University of California – San Francisco

University of California – San Francisco 2380 Sutter Street, 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA  94115 (415) 502-1868 Patrick Ha, MD – Fellowship Director Ivan El-Sayed, MD FACS – Fellowship Co-Director P. Daniel Knott, MD – Fellowship Co-Director Pranathi Sundaram – Coordinator Program Website

Number of Fellowships: 1 Duration (in years) / Type: 1 year / 1 yr Clinical Faculty: Ivan El-Sayed, MD Jonathan George, MD, MPH Daniel Knott, MD Patrick Ha, MD Chase Heaton, MD Ilya Likhterov, MD Andrea Park, MD Katherine Wai, MD Mary Jue Xu, MD, MAS Radiation Oncology Sue S. Yom, MD, PhD Jason Chan, MD Neuroradiology Christine Glastonbury, MD Cynthia Wu, MD Pathology Annemieke VanZante, MD PhD Vimal Krishnan, MD Anastasiya Pigal, MD Vivian Tang. MD Medical Oncology Alain Algazi, MD Adil Daud, MD Katy Tsai, MD Varun Monga, MD

Speech-Language Pathology Sarah Schneider, MS CCC-SLP Cara Evans, MS, MM, SLP, CCC-SLP Desi Gutierrez, MA, CCC-SLP Nicole Rinne, MS CCC-SLP Erik Steele, MS CCC-SLP Sky Yang, MS CCC-SLP Dental Specialties Arun Sharma, DDS Maxillofacial Prosthetics Rishabh P. Acharya, BDS, MDS Maxillofacial Prosthetics Richard Jordan, DDS PhD Oral Pathology Jennifer Perkins, DDS MD Oral Surgery Tara Brantley, DDS MD Oral Surgery Kwang Kim DDS Dental Oncology Kamal Al-Eryani, DDS PhD Oral Medicine Rashmi Mishra, BDS MDS MPH Oral Medicine Dermatology Siegrid Yu, MD Isaac Neuhaus, MD Susana Ortiz-Urda, MD PhD Maria Wei, MD PhD

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Overview: The head and neck fellowship program at UCSF provides advanced clinical training in head and neck oncologic surgery, microvascular reconstructive surgery, open and endoscopic anterior skull base surgery, transoral robotic surgery, head and neck endocrine surgery, melanoma and cutaneous oncology, sialendoscopy, and head and neck ultrasonography.

Strengths: Our program is based in the NCI-designated UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at the UCSF Mission Bay campus that opened February, 2015. The facility features state of the art operating rooms and technology including lasers, robotics and telemedicine.  UCSF is a tertiary referral center for complex head and neck surgery patients. The majority of patients are referred by general otolaryngologists throughout Northern California and beyond; with additional referrals from dentists, oral surgeons, medical oncologists, endocrinologists, dermatologists, and primary care physicians.  We evaluate more than 500 new head and neck cancer patients per year.  Highlights of our approximate annual oncologic case volume include 125 salivary gland surgeries, 150 thyroid or parathyroid surgeries, 140 microvascular free flap surgeries, 60 TORS cases, and 70 anterior skull base surgeries.  Fellows have opportunity for intensive hands-on training in open and minimally invasive endoscopic skull base surgery (Dr. El-Sayed),  microvascular free flap reconstructive surgery (Dr. Knott, Dr. Heaton, Dr. Park, Dr. Likhterov, Dr. Wai, Dr. Xu), head and neck ultrasonography (Dr. George, Dr. Heaton, Dr. Likhterov, Dr. Wai, Dr. Xu), transoral robotic surgery (Dr. Ha, Dr. Heaton, Dr. Wai, Dr. Xu), and sialoendoscopy (Dr. Likhterov, Dr. Jolie Chang).  Training opportunities include on site robotic trainer modules, on-campus microvascular surgery workshop with rat lab, and/or work in on-campus skull base endoscopic cadaver laboratory with virtual reality. There are multiple multidisciplinary conferences including a weekly head and neck tumor board, weekly melanoma tumor board, bi-monthly thyroid cancer tumor board, and monthly visible tumor conference (for non-melanoma skin cancers). We host a Bay Area head and neck and reconstructive cadaver course every other year, and a monthly journal club.

Eligibility: Fellows will receive an appointment of Clinical Instructor in the UCSF Dept of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and take attending staff call at UCSF and UCSF-affiliated hospitals.  Applicants must be a BE/BC otolaryngologist by the fellowship start date.

