Advanced Pulmonary Procedures

Fellowship Title:

Advanced Pulmonary Procedures

Division:

Respirology

Fellowship Type:

Clinical

Supervisor:

Harvey Wong (Fellowship Director)
Christine McDonald
Jason Rajchgot

Duration:

1 year

Application Open and Close Date:

September to November (depending on the number of applicants each year)

Anticipated Start Date(s):

July 1

Number of position(s) per year:

1

Description:

Fellowship Description

The goal of the Advanced Pulmonary Procedure fellowship at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is to provide a trainee with additional training, education, and academic opportunities to master skills in the diagnosis and management of thoracic malignancies as well as pleural diseases.  This fellowship will only be offered to those who have successfully completed at least 2 years of training in adult respiratory medicine (respirology/ pulmonology) in a North American centre. 

This is predominantly a clinical fellowship which will allow a trainee to acquire a variety of advanced pulmonary procedural skills.  The main focus of the fellowship is to provide training in advanced bronchoscopy techniques such as linear endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) for mediastinal staging and sampling of mediastinal lesions, as well as radial probe EBUS and fluoroscopy for sampling of peripheral lung lesions.  Trainees will also become competent in performing comprehensive thoracic ultrasound assessments and obtain skills in ultrasound guided procedures such as percutaneous transthoracic biopsy of lung and pleural lesions.  Other pleural procedural skills that will be acquired include pleurodesis, chest drain insertion, tunneled catheter placements and removal, and management of any associated complications that might arise from these catheters.  Trainees will also gain valuable experience in the management of central airway obstruction using various ablative modalities.

Medical pleuroscopy and airway stent placementsare currently not a focus in this clinical fellowship.  Fellows are offered the opportunity to do up to a total of 2 months of clinical electives in another institution with an interventional pulmonology program to gain further exposure and training in these procedures.

There will also be protected time for additional academic pursuits.  Fellows are encouraged to attend all formal rounds offered by the division of respirology at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.  Attendance at weekly Thoracic Multidisciplinary Cancer Conference rounds will be mandatory.  Fellows will also be expected to teach pulmonary procedures to residents rotating through the Sunnybrook respirology block and Toronto respirology residents during their academic half-day procedure sessions.  Fellows will also prepare and deliver a quarterly 1-hour teaching session on a topic related to advanced pulmonary procedures.  Finally, there is an expectation that fellows complete at least one research project related to advanced pulmonary procedures during their fellowship.  

Funding

Funding is currently not guaranteed.  Prospective fellows may need to apply for funding through a competitive process for salary support.  

Application

Individuals interested in applying for this fellowship are highly encouraged to arrange an elective prior to their application.  The application entails submitting a personal letter, CV, three letters of reference, and an interview.  

Contact Name:

Harvey Wong

Role:

supervisor

Telephone:

(416) 480-4758

E-mail:

harvey.wong@sunnybrook.ca

Mailing Address:

2075 Bayview Ave (Room A459), Toronto, ON M4N 3M5