University of California- San Francisco 2380 Sutter Street, 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA  94115 (415) 502-1868 William Ryan, MD FACS – Fellowship Director Ivan El-Sayed, MD FACS – 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 Patrick Ha, MD Chase Heaton, MD Daniel Knott, MD William R. Ryan, MD Jose Gurrola, MD Andrea Park, MD Radiation Oncology Sue Yom MD, PhD Neuroradiology Christine Glastonbury MD Pathology Annemieke VanZante MD PhD Medical Oncology Alain Algazi, MD Hyunseok Kang, MD

Speech-Language Pathology Joey McGovern Laus, MS CCC-SLP Sarah Schneider, MS CCC-SLP Erik Steele, MS CCC-SLP Sky Yang, MS CCC-SLP Dental School Daniel Ramos DDS Oral Medicine Arun Sharma DDS Maxillofacial Prosthetics Richard Jordan DDS PhD Oral Pathology Natalie Heaivilin DDS Dental Oncology Leah Bowers DDS Dental Oncology Jennifer Perkins DDS MD Oral Surgery Dermatology Siegrid Yu, MD Isaac Neuhaus, MD Sarah Arron, MD PhD Susana Ortiz-Urda, MD

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 new 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, 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. Seth, Dr. Heaton, Dr. Park), head and neck ultrasonography (Dr. Ryan, Dr. George, Dr. Heaton), transoral robotic surgery (Dr. Ryan, Dr. Ha, Dr. Heaton), and sialendoscopy (Dr. Ryan).  Training opportunities include an animal lab course in robotic surgery,,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, monthly thyroid cancer tumor board, and monthly visible tumor conference (for non-melanoma skin cancers).

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. Seth, Dr. Heaton, Dr. Park), head and neck ultrasonography (Dr. George, Dr. Ryan, Dr. Chang, Dr. Heaton), transoral robotic surgery (Dr. Ryan, Dr. Ha, Dr. Heaton), and sialendoscopy (Dr. Ryan). 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.  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.  We are also conducting a series of window presurgery drug trials.

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 a few yearly journal club and  the head and neck cadaver dissection course. The fellow collaborates with the Chief Resident to organize and direct Journal Clubs related to Head and Neck Oncology.

PAST FELLOWS
2021-2022 Sagar Kansara
2020-2021 Patrick Carpenter (current fellow)
2019-2020 Kathryn Hoppe MD
2018-2019 David Schoppy MD
2017-2018 Jonathan Giurintano MD
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, Assistant Professor, UCSF
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, Associate Professor, UCSF
2009-2010 Ted Leem MD, Kaiser Permanente, Downey, CA
2006-2008 Vivek Gurudutt MD, private practice, Pennsylvania
2003-2005 Young Oh MD, Kaiser Permanente, Anaheim, CA
2002-2003 Ivan El-Sayed MD, Professor, UCSF