Aesthetic Fellowship
The postgraduate Aesthetic/Breast Fellowship initially began as a six-month Aesthetic Fellowship in July 2001 and was comprised of one fellow only. The reason for instituting this postgraduate fellowship was several-fold. Firstly, many plastic surgery residents completing their plastic surgery training at other institutions had expressed concerns of not receiving an adequate breadth of experience in aesthetic surgery. To this end, because our program has such a large volume and breadth of aesthetic plastic surgery, we were able to offer such residents a six-month, comprehensive training program. This included facial aesthetic surgery, aesthetic surgery of the breast, body contouring surgery, and hair restoration surgery.
Subsequently, as of July 2004, we expanded this fellowship to a one-year fellowship comprised of two fellows. The purpose of this expansion was to include comprehensive, postgraduate training in all phases of breast surgery and to allow each fellow an adequate time frame for detailed research. Each fellow alternates on the breast and cosmetic services every three months. Each week consists of four clinical days and one day dedicated to research.
Eligibility
To qualify for our aesthetic fellowship, the candidate must be a board-eligible graduate of an ACGME-accredited plastic surgery residency prior to the July 1st start date of any given year. Prospective candidates who have complete applications on file are interviewed the year prior and the selection is made shortly thereafter.
Objectives
Goals and objectives of training include the fellow’s responsibility for pursuing and completing one publication-ready, clinical research project which will also be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Ohio Valley Society of Plastic Surgeons. Clinical responsibilities include dividing time between the four major aesthetic areas including aesthetic surgery of the face, body contouring surgery and breast surgery, including reconstruction
Resources
The teaching staff is comprised of the following faculty:
All faculty are responsible for mentoring the fellows specifically in cosmetic and breast surgery during clinics (patient evaluations and consultations) and surgical procedures. Also included in their responsibilities is guidance and assistance with research projects.
Educational Program
Each fellow spends four days per week in the various staff clinics and operating rooms. This program allows them to hone their skills in these two subspecialty areas of plastic surgery. The fellows spend most of their time supervised by the individual staff to whose service they are assigned but can also have limited responsibilities, i.e. hospital rounds, postoperative follow-up.
The Plastic Surgery aesthetic fellows attend the didactic conference series including Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday conferences. Our conference schedule includes Indications Conference, Journal Club, Research, Cadaver Lab, and Morbidity and Mortality. Fellows are responsible for preparing one didactic conference to be presented on a topic of their choice at the Thursday morning conference.
Evaluation Process
Each fellow is evaluated on a quarterly basis by all faculty members of each service, specifically the Cosmetic Service and the Breast Service. Thereafter, the Program Director meets with the fellows to discuss their respective evaluations.
