Gynecologic Oncology Fellowship

The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Colorado Denver was approved for a fellowship program in Gynecologic Oncology and will begin in July 2009. The program will be part of the ERAS match for fellows beginning in 2010. Below you will find some information about this program. At the URL below there is additional information about our program, program faculty and updates from the Program Director, Kian Behbakht, M.D. You can paste this into your browser.

http://www.cugynoncfellows.blogspot.com/

The goals of the Gynecologic Oncology Fellowship are:

1. To educate obstetrician-gynecologists in the comprehensive management of women with cancer of the reproductive organs.

2. To foster the development and maturation of future academic physician-scientists and leaders within the field of gynecologic oncology.

Strengths of our program:

1. A new state-of-the art medical campus.
2. A tradition of stable and progressive leadership in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gynecologic Oncology and the University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center.
3. An integrated collaborative molecular and cellular biology laboratory dedicated specifically to research in gynecologic oncology.
4. Four fellowship trained gynecologic oncologists, each trained at a different institution and providing diversity in faculty experience
5. Two practice sites, providing diversity in patient population.
6. Primary institution is the NCI designated University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center and U.S. News and World Report top 20 University of Colorado Hospital.
7. On-site Women’s Reproductive Health Research (WRHR) program, Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) program, and K-12 Paul Calabrese Clinical Oncology Scholars award programs for continued academic career growth after fellowship.

Education Program:

Year one of the fellowship will be devoted to the study of basic science and translational research in gynecologic oncology. Years two and three will be devoted to building on the foundations of the first year and acquiring increasing knowledge, skills, and attendant responsibility.

A structured teaching format throughout the fellowship at both sites (University of Colorado Hospital(UCH), and Denver Health Medical Center, a public-tax supported county hospital (DHMC)) will be used to attain these goals. Both sites have been staffed by the full time faculty of the University of Colorado Denver Obstetrics and Gynecology Department and Residency program for greater than 30 years.

DHMC is an integral part of the graduate medical education program of the University of Colorado Denver. DHMC provides care to the uninsured population of Denver County and shares all faculty and residents with UCH. Furthermore, DHMC provides diversity to the experience of the fellow and highlights the issues of patients covered under public funding of healthcare.

The second and third year fellows (clinical fellows) will have duties every day at UCH with the exception of the senior fellow who will go to DHMC on Tuesdays (surgery) and the junior fellow who will go to DHMC on Wednesdays (gynecologic oncology clinic).

Fellows will round and teach the practical aspects of inpatient care to the residents and medical students. The junior fellow will lead rounds and the senior fellow will supervise (or either fellow will round when both fellows are not present). Attending staff (one assigned every day to formally round on all patients) will oversee that clinical decision making. Progressive responsibility will be provided by allowing the junior fellow to receive clinical information first and formulate a plan, the senior fellow to process presented information and modify the plan and both to discuss the outcome prior to presenting it to the attending staff. During the day, faculty will be immediately available on site for supervision.

Conferences and Topics related to Gynecologic Oncology:

Teaching conferences will be led by gynecologic oncology attending staff, gynecologic oncology fellows, attending pathologists and attending radiotherapists. Grand Rounds and Seminars are given by experts within the University or invited outside lecturers.

The research fellow is required to complete two graduate level courses (with final examinations) during the first year:

1) BIOS 6601: Biostatistics with lab
2) CLSC 7500: Practical Application of Molecular and Cell Biology Techniques for
the Clinical Investigator (this university-wide course is led by Andrew Bradford, Ph.D., a member of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology)

The following seminars are among those sponsored by the University of Colorado Cancer Center and are suggested for the fellow:

1. Cancer Symposium Series Tuesdays 11am - noon

2. Hormone Related Malignancies Seminar Wednesdays 11 am - noon

3. Program in Reproductive Sciences Seminar Tuesdays 4 pm - 5 pm


Scientific meetings – regional and national meetings attended by fellows:

Fellows will be expected to attend and present their research at one national and one regional meeting each year during the 2nd and 3rd years of the fellowship. Examples of acceptable national meetings include the following societies:

Society of Gynecologic Oncologists (SGO)
Society of Gynecologic Investigation (SGI)
American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO)
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
International Gynecologic Cancer Society (IGCS)

Examples of acceptable regional meetings include:

Western Association of Gynecologic Oncologists (WAGO)

Research opportunities and mentorship:

Mentorship will be available from all members of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology and the Division of Basic Reproductive Sciences in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The Division of Basic Reproductive Sciences (BRS) was founded in 1999 with the mission of integrating scientific discovery into clinical medicine. Led by Peggy Neville, Ph.D., Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Physiology & Biophysics, the BRS section currently provides the educational environment for 4 Women’s Reproductive Health Research (WRHR) scholars and a graduate program culminating in a Ph.D. in Reproductive Sciences (with 5 current graduate students). Five full time Ph.D.’s and 2 members of the division of gynecologic oncology (Kian Behbakht, M.D. and Monique Spillman, M.D., Ph.D.) constitute core BRS faculty and oversee greater than 6 million dollars in research funding. All BRS faculty are experienced mentors with a solid track record of teaching graduate students, medical students, post-doctoral students, residents, fellows (Maternal Fetal Medicine and Medical Oncology) and junior faculty.

Progress of the fellow towards the goal of a thesis and published manuscript will be evaluated with weekly lab meetings in the first (laboratory) year and quarterly review of progress during the second and third (clinical) years. Quarterly review of progress will be overseen by a 4 member thesis committee consisting of experts in the area of the Fellow’s thesis in a manner similar to that for the on-site WRHR scholarship. Fellows will be encouraged to continue scholarly activities such as application to the WRHR scholarship, the BIRCWH scholarship, or the K12 mentored clinical oncology scholars program (via the University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center) upon completion of their gynecologic oncology fellowship.

For more information please paste the following url into your browser:

http://www.cugynoncfellows.blogspot.com/

Section Faculty

For faculty biosketch, click on name.

Kian Behbakht,M.D., Associate Professor

Susan A. Davidson, M.D., Associate Professor, Chief, Section of Gynecologic Oncology

Michael Kelly, M.D., Assistant Professor

Monique Spillman, M.D., Assistant Professor