In the clinic and in the lab, we’re always striving to discover new ways of working and knowing. Education is no different.
The University of Michigan Section of Transplant Surgery incubates novel training programs that go on to expand, represents transplant surgery education in national associations, and designs a 360-degree fellowship experience that fast-tracks graduates into leadership positions in academic medicine.
Our educational programs begin at the undergraduate level and extend to a 2-year American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS)-certified fellowship program.
We offer a 2-year ASTS-certified fellowship program in multi-organ transplantation. Fellows learn to manage the continuum of care for transplant patients, and gain substantial experience in liver, kidney, and pancreas transplants in adults and children, as well as living donor procurements.
Medical student education is also a focus for our section. We welcome third- and fourth-year students rotating on the service, and each year, faculty mentor several first-year medical students through the Student Biomedical Research Program. Transplant faculty also develop and lead popular medical student “Boot Camps” on clinical research, patient care, and physician leadership, and helped to launch the Michigan Journal of Medicine, a peer-reviewed, student-run publication.
Our section’s program for undergraduates and medical students in transplant-related clinical research has been so successful, it’s expanded to a department-wide initiative. Programs like this one create a pipeline of talent that engages students early in their academic careers — we’ve since seen participants go on to become surgical residents.
Other opportunities for undergraduates include the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP), which pairs students with transplant surgery faculty to work on research projects.
