Fellowship Details & Requirements

Our GME Office has preliminary eligibility requirements that all prospective trainees must meet before applying for a training program at our institution. In addition to these criteria, our program also has the following requirements:

• Complete the equivalent of a residency program in surgery and training in colon and rectal surgery, surgical oncology, or equivalent.
• Applicants must be a U.S. Citizenship, Permanent Residency, or a J-1 VISA. MD Anderson Cancer Center does not offer H-1B VISAS for GME Trainees

Application Process

Accept applications from July 1 through September 15th. We host virtual interviews from Sept 15th through Nov 1st with decisions on acceptance shared by mid-November.

Required Documents

• A 1-page cover letter explaining your background, goals, and desired curriculum/focus area.
• A current CV to include prior training and a list of peer-reviewed publications.
• Proof of eligibility with USMLE score points.
• A copy of your ECFMG certificate (for international ).
• A sponsor letter from a surgery chair of division head.

Applications will need to be submitted to:

Tina N. Nguyen
Operations Manager
Colon and Rectal Surgery department
TNNguyen21@mdanderson.org
 

• Understand the role of surgery in the management of patients with colorectal cancer at all stages of the disease
• Understand the importance of multidisciplinary care of patients with colorectal cancer
• Demonstrate competence in the surgical management of colon and rectal cancer, including minimally invasive (laparoscopic and robotic) and open approaches
• Train highly skilled academic surgical oncologists who will take their clinical and research training to an academic residency program and translate those skills into teaching surgical residents
• Advanced training in minimally invasive and robotic approaches, advanced training in maximally invasive approaches, including multivisceral and combined vascular resection
   

Clinical Components: The clinical advanced colon and rectal surgical oncology program consists of a core of 10 months of clinical rotations and two months of research experience. Each of the four clinical services is then assigned a fellow plus junior residents and medical students. There is an option for a non‐clinical rotation month that includes medical oncology, gastroenterology, and radiology. The fellows are involved with the faculty in the initial evaluation process of new patients, treatment planning that includes multidisciplinary approaches, the surgical procedure itself, and long‐term follow-up care.

Research Component: Each fellow will be expected to develop and complete a minimum of two research projects during the 12‐month fellowship. The faculty will serve as primary mentors for organizing these efforts. Depending on the area of interest (colon, rectum, anus), expert mentors will be selected by the Program Directors for project supervision. Departmental resources, including statistical support and manuscript editing, will be provided to the fellow through the department, section, and service funds.

Clinical Procedural Requirements: Required a minimum of 120 cancer‐related operative procedures for completion of the fellowship.

Didactic Sessions:
Fellows will attend weekly conferences including:

• Mortality and Morbidity Conference
• Basic and Clinical Research Conferences
• Surgical and Institutional Grand Rounds
• Multidisciplinary Planning Conference
• Colorectal Case Conference
• Complex Pelvic Surgery Conference

Additionally, there is a weekly lecture series for the fellows to cover advanced topics in the multidisciplinary and surgical management of patients with malignant disease. All fellows attend the annual series of required core oncology lectures that includes research and clinical ethics, biostatistics, design of clinical trials, cancer immunology and cancer genetics and molecular biology.
 

Our fellows have been very successful academically and are currently in positions helping lead exenterative surgery programs, advance the field of colorectal surgical oncology as a surgeon scientist, as well as furthering the dissemination of robotic colorectal surgery.

