| Note: The Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowship Program is not currently recruiting for a program fellow. Feel free to check back periodically for announcements about future fellowship positions. |
The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Colon and Rectal
Surgery Residency Program is a year-long ACGME fellowship
dedicated to the well-rounded education of a colon and rectal
resident. The program is based at a single institution (UCSF) and
effectively incorporates the three foundations of colon and rectal
surgical training - academic pursuits, operative and endoscopic
skills and clinical patient care.
The surgeon admitted to this fellowship is required to have completed a minimum of five years of an accredited, graded program in general surgery. Thus, the incumbent should already have developed a satisfactory level of clinical maturity, technical skills, and surgical judgment which will enable them to begin a residency in colon and rectal surgery for the purpose of specializing in this field of surgery.
Basic Educational Goals
1. The resident must acquire a fundamental knowledge base in the basic sciences applicable to colon and rectal surgery.
2. The resident must acquire an extensive, sound knowledge base in the clinical science of colon and rectal surgery.
3. The resident must develop through technical training and operative experience the competence to execute the operative and non-operative procedures intrinsic to the practice of colon and rectal surgery.
4. The resident must develop the necessary skill in clinical decision-making to become a safe and effective practitioner of colon and rectal surgery.
5. The resident must demonstrate the desire and ability to care for his or her patients in a competent, responsible, compassionate and ethical manner and to serve society by always demonstrating professional integrity, intellectual honesty and social responsibility.
6. The resident must demonstrate the intellectual curiosity and commitment required to participate fully in the didactic curriculum of the residency program and to develop personal, life-long habits of self study and continuing education.
7. The resident must develop professional habits consistent with sound, ethical medical practice including effective interpersonal relationships with peers and other health professionals, a compassionate attitude toward patients and their families and friends and clarity and timeliness of written communication in the medical record and elsewhere.
Basic Curriculum
Schedule
The resident's time will be spent at a single institution on the colon and rectal surgery service. The resident functions as the lead member of this service. Other individuals on the service are a third year general surgery resident, an intern and one or more medical students. Faculty schedules are staggered to allow the resident to take full advantage of all educational opportunities.
Time is scheduled during the week for specific activities as follows: Monday mornings are dedicated to colonoscopies with Dr. Terdiman in Gastroenterology. Monday afternoons are alternately spent in the operating room with Dr. Garcia-Aguilar one week and in the anorectal physiology laboratory with Dr. Mika Varma the next. Tuesday is entirely an operating day with Dr. Varma. Wednesday morning there are formal teaching rounds, followed by a full day in clinic with Dr. Garcia-Aguilar. Thursday is an entire operating day with Dr. Garcia-Aguilar. Friday mornings are dedicated to clinic and Friday afternoons to the anorectal physiology laboratory, both with Dr. Laura Goetz.
Conferences
The resident will participate in general surgery didactic conferences, interdisciplinary conferences and specifically designed colorectal surgery conferences. The resident will be expected to present all colon and rectal service morbidity and mortality cases at a weekly conference. Also, the resident will give two grand rounds as well as two shorter presentations to the general surgical staff and will participate in didactic teaching sessions for the general surgery residents and medical students.
There are five conferences where attendance will be required. Gastrointestinal Tumor Board is an interdepartmental conference which meets twice a month on Monday afternoons. Inflammatory Bowel Disease Conference is also interdisciplinary and meets every fourth Monday. Surgical Grand Rounds is held every Wednesday morning. Colorectal Morbidity and Mortality is held every Thursday morning. Core Curriculum Conference is held in conjunction with M and M once a month. Pathology Conference for the colorectal service is held one Wednesday afternoon per month. Journal Club is a two hour conference held one evening a month on Tuesday evenings.
Research
Clinical and/or basic science research will be actively encouraged and nurtured. At least one project will be developed early on in the year and carried out to the point of creating an abstract for submission to the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons annual meeting. This, then would lead to at least one first-author, peer-reviewed abstract and manuscript being generated during the year.
Evaluations
The E*value resident evaluation system is currently in use at UCSF. Since the residency is based on a weekly schedule rather than rotations, evaluations will be completed every two months by each of the faculty members. Evaluations will be discussed with the resident after the first six months and again after the second six months. Should problems arise in the interim, these will be immediately addressed.
