Core Curriculum
The Urology Service complements the clinical training and research opportunities available to fellows with a formal educational program, including multidisciplinary genitourinary oncology grand rounds, a disease-specific didactic lecture series, an indications and interesting cases conference, disease-specific working groups, morbidity and mortality conferences, and programs providing training in research methodology.
Genitourinary Grand Rounds
These weekly grand rounds offer a forum for discussion of a multidisciplinary approach to the management of urologic oncology. In addition to faculty and trainees from the Urology Service, this well-attended conference includes members of the diverse Genitourinary Disease Management Team representing medical oncology, radiation oncology, radiology, pathology, and interventional radiology. Invited guest lecturers provide subject-specific education.
Didactic Lectures
These multidisciplinary lectures cover all features of urologic oncology and are taught by senior faculty who present a detailed, state-of-the-art review of the entire field, emphasizing both clinical and translational science. Each lecture is accompanied by an extensive reading list.
Working Groups
Disease-specific working groups comprising clinicians and basic science investigators provide functional support for multidisciplinary research collaboration. The Urology Service faculty is active in the Prostate Cancer Working Group, the Kidney Cancer Working Group, and the Bladder Cancer Working Group. Each of these groups meets weekly to discuss research in progress, new clinical trials being planned, and recent publications, or to hear invited speakers from outside Memorial Sloan Kettering.
Case Conference
Fellows participate in weekly indications and interesting case conference. The format is a “rapid fire” case review, followed by a discussion of management strategies, technical considerations related to optimal surgical approach, and other relevant clinical considerations.
Morbidity and Mortality Conferences
Fellows participate in this monthly conference held on the last Thursday of the month.
Biostatistics and Methodology Training
During research training, fellows participate in the Department of Surgery’s Clinical Research Methodology Curriculum, which provides trainees with a thorough understanding of biostatistics, clinical research methodology, research ethics, and regulatory issues governing research on human subjects.
Each fall, fellows are required to complete the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) course, a collaborative effort of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and the division of Research and Technology Management. The course’s goals are to (1) heighten awareness of participants to ethical considerations relevant to the conduct of research; (2) inform participants of federal, state, and institutional policies, regulations, and procedures; and (3) provide participants with the opportunity to discuss, in a relatively informal setting with senior faculty and among their peers, the implications of these policies and procedures regarding their own behavior in a research environment.
Urologic oncology fellows may also participate in the National Institutes of Health–sponsored Certificate Program in Clinical Investigation (CPCI). Integrated into the Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC) at Weill Cornell Medical College, the one-year CPCI covers clinical trial design, data management, ethics and regulatory issues, biostatistics, grant writing, and protocol development, among other topics.
Additional Educational Opportunities
All fellows are required to take the Oncology Knowledge Assessment Test (OKAT) prepared by the Society of Urologic Oncology in conjunction with the American Urological Association/American Board of Urology. The OKAT is a mandatory annual examination consisting of approximately 100 questions on issues related primarily to cancer of the bladder, kidney, prostate, and testes, as well as less common sites of urologic cancer. Fellows are provided with a certificate upon successful completion of the OKAT.
The main campus of Memorial Sloan Kettering is located in the “research corridor” extending along York Avenue between 65th and 72nd Streets on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, connecting Memorial Sloan Kettering, The Rockefeller University, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and Weill Cornell Medical College through shared infrastructure and information pathways. Within this tri-institutional research and education corridor, fellows can cultivate rewarding collaborations and participate in a rich agenda of academic and professional events.
A joint initiative developed and supported by the research administration offices at Memorial Sloan Kettering, Weill Cornell Medical College, and The Rockefeller University, the Tri-Institutional Collaboration Network hosts monthly events from September through May, which are open to participants from all three institutions, including fellows. These events include workshops and seminars on topics such as grant writing, writing for biomedical publications, understanding and navigating review processes, compliance matters, and general research funding trends.
Throughout the academic year, eminent scientists from across the country and the world present their research during Memorial Sloan Kettering’s weekly President’s Research Seminar series.