Tips for Applying to a Breast Surgery Fellowship
Written by Valentina Bonev, M.D., DABS
For those who are interested in breast surgery, you have the option of applying to a breast surgery fellowship, which is also known as a breast surgical oncology fellowship. The fellowship will focus not only on diagnosing and managing malignant breast disease, but also on benign breast disease. The fellowship is one year long and is typically started after completing a general surgery residency. Although most applicants are general surgery residents, general surgery attendings, radiology residents, and ob/gyn residents have also applied as they want to specialize in breast surgery or incorporate breast disease into their practice. As someone who has successfully applied and completed a breast surgical oncology fellowship and is now in practice, here for my top 10 tips for applying to a breast surgery fellowship:
Participate in as many breast surgeries as possible. When you have the opportunity during residency, try to attend as many breast surgeries as you can. You want to expose yourself to these cases so you gain knowledge, and experience, and know what you are getting yourself into.
Find a breast surgery mentor. Hopefully, you have a breast surgery attending in your program who you can develop a mentorship relationship with, but if you do not have one, find a general surgery or surgical oncology attending who does a lot of breast surgeries. A good mentor will give you advice and help you in your journey to becoming a breast surgeon.
Participate in breast surgery research. Your mentor can help you develop a project that you ideally want to present at a conference and/or publish in a journal. This will also make you a competitive applicant.
Utilize the American Society of Breast Surgeons for practice guidelines and if you join as a member, there is access to many more resources, such as forums, videos, and webinars. Their annual meeting is a great educational resource and can be an opportunity for you to present your research.
Other annual meetings to attend or present research at include: the American College of Surgeons local chapter, the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress, and the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Know the Z11 trial. The American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG) Z0011 trial was a randomized multicenter trial that concluded that axillary lymph node dissection does not improve survival in women with T1-T2 breast cancer with 1 or 2 positive sentinel lymph nodes who are undergoing breast-conserving therapy. This trial is a landmark study that comes up during residency, fellowship, and daily practice. Read the paper and be prepared to discuss it.
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) is an excellent free online resource for the screening, diagnosis, management, and surveillance of breast cancer, as well as other cancers. The clinical practice guidelines will help you with all your cancer patients.
Attend tumor board and participate. Use the NCCN guidelines to follow along on the cancer patients being presented to the tumor board. Ask questions to learn and show that you are interested.
Update your CV. Know everything on your CV because you will be asked about it. Do not lie or put anything on your CV that you have not done. If you have something in the works, like a pending research presentation at an upcoming conference, I think it is fine to say that it is pending and it can be used as a talking point during your fellowship interview.
Demonstrate your enthusiasm and interest in breast surgery. Ask your attendings questions. Look up relevant studies that pertain to your patients and discuss the findings with your colleagues. Participate in rounds, tumor boards, and conferences. Immerse yourself as much as you can and it will help you become a better clinician, which will help both you and your patients.