Alumni Faculty Positions

•  Songphol Malakorn, M.D.
  Assistant Professor
  Department of Surgery
  Chulalongkorn University
  Bangkok, Thailand
• Oliver Peacock, FRCS, Ph.D.
  Assistant Professor
  Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery
  The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
  Houston, Texas
• Joseph Kong, FRCS, Ph.D.
  Consultant General
  The Avenue Hospital
  University of Melbourne
  Melbourne, Australia
• Montserrat Guraieb-Trueba, M.D.
  Assistant Professor
  Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery
  The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
  Houston, Texas
• Neal Bhutiani, M.D., Ph.D.
  Assistant Professor
  Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery
  University of Louisville
  Louisville, Kentucky
• Caitlin Hodge, M.D., MPH
  Assistant Professor
  Department of Surgical Oncology
  The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
  Houston, Texas

Tumor Sidedness, Recurrence, and Survival After Curative Resection of Localized Colon Cancer
Publication: Clinical Colorectal Cancer
Authors: Malakorn S, Ouchi A, Hu CY, Sandhu L, Dasari A, You YN, Kopetz ES, Ellis LM, Chang GJ.

Superior Mesenteric Vein-First Approach for Robotic Salvage Surgery with Indocyanine Green Fluorescence Angiography
Publication: Annals of Surgery
Authors: Yun Y, Peacock O, Malakorn S, Limvorapitak T, Zafar SN, Chang GJ.

Selective central vascular ligation (D3 lymphadenectomy) in patients undergoing minimally invasive complete mesocolic excision for colon cancer: optimizing the risk-benefit equation
Publication: Colorectal Disease
Authors: Sammour T, Malakorn S, Thampy R, Kaur H, Bednarski BK, Messick CA, Taggart M, Chang GJ, You YN.

Who Should Get Lateral Pelvic Lymph Node Dissection After Neoadjuvant Chemoradiation?
Publication: Dis Colon Rectum
Authors: Malakorn S, Yang Y, Bednarski BK, Kaur H, You YN, Holliday EB, Dasari A, Skibber JM, Rodriguez-Bigas MA, Chang GJ.

The Pelvis-First Approach for Robotic Proctectomy in Patients with Redundant Abdominal Colon
Publication: Annals Surgical Oncology
Authors: Yang Y, Malakorn S, Maldonado K, Bednarski BK, Kiernan CM, Thirumurthi S, Chang GJ, You YN.

Robotic lateral pelvic lymph node dissection after chemoradiation for rectal cancer: a Western perspective
Publication: Colorectal Disease
Authors: Peacock O, Limvorapitak T, Bednarski BK, Kaur , Taggart MW, Dasari A, Holliday EB, Minsky BD, You YN, Chang GJ.

Pathological response following neoadjuvant immunotherapy in mismatch repair-deficient/microsatellite instability-high locally advanced, non-metastatic colorectal cancer
Publication: British Journal Surgery
Authors: Kothari A, White MG, Peacock O, Kaur H, Palmquist SM, You YN, Taggart MW, Salem U, Overman M, Kopetz S, Chang GJ.

Robotic rectal cancer surgery: comparative study of the impact of obesity on early outcomes
Publication: British Journal Surgery
Authors: Peacock O, Limvorapitak T, Hu CY, Bednarski BK, Tillman MM, Kaur H, Taggart MW, Dasari A, Holliday EB, You YN, Chang GJ

Robotic external iliac, deep inguinal and obturator lymph node dissection for Stage III melanoma – a video vignette
Publication: Colorectal Disease
Authors: Kong JC, Fisher SB, Bednarski, BK

Apples and oranges: The evidence regarding lateral pelvic lymph node dissection for rectal cancer
Publication: Surgery
Authors: Kong JC, Chang GJ

Rare occurrence of colonic cancer intussusception
Publication: ANZ Journal of Surgery
Authors: Kong JC, Tillman MM

Transanal Versus Laparoscopic TME: All That Glitters is Not Gold
Publication: Annals of Surgery
Guraieb-Trueba M, Chang GJ

Clinically Significant Metachronous Colorectal Pathology Detected Among Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Survivors: Implications for Post-Resection Surveillance Guidelines
Publication: Gastroenterology
Authors: Peacock O, Vilar E, Guraieb-Trueba M, Thirumurthi S, Chang GJ, You YN

The current multidisciplinary management of rectal cancer
Publication: Annals of Gastroenterological Surgery
Bhutiani N, Peacock O, Uppal A, You YN, Bednarski BK, Skibber JM, Messick CA, White MG, Chang GJ, Konishi T.  

