Welcome to the Colon and Rectal Surgical Fellowship. We are committed to providing our fellows with the teaching, training and experience they need to become outstanding colon-rectal surgeons.
In this fully accredited training program, you’ll gain knowledge and experience from five board-certified colon and rectal surgeons. Under their guidance, you’ll participate in the evaluation and treatment of colon and rectal surgical patients in both office and hospital settings and perform abdominal and pelvic colonic surgery, as well as colonoscopy and anorectal surgery.
Program highlights include:
The use of a gastrointestinal laboratory with video endoscopic equipment. This forms the basis for teaching colonoscopy and endoscopic polypectomy.
A computerized pelvic physiology laboratory. This is maintained with a computerized anal manometry system for the diagnosis and treatment of anorectal physiologic disorders, including constipation and incontinence. Transrectal ultrasound also is utilized for incontinence, as well as for staging rectal cancer.
Robotic surgery. The Surgery Education Center houses a da Vinci® Robotic Simulator. The colon and rectal surgery fellows complete a prescribed curriculum on the simulator. Four members of the faculty have privileges in robotic surgery.
The opportunity to develop research skills. Research support is provided by the department of surgery and the Network Office for Research and Investigation (NORI). Staff from these departments can assist with project design, facilitate the Institutional Review Board approval process and ensure that abstracts/papers submitted for presentation/publication meet specified requirements. In addition, staff members from NORI provide a series of lectures on research and research design.
Fellows are required to present one paper at the quarterly meeting of the Pennsylvania Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and are encouraged to present a paper at the national meeting of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons.
Enhanced learning opportunities. Fellows attend weekly departmental and divisional conferences, including grand rounds, surgical morbidity and mortality, and colon/rectal tumor board. A general surgery resident rotates on the colon and rectal service, giving the colon and rectal surgery resident ample opportunity for enhanced learning through teaching.