Primary Rotations

The three abdominal transplant fellows will rotate monthly on one of the following services: liver, kidney/pancreas (KP) or donor/clinic/research (DCR). The responsibilities of each rotation are as follows.

Liver:

• Medical and surgical management of all patients on the liver service
• Select management of pre-operative patients with liver failure awaiting transplantation
• Perform or ensure coverage of all adult liver transplants
• Perform or ensure coverage of all pediatric liver transplant recipients
• Postoperative management of liver transplant recipients and hepatobiliary cases
• Inpatient evaluation of liver transplant candidates
• Assist with surgical and medical management of pediatric liver transplant recipients
• Attend liver selection multidisciplinary meetings and liver multi-D conference when available
• Attend post-liver transplant follow-up clinic when available

Kidney/Pancreas:

• Medical and surgical management of all patients on the KP service
• Select management of pre-operative patients with kidney failure awaiting transplantation
• Perform or ensure coverage of all adult kidney and pancreas transplants
• Perform or ensure coverage of all pediatric kidney transplant recipients
• Postoperative management of kidney and pancreas transplant recipients
• Assist with surgical and medical management of pediatric kidney transplant recipients
• Attend kidney selection multidisciplinary meetings and kidney multi-D conference when available
• Attend post-kidney transplant follow-up clinic
• Coordinate medical student and resident presentations

Donor/Clinic/Research:

• Perform or ensure coverage of all deceased donor organ procurements
• Perform or ensure coverage of all living donor nephrectomies and hepatectomies
• Perform or ensure coverage of all hepatobiliary cases
• Postoperative management of hepatobiliary patients whose primary surgeon is a transplant attending
• Attend living donor kidney and liver selection meetings
• Attend kidney and liver transplant evaluation clinic when available
• Attend post-transplant clinic when KP and liver fellows are unavailable
• Perform research responsibilities (as dictated by individual fellow and program director plans)

HPB Rotation

Our fellows will have the opportunity to spend one month rotating on one of the Johns Hopkins HPB surgery services, to improve exposure to complex liver and pancreas surgery and surgical oncology principles and techniques. Our fellows will also attend our multidisciplinary HPB conference and will gain exposure to all disciplines that participate in the management of HPB patients with complex surgical issues.

Clinical Experience and Volumes

At the completion of fellowship, on average our fellows log approximately the following as the operative surgeon: over 150 kidney transplants, over 80 liver transplants, five pancreas transplants, 25-30 donor nephrectomies and more than 50 HPB cases.

Schedule

On weekends, there will be one primary fellow, one backup fellow and one fellow who is off. The KP and liver fellows will alternate primary coverage. For a given month, the KP and liver fellows will have two weekends off. The DCR fellow will cover procurements for the entire month and serve as the backup fellow on weekends. 

Didactic Opportunities

Fellows will have access to educational and clinical opportunities spanning across the Johns Hopkins Department of Surgery and the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Transplant Center. Some of these didactic opportunities include:

• Transplant morning rounds (daily)
• Surgery Grand Rounds (weekly)
• Renal Grand Rounds (weekly)
• Kidney and pancreas transplant listing meeting (weekly)
• Live kidney donor evaluation meeting (weekly)
• Incompatible kidney transplant meeting (weekly)
• Liver transplant listing meeting (weekly)
• Live liver donor evaluation meeting (weekly)
• Pediatric kidney transplant listing meeting (monthly)
• Pediatric liver transplant listing meeting (monthly)
• Kidney and pancreas morbidity & mortality (monthly)
• Liver morbidity & mortality (monthly)
• Liver multi-D conference (weekly)
• Liver transplant tumor conference (weekly)
• Kidney pathology rounds (monthly)
• Liver pathology rounds (monthly)
• Transplant pathology biopsy meeting (monthly)
• Lab meeting (weekly)

Research

Our fellows will be provided protected time within the fellowship rotations to develop their own and contribute to other research initiatives, while having access to and being mentored by our successful clinical and research faculty.

Career Development and Mentorship

The fellows will meet with the program director at the beginning of fellowship to map out career goals and academic plans. Additionally, the fellows will meet four times a year (and as needed) with the program director to discuss progression and ensure that all educational goals are being met throughout fellowship. If interested, the fellow will have the opportunity to participate in many of the ongoing clinical research projects within the division. Fellows will be encouraged to submit abstracts to the national transplant conferences and will be supported to attend, should their abstracts be selected for a poster or podium presentation.