About the Transplantation Fellowship Program
The Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute at the University of Pittsburgh has had a post-graduate training program in multiorgan abdominal transplantation since 1981. This program has been certified continuously by the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and meets the training requirements for certification as “Primary Transplant Surgeon” for liver, kidney, and pancreas transplantation by UNOS. The multiorgan transplant fellowship requires completion of a general surgery residency and surgical board eligibility (or its foreign equivalent) and falls under the jurisdiction of the Office of Graduate Medical Education at the University of Pittsburgh. The program is a full two-year clinical fellowship with an optional third year for research or advanced clinical training (e.g. pediatric or intestinal transplantation).
The Starzl Transplantation Institute also offers a two-year renal transplant clinical fellowship. Fellows must have completed either a general surgery or urology residency program with corresponding board eligibility (or its foreign equivalent). The program provides training in kidney transplantation, laparoscopic donor nephrectomy, and pancreas transplantation. Renal transplant fellows also have the option of spending the second fellowship year as a dedicated research year.
The transplant fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh has been designed to provide a comprehensive experience in the pre- and post-operative care of the transplant patient. This broad exposure includes medical and surgical management in renal, pancreas, hepatic and intestinal transplantation. Medical evaluation and selection of recipients, surgical technique, immunosuppression, critical care management, as well as dealing with medical and surgical complications, are stressed to all transplant fellows.
During the first year, fellows are taught to manage patients with end-stage organ failure. First-year fellows rotate for four months in adult liver transplantation, two months in pediatric transplantation, four months in kidney/pancreas transplantation, and two months in intestinal/multivisceral transplantation. They are taught donor procurement and kidney transplantation as well as laparoscopic living-donor nephrectomy. During the second year, fellows rotate on the adult liver service at UPMC Montefiore for eight months and at VAMC Pittsburgh for four months. During this time, they assume operative responsibilities in liver and pancreas transplantation. They also participate in the living donor hepatectomies.
Facilities
The UPMC Montefiore Hospital facility includes a dedicated transplant ICU and transplant wards, as well as outpatient facility units. The Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh facility has a multipurpose ICU, dedicated transplant ward, and a dedicated outpatient facility within the hospital. The Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) of Pittsburgh also has a multipurpose surgical ICU and dedicated transplant ward, as well as an outpatient clinic facility.
Didactic Components
Outpatient clinics are held on a daily basis and are staffed by both Faculty and Transplant Fellows. These clinics are designed to evaluate both pre- and post-transplant patients and allow participation of Transplant Fellows in the long-term care of the transplant patient.
A number of clinical conferences are held for both educational and clinical purposes. These conferences are:
- Liver Transplant Morbidity and Mortality
- Transplant Infectious Disease
- Renal Transplant Morbidity and Mortality
- Intestinal Transplant Morbidity and Mortality
- Transplant Pathology
- Liver Tumor Conference
In addition, a weekly transplant research conference is held to discuss the results of ongoing clinical and basic science research projects.
Research Components
The Department of Surgery and the Division of Transplantation are dedicated to the advancement of an active clinical and basic science research program. Areas of clinical research deal with:
- Organ preservation and monitoring
- New immunosuppressive agents
- Living donor liver transplants
- Infectious complications
- Expanding indications for transplant
- Malignancies following transplant
- Modulating antibody sensitization
- Cellular transplantation
- Small bowel transplantation
Areas of basic science research include:
- Reperfusion injuries
- Chronic liver inflammation (hepatitis B and C)
- Mechanisms of graft rejection
- Mechanisms of recurrent disease
- Lymphoproliferative diseases
- Tolerance induction
- Animal transplant models
- Xenotransplantation
The interaction between the clinical and basic science research programs is unique because of the close interactions between the clinicians and scientists. Results obtained from the laboratory are converted into clinical protocols, and important clinical observations can therefore be studied.
The research activities are distributed among a multidisciplinary research team, including: surgery, pathology, medicine, immunology, and molecular biology. The research facilities are housed in the Transplant Research Center, which is a 44,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art laboratory space for investigators interested in transplant research.
| Program Director |
Program Coordinator |
Hiroshi Sogawa, MD, FACS
Director, Transplant Fellowship Program
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute
UPMC Montefiore, 7 South
3459 Fifth Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Phone: 412-692-2086
Fax: 412-647-0362
E-mail: sogawah@upmc.edu
|
Pamela J. Slivinske
GME Academic Manager
Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute
UPMC Montefiore, 7 South
3459 Fifth Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Phone: 412-647-5173
Fax: 412-647-5480
E-mail: slivinskepj@upmc.edu |
| Clinical Teaching Staff |
Liver:
Abhi Humar, MD
Thomas Cacciarelli, MD
Ruy Cruz, MD
Paulo Fontes, MD
Roberto Lopez, MD
Thomas E. Starzl, MD
Mark Sturdevant, MD
Kidney/Pancreas:
Ron Shapiro, MD
Amit Basu, MD
Abhi Humar, MD
Mark Sturdevant, MD
Henkie Tan, MD, PhD
Martin Wijkstrom, MD |
Pediatrics:
Geoffrey Bond, MD
George Mazariegos, MD
Rakesh Sindhi, MD
Kyle Soltys, MD
Small Bowel:
Guilherme Costa, MD
UPMC Liver Cancer Center:
David A. Geller, MD
J. Wallis Marsh, MD
Alan Tsung, MD |
Application Procedures
Applications for transplant fellowships will be accepted throughout the year. Candidates for clinical fellowships in multiorgan transplants should be board eligible or certified in general surgery. Candidates for clinical fellowships in renal transplants should be board eligible or certified in general or urologic surgery.
The Starzl Transplantation Institute participates in the annual Abdominal Transplant Surgery Fellowship Match run by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). The match is performed on year prior to the beginning of the fellowship, usually in June. Details of the match can be obtained at the NRMP website. Candidates will need to register with the NRMP in order to participate in the match.
A letter of inquiry, along with curriculum vitae, should be addressed to:
Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute
UPMC Montefiore, 7 South
3459 Fifth Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15213