Overview
Program description
The Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery (FPMRS) Fellowship at Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota, is a three-year subspecialty training program for obstetrics and gynecology and urology physicians who wish to specialize in urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery.
The fellowship provides experience in the management of complex benign pelvic surgery, including and beyond incontinence and prolapse. It offers the opportunity to acquire the practical knowledge and medical and surgical skills needed to identify, evaluate and treat the spectrum of disorders affecting the lower genitourinary tract. The goal of the fellowship is to prepare candidates for subspecialty board certification and a career in academic medicine.
The Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship offers:
- A broad spectrum of experience in pelvic surgery, with an emphasis on urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery, as well as experience in radical pelvic surgery, complex abdominal surgery and colorectal surgery
- A multispecialty approach to the evaluation and management of urinary incontinence and pelvic floor disorders that includes specialists from gastroenterology, urology, neurology, colorectal surgery, and physical medicine and rehabilitation
- Training that emphasizes clinical evaluation, including urodynamics and cystoscopy, as well as nonsurgical treatments for a wide range of urogynecologic and pelvic floor dysfunctions
- The opportunity to obtain a master's of biomedical science degree in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery
- An extensive conference and didactic schedule focused on urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery, pelvic floor dysfunction, congenital anomalies, neuro-urology, and general gynecologic surgery
- Five fellowship-trained urogynecologists as primary faculty
- Two advanced-practice providers focusing on nonsurgical management of pelvic organ prolapse
Accreditation
The fellowship is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
Certification
After successfully completing the program:
- Obstetrics and gynecology physicians will be eligible to take the Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery subspecialty qualifying and certifying exams offered by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
- Urology physicians will be eligible to take the Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery subspecialty certifying exams offered by the American Board of Urology.
Program history
The Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery program at Mayo Clinic's campus in Minnesota began in 1970 as a one-year advanced pelvic surgery fellowship through 1996. In 1997, Mayo Clinic began one of the first accredited programs in urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery that has now evolved into the three-year Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship, which includes one year dedicated to research and two years of clinical and surgical training. We anticipate that one trainee will complete this program annually.