Advanced GI Minimally Invasive Surgery and Bariatrics Fellowship at Mass General Brigham

Overview

The Advanced GI Minimally Invasive Surgery and Bariatrics Fellowship at Mass General Brigham is a full-time clinical training position for surgeons who have completed their general surgical training and are board-eligible or board-certified. The fellowship is fully accredited by the Fellowship Council. The program matches two fellows who rotate at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and community affiliates. Each fellow will spend approximately ½ the fellowship year at each institution, rotating in three-month blocks to ensure continuity of operative experience, faculty mentorship, and progressive responsibility.

Over the course of the year, fellows will complete approximately 350 major operative cases, with a 60-40 split between bariatric and MIS. Core cases include primary and revisional bariatric surgery (including RYGB, BPD-DS, SADI), primary, revisional, and endoscopic foregut surgery, and complex abdominal wall reconstruction. Together, these will enable each fellow to achieve ASMBS bariatric, SAGES Advanced GI, and robotic certification. In addition, each fellow will staff an independent clinic, where they will evaluate and perform general surgery cases as the attending surgeon, with faculty back-up as needed, to further develop autonomy and ease the transition to independent practice.

In parallel with clinical training, each fellow is expected to develop at least two scholarly projects during the fellowship year, culminating in abstract submission to a national meeting (e.g., SAGES, ASMBS, or ACS) and corresponding manuscript submission. Fellows also play an active educational role, including participation in multidisciplinary complex case conferences (bariatric, foregut, and abdominal wall), leading weekly teaching conferences for residents and medical students rotating on the MIS service, and teaching in the resident simulation curriculum

The overarching goals of the fellowship are to prepare our graduates to successfully obtain positions in the practice environment of their choice. Graduates of the MGB fellowship have gone on to establish successful minimally invasive practices, with many now serving as local, regional, and national leaders in academic surgery.

Curriculum

Fellowship goals include developing proficiency in:

• Primary and revisional bariatrics; complex foregut disease including paraesophageal hernia, GERD, and achalasia; hernia and abdominal wall reconstruction; solid organ removal
• Pre-, intra-, and post-operative management of MIS patients.
• Equipment used in minimally invasive procedures.
• Laparoscopic, robotic, and flexible endoscopic techniques

Research Experience

Each fellow participates in two clinical or basic research projects that lead to national presentation and publication. The program director helps identify an appropriate faculty mentor.

How to Apply

See the Fellowship Council website for additional details on the training experience, faculty, and match process.

Fellowship and Faculty Contacts

Eric Sheu MD, PhD
Program Director
esheu@bwh.harvard.edu

Elan Witkowski MD
Associate Program Director
ewitkowski@mgh.harvard.edu