Fellowship Programs
Gynecological Oncology
Program Details
Clinical Experience
The fellows will run the Gynecologic Oncology services at all facilities under the guidance of the faculty. Team members include OB/GYN residents and medical students. The faculty performs oncologic and complex gynecologic operative procedures including radical pelvic and upper abdominal surgery, bowel and urologic surgery, as well as robotic and straight stick laparoscopic staging and other cancer related procedures. Fellows will receive training in chemotherapy alongside the faculty and in their own continuity clinic. The fellows are actively involved in creating chemotherapy treatment plans and managing chemotherapy side effects for all gynecologic oncology patients. Separate clinical rotations are scheduled with Surgical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Palliative Care, and the Surgical ICU service.
1st Year Fellowship
The first year is devoted to clinical service. The 1st year fellow will begin the year on the Gynecologic Oncology service (with the 3rd year fellow). The off-service rotations during the first year of fellowship are Surgical ICU and Palliative Care.
2nd Year Fellowship
The second year of fellowship is the designated research year and clinical activities will therefore be kept to a minimum. The fellow will continue rotating weekend call. Clinical duties cannot exceed 10% of total work hours (per ACGME guidelines). Rarely, the research fellow will be asked to cover a surgical case, and may do so if this does not conflict with the duty hours described by ACGME.
The research fellow is expected to attend OB/GYN grand rounds, department morbidity and mortality conferences, and the weekly tumor board. Expectations for the research year include the completion of the thesis project with at least one manuscript to be submitted for publication, plus one quality improvement research paper.
3rd Year Fellowship
The senior fellow will spend 10 months of the year on the Gyn Oncology service. The senior fellow will go to Kaiser Permanente Sacramento once a week to perform complex surgeries. The off-service rotations during the third year of fellowship include one month on a hybrid rotation including surgical oncology, urology, and colorectal surgery (where they will function at the level of a chief resident - there are no surgical oncology fellows at UC Davis Medical Center) and one month of Radiation Oncology.
The first and third year fellows share coverage of San Joaquin General Hospital, and gain exposure to patient care and decision making in a different resourced system.
All Years
During all 3 years of fellowship the fellows will rotate on a one-in-three weekend schedule to cover the Gynecologic Oncology service.
Research Training
Each fellow must complete 12 months of focused research training and experience. The Division members are fortunate to have active collaborations with both basic scientists and clinical researchers. Each fellow will be required to declare a focus in either basic science or clinical research, and complete a minimum of two manuscripts, one of which will be from the thesis project and should be publishable. The second can be either a clinical research project or a quality improvement project.
The UC Davis Division of Gynecologic Oncology is proud to offer collaboration and training under the mentorship of Dr. Jeremy Chien, Ph.D. Dr. Chien was recruited in 2018 for his excellence in ovarian cancer translational research. His lab focuses on pathways involved in the molecular carcinogenesis of ovarian cancer, and on developing effective therapies targeting vulnerabilities in ovarian cancer. Previous fellows have also worked with Dr. Kit Lam, the Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, and with Dr. Lloyd Smith M.D., Ph.D., Professor Emeritus in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The research year occurs in the second year. The second year fellow takes coursework in Epidemiology, Clinical Research design, and Medical Biostatistics through the Mentored Clinical Research Training Program (K-30 program).
It is expected that a topic for the research year will be decided during the first clinical year, in consultation with the Program Director and designated mentor.
Basic Science Research
Dr. Jeremy Chien, Ph.D. is the designated research basic science mentor. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, with a joint appointment in the of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He has a proven track record of successfully training fellows and a vast portfolio of peer reviewed publications as well as an established laboratory.
The majority of Fellows have chosen a basic research experience, and all were able to generate a thesis suitable for the ABOG subspecialty oral exam. Fellows who choose this research tract will take formal coursework in research (see above), plus seminars in Tumor Biology.
Clinical Research
Fellows choosing the clinical research track will work with one of the core faculty and another mentor specific to the type of research they are involved with. The majority of Fellows choosing this option have performed clinical outcomes research and epidemiology studies, and all were able to generate a thesis suitable for the ABOG subspecialty oral exam.