The Endourology Fellowship provides two years of postgraduate training in endourology and minimally invasive surgery.

Clinical training

The fellow will serve as mentee of their assigned staff and work closely with them on a one-to-one basis, independent of the residency program. They will also coordinate care and serve as a mentor to the residents in the program and will help organize and plan educational events. They will serve as junior facility and will have limited call responsibilities. Clinic responsibilities outside of the fellowship program will be limited, but may be required in rare circumstances of absences. The program will provide stipends to allow travel and participation at the major endourological meetings throughout the year.

Clinical volumes

Rotation schedule

The two years of training is divided between clinic and research rotations.

You are given considerable responsibility and independence during your training, which is enhanced by both the large number of patients you see, and the complicated nature of many of their urologic problems.

Moonlighting

Extramural employment (moonlighting) at a facility not on the Mayo Clinic campus is prohibited.

Didactic training

Clinical conferences, seminars, small discussion groups, journal clubs, and one-on-one instruction are all an integral part of Mayo Clinic's Endourology Fellowship Program. The following list gives you an overview of the didactic portion of the program.

Weekly activities

• Formal hospital rounds daily
• Academic seminars and consultant lectures in basic science and allied clinical subjects
• Stone conference
• Pathology lectures, case presentations and morbidity-mortality conferences
• Journal clubs

Your didactic training includes periodic reviews of surgical specimens, postmortem findings, instructive cases, and urinary microscopy. You have the opportunity to take courses in laser technique, laparoscopy, microsurgical technique, computer training, basic cardiac life support, and writing for scientific publications. You also participate in the Merit Center's Evidence-Based Surgical Practice Conference.

Case studies

Weekly imaging conferences are presented by and for the fellows, residents, and consultants. These activities include case presentations and reviews of excretory urograms, CT scans, ultrasounds, and MRIs.

Committee assignments

One fellow serves on the Education Committee for Urology, which meets semi-annually.

All fellows have 24/7 electronic access to the Mayo Clinic Libraries from all institutional workstations within the institution and from home.

Research training

Full research facilities are available, including basic science bench space and a surgical innovation laboratory. There are fully accredited animal facilities as well with access to the latest laparoscopic and laser equipment equivalent to that used in the operating room. There are many potential collaborators to work with including investigators from TGEN and Arizona State University. Mayo Clinic in Arizona is involved in several multi-institutional investigations, which the fellow will participate in.

The Urology Fellowship includes basic science and clinical research. A large surgical database, excellent research support, and experienced mentors are available to assist you with research projects.

You are also expected to be active with data collection and manuscript preparation. You will present at least one scientific study at a national meeting and publish at least one article in a peer-reviewed journal.

Teaching opportunities

You have the opportunity to teach Mayo Clinic in Arizona urology residents and medical school students from Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and University of Arizona Medical School, as well as visiting students from other medical schools, through bedside instruction and formal didactic lectures.

Evaluation

To ensure that you acquire adequate knowledge and develop the appropriate technical skills to meet program expectations, your performance is monitored carefully during the fellowship program. You are formally evaluated by supervising faculty members on a regular basis and meet with the program director to review these evaluations. In addition, you regularly evaluate the faculty to confirm that your educational needs are being met.

Career development

You meet periodically with various faculty members, administrators, and the training program director to discuss your individual career goals. Mayo Clinic recruits many of its staff physicians from its own training programs.

If you are accepted for a fellowship, you will continue to receive in-depth, daily, one-on-one training with a consulting physician and also have the opportunity to increase your supervisory and administrative skills.