Fellows’ Duties/Responsibilities: The fellow will spend a cumulative total of 2 days per month in the head and neck surgery faculty clinics and 4 days per week in the OR with the head and neck surgery faculty attendings. Depending on the fellow’s interest, there is opportunity to obtain more in-depth experience with open and minimally invasive endoscopic skull base surgery (Dr. El-Sayed),  microvascular free flap reconstructive surgery (Dr. Knott, Dr. Heaton, Dr. Park, Dr. Likhterov, Dr. Wai, Dr. Xu), head and neck ultrasonography (Dr. George, Dr. Heaton, Dr. Likhterov, Dr. Wai, Dr. Xu, Dr. Jolie Chang), transoral robotic surgery (Dr. Ha, Dr. Heaton, Dr. Wai, Dr. Xu), and sialoendoscopy (Dr. Likhterov, Dr. Jolie Chang). The fellow will take attending faculty night/weekend call for the UCSF otolaryngology-head and neck surgery service approximately 4 weeks per year.

The fellow works with the attending faculty directly in clinic and the operating room, and actively participate in weekly tumor board, reviewing an average of 20 new patients and 35 patients total weekly.  In the course of outpatient care, the fellow will acquire proficiency in ultrasonography of the head and neck.  Speech language pathology and dental oncology are integrated into outpatient clinic, and there is a procedure room for local procedures and CO2 laser ablations. There will be the opportunity to follow selected patients through their non-operative treatment, with Medical Oncology and Radiation Oncology.

Research Opportunities:  The fellow is expected to become involved in the varied clinical research activities available within the department itself or in other programs at UCSF.  It is expected that the fellow will take primary responsibility for at least one clinical research project, in collaboration with a head and neck surgery faculty mentor, to be presented at a national meeting and lead to publication in a peer-reviewed journal.  Although laboratory opportunities are also available for trainees with the appropriate background, the fellowship is primarily clinical.  There are an array of prospective and retrospective projects available to the fellow, and participation at our bi-monthly site committee for clinical trial updates and evaluation is suggested. Monthly research topics are discussed at the Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Research Group symposium.

Supervision, Teaching & Call:  The fellow plays an instrumental role in teaching activities of the department, including a primary responsibility during the Otolaryngology resident lecture series.  In addition, the fellow has responsibility similar to all faculty members to provide evidence-based teaching and discussions to medical students and residents on rounds and in the clinical and operating room settings. The fellow has primary responsibility for summarizing the discussion of each patient at the weekly Head and Neck Tumor Board.  In addition, the fellow has teaching responsibilities associated with journal club and the head and neck cadaver dissection course. The fellow collaborates with the Chief Resident to organize and direct monthly Journal Clubs related to Head and Neck Oncology.

PAST FELLOWS
2026-2027 Allison Wilson, MD
2025-2026 Weston Niermeyer, MD (current)
2024-2025 Micheal Chow, MD, Assistant Professor, University of California San Francisco
2023-2024 Zainab Farzal, MD, Assistant Professor, UT Southwestern Medical Center
2022-2023 Jesse Qualliotine, MD, Assistant Professor, University of California San Diego
2021-2022 Sagar Kansara, MD, Assistant Professor, LSU Health Sciences Center
2020-2021 Patrick Carpenter MD, Sutter Health, San Francisco, CA
2019-2020 Kathryn Hoppe, MD, Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin, Kenosha, WI
2018-2019 David Schoppy, MD, Castle Health Group, Honolulu, HI
2017-2018 Jonathan Giurintano, MD, Associate Professor, Georgetown University, Washington DC
2016-2017 Jon Mallen St. Clair, MD, PhD, Cedars Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles, CA
2015-2016 Daniel Flis, MD, MarinENT, Greenbrae, CA
2014-2015 Chase Heaton, MD, Associate Professor, University of California San Francisco
2012-2013 Gabriel Tsao, MD, Kaiser Permanente, Fremont, CA
2011-2012 Joshua Sckolnick, MD, Palo Alto Medical Foundation/Burlingame, CA
2010-2011 William Ryan, MD, Sutter Health, San Francisco, CA
2009-2010 Ted Leem, MD, Kaiser Permanente, Downey, CA
2006-2008 Vivek Gurudutt, MD, Private Practice, Georgia; Optimal Mind State Founder
2003-2005 Young Oh, MD, Kaiser Permanente, Anaheim, CA
2002-2003 Ivan El-Sayed, MD, Professor, University of California San Francisco