Automated, High-Throughput Platform to Generate a High-Reliability, Comprehensive Rectal Cancer Database
Publication: JCO Clin Cancer Inform
Authors: Bhutiani N, Yousef MMG, Yousef A, Zeineddine M, Knafl M, Ratliff O, Fernando UP, Turin A, Zeineddine FA, Jin J, Alfaro-Munoz K, Goldstein D, Chang GJ, Kopetz S, Shen JP, Uppal A

Total Neoadjuvant Therapy for Rectal Cancer: Which Regimens to Use?
Publication: Cancers (Basel)
Authors: Ochiai K, Bhutiani N, Ikeda A, Uppal A, White MG, Peacock O, Messick CA, Bednarski BK, You YN, Skibber JM, Chang GJ, Konishi T

Para-aortic Lymph Node Dissection for Colorectal Cancer: Predicting Pathologic Lymph Node Positivity and Optimizing Outcomes
Publication: Annals of Surgical Oncology
Authors: Bhutiani N, Ochiai K, Awiwi MO, Rodriguez-Bigas MA, Uppal A, Peacock O, Messick CA, White MG, Skibber JM, Bednarski BK, You YN, Chang GJ, Kaur H, Konishi T 

Program Leadership

Colon and Rectal Surgery Faculty

Our program offers a focused clinical learning environment in colorectal cancer at a leading high volume tertiary academic cancer
center.  The clinical education is focused on advanced surgical trainees providing exposure to the full spectrum of colorectal cancer care, including training in robotic assisted surgery, multivisceral and exenterative surgery and the use of intraoperative radiation.

In addition to gaining unparalleled education and training experience, MD Anderson trainees have access to exceptional resources and benefits to help them build meaningful careers and lead fulfilling lives.

Institutional benefits and support

GME trainees’ salary stipends are updated every year based on the ACGME’s recommendations, and because our trainees are considered workforce members, they also enjoy MD Anderson’s employee benefits, including health insurance, retirement planning, disability insurance and six weeks of parental leave.

Our GME House Staff Senate offers trainees the opportunity to experience a leadership role in a medical field career, and the institution’s Academic Mentoring Council provides avenues to secure tailored academic mentoring from faculty. Our GME trainees benefit from the extensive support offered to our research trainees, too; they are invited to participate in grant application workshops, apply for pilot grants to support their research ideas and receive monetary awards for securing extramural grant funding.

Trainee wellness is also of utmost importance at MD Anderson.

Our trainees have access to MD Anderson’s employee networks, fitness center and other wellness resources provided by the institution. Additionally, our Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC), which provides oversight of our accredited programs, regularly assess our trainees’ needs and implements various initiatives, such as providing free call meals and discounted parking to GME House Staff, to address those gaps. The committee even has a subcommittee entirely dedicated to supporting the wellness of our trainees.

Our efforts to ensure a welcoming and supportive education and training experience have been commended nationally. In 2023, the Office of Graduate Medical Education received the DeWitt C. Baldwin, Jr. Award, a prestigious national award that recognizes our institution for its respectful and supportive environment for delivering medical education and patient care.

Beyond MD Anderson

MD Anderson’s location has many benefits, too. Our main campus is nestled inside the Texas Medical Center, the world’s largest medical center which boasts about 10 million patient encounters each year. Many of our faculty are involved in interorganizational research collaborations, both within the TMC and across the nation, exposing trainees to groundbreaking advancements in medical care in real time.

Most importantly, the city of Houston is a great place to call home and raise a family. We are one of the most culturally diverse cities in the nation. More than 145 different languages are spoken across the city, placing us behind only New York and Los Angeles. In fact, about 30% of the city’s population speaks a language other than English at home. And, paychecks here stretch farther than most U.S. metro areas, thanks to our low cost of living.

Visit our Why Houston page to learn more about our city’s affordable housing, fine dining, entertainment scene, nationally renowned museums and other great attributes.