The McGill MIS Fellowship is an academic program whose goal is the development of a general surgeon who at the end of the fellowship has acquired expertise in the variety of surgical procedures under the umbrella of MIS. In addition, the fellow will be exposed to and trained in the educational, research, and administrative aspects of the field. He or she should then be well prepared to practice minimally invasive general surgery in an academic department.

Fellows will be accepted into either a one-year clinical program, or a two-year program designed to develop academic leaders in minimally invasive surgery. The two year fellowship requires enrollment in an advanced degree program in either Experimental Surgery or Medical Education at McGill. All fellowship applicants are required to enroll in the match for advanced gastrointestinal and minimally invasive fellowships. http://www.fellowshipcouncil.org

The clinical cases are divided into solid organ (spleen, adrenal, hematopoetic, donor nephrectomy), bariatric, foregut (esophageal and gastroduodenal), bowel, hernia, and biliary surgery. All cases are entered into a prospective database and most patients are tracked by our nurse-research assistant for quality assurance and clinical research purposes. The fellow will act as the primary surgeon in most advanced MIS cases, or less often will first-assist either the resident or attending surgeon, depending on the specific case.

Educational activities include presenting at surgical rounds, teaching medical students and residents, and participating in CME activities (local, regional, national, and international). Our centre has a full-time nurse coordinator who is an invaluable asset to our program.

Research is an important component of our program. The main areas of focus are in education/simulation, outcomes research, and physiologic research. Our fellow has in every year presented original scientific work at multiple peer reviewed meetings.

The McGill MIS Fellowship is based at the Montreal General Hospital Site of the McGill University Health Centre, in the Steinberg-Bernstein Centre for Minimally Invasive Surgery. The fellow has office space there adjacent to our library/conference room, inanimate skills lab, and data entry room. The fellow will participate in clinical cases at all McGill affiliated hospitals.

Funding is provided for the fellow to attend the annual SAGES meeting, and other meetings where he or she has a presentation on the scientific program. There is also funding for the fellow to visit another center in order to gain exposure to a unique clinical experience not available at McGill.

The fellow must be eligible for licensure (as a trainee) in the Province of Quebec.

Information regarding eligibility for training at McGill for non-Canadian applicants can be found at http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/postgrad/applicationinfo_nmf_othergrads1_htm

Previous graduates of this program include Dr. Anna Derossis and Dr. Gabriela Ghitulescu both of whom are currently attending surgeons at the Jewish General Hospital and Assistant Professors of Surgery at McGill University.  Dr. Liane Feldman, a previous fellow, is currently Assistant Professor at McGill University and on the attending staff of the McGill University Health Center.

Dr. Dennis Klassen (2001-2) joined us after his residency at University of Manitoba, and is currently Assistant Professor of Surgery at Dalhousie University in Halifax and helped establish a new program in minimally invasive surgery at that institution. 

Dr. Lorenzo Ferri (2002-3) did his general surgery and Ph.D in Experimental Surgery at McGill, then completed his MIS fellowship June 30, 2003. Following that he began a fellowship in Thoracic Surgery at University of Toronto. He returned to McGill in July 2005 to join our faculty. His interests are  in minimally invasive thoracic and foregut surgery.

Dr. Christopher Andrew (2003-4) also came from the University of Manitoba. After completing his fellowship at McGill he returned to Manitoba to join their faculty and to work with Dr. Hugh Taylor in their MIS program.

Dr. Shannon Fraser (2004-5) A graduate of the McGill general surgery program, she has completed her Masters in Experimental Surgery with a focus on surgical education.She is currently assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at McGill University as well as General Surgeon at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal.

Dr. Allan Okrainec (2005-6) Over the past year Allan joined  us from McMaster University.
Upon completion of his fellowship Dr. Okrainec will be joining the staff at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Anthony McCluney (2005-7) is with us for a two year fellowship ending in 2007. Trained at Harvard University,  Anthony is conducting a project on educational research at the MIS centre.

Dr. Katherine Hsu (2006-07) from the University of British Columbia, will be our clinical fellow.

   The McGill MIS fellowship has several characteristics that distinguish it from other fellowships. There is a great diversity of clinical experience that will prepare the fellow for almost any type of clinical experience. There is considerable time spent training the fellow in the academic aspects of practicing MIS within the setting of an academic health center. There are weekly academic meetings of the MIS group to discuss ongoing scientific studies and educational projects.

   The MIS group exists within a highly collaborative environment. Examples include working with urologists in laparoscopic donor nephrectomy, with gastroenterologists in a multi-disciplinary esophageal clinic.

   We have recently opened  three new MIS operating suites which will enhance both the work environment and educational opportunities.

   Finally, the McGill MIS program is based in Montreal, one of the most cosmopolitan and beautiful cities in North America. Montreal is consistently rated as one of the cities in North America with the highest quality of life.