Skull Base Fellowship

McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston offers a one-year cast accredited skull base fellowship.

Minimum Qualifications

Qualified US applicants should have graduated from an ACGME-accredited neurosurgery residency program. Foreign trained applicants must hold a valid ECFMG certificate and must be fully trained in neurosurgery and have had at least some prior post-graduate training in the US. Foreign applicants may only be sponsored through ECFMG under J-1 visas.

Goals and Objectives

The Skull Base Neurological Surgery Fellowship goal is to train experts in this subspecialty field. Upon completion of the training, the fellow will be able to use his/her detailed knowledge of skull base and vascular anatomy and physiology to diagnose and treat vascular lesions and tumors with minimal or no damage to adjacent neural and vascular structures, and to know when such procedures are indicated. The fellow will also work alongside our endovascular colleagues and gain a viewpoint of the advantages of those technologies, so as to select from the best type of treatment available.

The objective of training is to give fellows an organized, comprehensive, supervised, full-time educational experience in open cerebrovascular-skull base surgery. This experience includes the management of patients with all types of vascular conditions, the performance of simple and complex open surgical procedures, and the integration of these techniques into the surgical therapy of patients with complex vascular and skull base neoplastic diseases.

Clinical Duties

The fellow will cover vascular call with the attending physicians, participate in operative cases, oversee post-operative management, and perform daily rounds with attending faculty and on-service residents. The fellow will manage the pre- and post-op care of these patients in the surgical and outpatient clinic settings. The fellow will also participate in a series of weekly didactic conferences within the Department. Independent research projects are encouraged and protected research time will be available.

Program Description

We offer one fellowship position every year. Interested candidates are encouraged to apply 1–2 years prior to the anticipated year of fellowship training.

During the 12 months spent in clinical surgical training, the fellow will manage patients with neurological diseases, perform simple and complex open surgical procedures, and integrate these techniques into the surgical therapy of patients with complex vascular and neoplastic diseases. He/she will perform clinical pre-procedural evaluations of patients, interpret preliminary diagnostic studies, consult with clinicians on other services, generate procedural reports, and participate in short-term and long-term post-procedure follow-up care, including neuro-intensive care.

Contact Information

For additional questions regarding the fellowship and application process, contact:

Meredith Hamilton Suescun
Education Coordinator, Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery
McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston
6400 Fannin, Suite 2800
Houston, TX 77030
Fax: 713.704.7370