Message from
Marisa Cevasco, MD, MPH - Program Director
At Penn, we are proud to have the nation’s best cardiothoracic surgery training program. Our trainees go through rigorous, demanding training in the complete spectrum of heart, aortic, and thoracic disease. Graduates from our program are able to perform a wide variety of complex surgeries, including coronary artery bypass grafting, valve surgery, aortic surgery, heart and lung transplantation, mechanical circulatory support, and hybrid interventions. There is wonderful camaraderie and sense of community amongst our trainees, and we are careful to preserve this in our program. The faculty are dedicated to the development and growth of our residents and fellows and are excited to see them go on to be leaders in the field of cardiothoracic surgery. We will continue to maintain our exacting standards for patient care and surgical training. We are dedicated to being at the forefront of cardiothoracic surgical education.
Marisa Cevasco, MD, MPH
Program Director, Thoracic Surgery Fellowship
Assistant Professor of Surgery
The Clinical Fellowship in General Thoracic Surgery is designed to provide broad exposure to all, and in particular the most complex aspects of, General Thoracic Surgery in preparation for an academic career in the field.
The University of Pennsylvania has the busiest General Thoracic Surgery Program in the mid-Atlantic states, performing approximately 1400 major cases per year. We perform many procedures that are not at all or rarely performed elsewhere: eg, anterior approach to pancoast tumors, transcervical thymectomy, VATS lobectomy, extrapleural pneumonectomy, etc. Thus, the fellow will be exposed to the cutting edge in General Thoracic Surgery. The program is divided into two six-month components. A salary commensurate with PGY level is provided by the institution.
During the first six months (July 1- December 31), the fellow will be based at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he/she will be a full member of the General Thoracic Surgical team. The fellow will perform operations on the lung, airways, chest wall, esophagus, and mediastinum under supervision of the attending physician staff (Joel Cooper, MD; John Kucharczuk, MD;). He/she will participate in the pre- and postoperative care of patients in the out-patient clinics, and on the surgical floors and intensive care units as part of a team consisting of the attendings, a cardiothoracic surgical resident, two general surgical residents, and several mid-level practitioners (ie, physician assistants and nurse practitioners). During this first six months, the fellow will take nighttime call in the cardiothoracic surgical intensive care unit on an approximately every 5th night basis, during which time he/she will be the senior in-house physician responsible for both all inpatient cardiac and general thoracic patients.
During the last six months of the fellowship year (Jan 1-June 30), the fellow will be expected to continue clinical activity, but at a significantly slower pace. Surgery and clinical care performed by the fellow during this period will be dependent upon the needs of the attendings who operate at each of the institutions within the University of Pennsylvania Health System. The fellow may be asked, on any given day, to assist in surgery or clinical care at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Presbyterian Hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital, or the Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center. It is not anticipated that the fellow will be required to take night-time in-house call during these six months. Since the clinical load will be far less during this six-month period as compared to the first six months, the fellow will be expected to aggressively participate in the clinical research activities of the Section, with the goal of bringing at least two research projects to presentation/publication. This is expected to be a time that the fellow will become familiar with all aspects of clinical research, including data collection, data analysis, statistics, ethical issues is research, and scientific writing/presentation. His/her presentations and publications will allow him entry into the academic General Thoracic Surgical community in preparation for career-long involvement in clinical research.
The overall goal of the residency program is to assure that, upon completion of the full program, the resident will have had all of the clinical educational experience needed to prepare him/her for successful completion of the certification process (American Board of Thoracic Surgery), will have the clinical exposure needed to obtain competence in cardiothoracic surgery, and will lay the foundation for safe and compassionate patient care and for a lifetime of self-education and improvement in their chosen field. The educational goals and assignments we follow are those outlined in the Comprehensive Thoracic Surgery Curriculum published by the Thoracic Surgery Directors Associations (TSDA) in 1994. The three basic rotations for residents include: adult cardiac, pediatric cardiothoracic, and general thoracic surgery. Each is designed to complete the goals outlined by the TSDA, and, as a general rule, the Comprehensive Curriculum is used as a guideline by the faculty to ensure completeness in the resident’s experience at the completion of each of these rotations. Although there are two identifiable tracks in the program, general thoracic track and cardiac track, all residents rotate through all subspecialties with the same responsibilities and educational goals regardless of their designated track, the only difference being the length of time spent in each rotation.
Program Composition
The patient population of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center includes patients from surrounding neighborhoods and those referred from community hospitals throughout the Delaware Valley and beyond. Clinical material of the Cardiac and Thoracic Surgical Services is very well balanced and covers all aspects of the specialty as defined by the American Board of Surgery.
In the fiscal year 2010, approximately 2,757 cardiovascular operations were performed by the services at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Presbyterian Medical Center, Pennsylvania Hospital and affiliated hospitals.
Thoracic Surgery residents participate in all aspects of patient care including pre-operative evaluation, operations, postoperative care and follow-up visits. The clinical educational experience is designed to be comprehensive and to enable the resident to assume increasing responsibility as his or her knowledge, experience and skills develop.