Overview
The two year fellowship recognized by the Endourological Society involves comprehensive training in all aspects of minimally invasive urology. The focus of this training however will be advanced laparoscopy including robot assisted surgery. The fellowship will be at Indiana University Hospital and the Wishard Hospital in the Indiana University Medical Center. The Medical Center is located adjacent to Riley Hospital for Children, the Medical School and other schools of the Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis campus. This allows easy access to all departments of the medical school and other facilities, to facilitate collaboration and research.

The fellow will function as a junior attending urologist at the County (Wishard) Hospital one day each week, where he/she will supervise residents in the operating room as well as the urology clinics. The fellow’s time will be equally distributed between clinical work and research during both years. The fellow’s annual salary and benefits are equivalent to that of a senior resident/fellow at IU.

Clinical
The variety of advanced laparoscopic surgery exposes the fellow to all aspects of the urologic laparoscopic surgery including laparoscopic donor nephrectomy, robot assisted prostatectomy with the da Vinci surgical system, adrenalectomy, pediatric laparoscopy and other routine renal surgeries. The fellow will work predominately with Dr. Sundaram, but will be an integral part of the Urology Department, working with other faculty during laparoscopic and endourologic procedures. Dr. Koch performs 4-8 robot assisted radical prostatectomies per week and Dr. Gardner has a practice in advanced laparoscopic surgery. The fellow would therefore be exposed to different techniques during the fellowship. The fellow does not normally have on call responsibilities as a trainee or an attending. Almost all the fellow’s time is spent with surgical training, education and research. The University Hospital has two new daVinci S Surgical systems for clinical work, and another system used exclusively for training. With only two residents for 7 adult faculty members at the University Hospital, there is adequate surgical volume for the residents and the fellow. The department’s annual volume of minimally invasive surgeries is:

Laparoscopic and robot assisted surgery: 400 procedures
Percutaneous surgery: 40 procedures
Ureteroscopic procedures: 100 procedures.

Education
An advanced laparoscopic training facility is managed by the fellow, for training of medical students and residents. An annual laparoscopic course with live surgery is conducted in the summer. The fellow is a faculty at the course. Third and 4th year medical students are offered a month long elective in urologic laparoscopy. The fellow is closely involved with their education and clinical research. The fellow does not have outpatient clinic responsibilities at the University Hospital. The da Vinci surgical system is used predominately by urologists.

Research
A fully equipped animal laboratory is available in the Indiana University Medical Center. The fellow is expected to perform one animal research study during the fellowship. Several clinical studies are presently in progress. There are comprehensive laparoscopic data bases for prostatectomies, renal surgery and adrenalectomies. Dr. Gardner has a basic science lab investigating novel tumor specific gene therapy for urologic malignancy, with several funded projects. There are 3 PhDs in the urology research program. Fellows can work in the lab, depending upon their interests.

Application Process
Applicants must complete an accredited urology residency in the US before joining the fellowship. This fellowship participates in the Endourological Society fellowship match program. Details and application forms are available at http://www.endourology.org/fellowship/.

Indiana University Fellows in MIS

Application and 3 letters of recommendation are to be mailed to:

Chandru P. Sundaram, MD
535 N Barnhill Dr, Suite 420
Indianapolis, IN 46202
Phone: 317 278 3098
Fax 317 274 0174
Email: sundaram@iupui.edu

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