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
The Program Director, Madhulika Varma, M.D., has ultimate authority and responsibility for all aspects of the residency program, and is responsible for administration of the residency at the University of California San Francisco. However, the Director cannot perform all of these activities without considerable help from the faculty and residents.
In general, the Program Director is responsible for the overall supervision of the academic responsibilities of the teaching faculty, maintenance of the academic milieu of the residency program, overall performance evaluation of each individual resident and each individual rotation and how they contribute to the program, and the preparation of documents necessary to comply with accreditation.
The Program Director will handle many of the administrative activities of the residency including appropriate maintenance of records, interaction with the Residency Review Committee, and the development of computerized processes to enhance resident and residency evaluation. She will also be responsible for the overall evaluation of resident performance, the overall evaluation of the program and it's faculty, and the vacation scheduling of the residents. Working with the other faculty, the Program Director will be responsible for coordination of resident lectures, Journal Club, Tumor Board Presentations, Grand rounds, and all other conferences and lectures.
FULL-TIME TEACHING FACULTY
Madhulika Varma, M.D.
Associate Professor of Surgery
Chief, Section of Colorectal Surgery
Director, UCSF Center for Pelvic Physiology
Dr. Varma is a colon and rectal surgeon who specializes in fecal incontinence, pelvic floor disorders, diseases of the colon, rectum and anus. Dr. Varma is a graduate of Brown University School of Medicine in 1991. She completed her residency in general surgery at UCSF in 1998 and a fellowship in colon and rectal surgery at the University of Minnesota in 2000. She returned to UCSF in 2000 as a member of the faculty and completed a fellowship in Clinical Outcomes Research and Epidemiology at UCSF.
Her research focuses on constipation, fecal incontinence, and
pelvic floor disorders, as well as the assessment of clinical
outcomes for inflammatory bowel diseases and defecation
disorders.
She is also a specialist in laparoscopic colorectal surgery, using
minimally invasive techniques to treat many of these diseases.
Varma is director of the Center for Pelvic Physiology, which
evaluates patients with fecal incontinence, constipation, pelvic
floor prolapse, rectal cancer and anal fistula. She is also a
co-director of the UCSF Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease and a
member of the clinical team of the Women's Continence Center as
well as the Women's Health Research Center. Varma also speaks
Bengali and French.
Edward Kim, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Dr. Edward Kim is a surgeon specializing in Colon and Rectal surgery. He earned his medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in 2000. His general surgery residency was also completed at UCSF in 2006 with an emphasis on laparoscopic surgery. In recognition of his accomplishments and talent in the field, Dr. Kim won the "Achievement Award for Outstanding Laparoendoscopic Resident Surgeon" in 2006. After his residency, Dr. Kim completed a one-year Colorectal Surgery Fellowship at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. In July 2007, Dr. Kim joined the UCSF faculty.
Dr. Kim has a strong clinical and research interest in laparoscopic surgery and post-operative ileus. He sees patients at the UCSF Center for Colorectal Surgery.
Jonathan P. Terdiman, MD
Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine,
Co-Director, Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease,
Co-Director, Colorectal Cancer Prevention Program
Jonathan Terdiman, M.D. is an Assistant Clinical Professor of
Medicine, Co-Director of the Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease
and Co-Director of the Colorectal Cancer Prevention Program at
UCSF. He received his M.D. from Columbia University's College of
Physicians and Surgeons, and completed his internship and residency
in Internal Medicine as well as fellowships in Critical Care
Medicine and Gastroenterology at UCSF.
His current research interests include colonic polyps, colon
cancer, cancer screening, and genomic markers of colon cancer
progression. In addition to his research work, he is a staff
physician for UCSF Medical Center (Moffitt-Long and Mt. Zion
Hospitals). He has also been the recipient of several awards and
nominations for his teaching excellence from UCSF Medical
School.
Dr. Terdiman has lectured throughout the U.S. and in China on colon and colorectal cancer. He has also published several original papers, abstracts, and book chapters on these topics.