD, Private Practice, New York City, NY
2012-2013     Ajani Nugent, MD, Plastic Surgery Fellowship, University of Miami