The FAHZU’s accredited 3-6 months Transplant Fellowship is designed to provide outstanding training in clinical liver transplantation. It provides comprehensive outpatient and inpatient care to patients with a wide variety of liver diseases.
The Liver Transplantation Program at FAHZU is one of the largest transplantation programs in China and has the greatest worldwide experience in liver transplantation. FAHZU has remained a leader in transplantation and transplant-related research since the early 1990s. In addition to liver and kidney transplants, pancreas, small bowel, heart and lung transplants are performed as well.
The transplant fellows are responsible for evaluating and providing care to liver patients in the hospital under direct attending supervision. This allows ongoing mentored development of clinical skills with assessment by a senior faculty mentor. A multi-disciplinary is responsible for all patients prior to and following transplantation, complex liver cases admitted by one of the attendings or seen in consultation, and patients with hepatobiliary diseases or malignancies undergoing surgery. Our service is unique to most programs as our hepatologists play an integral role in managing patients immediately post-transplant, and fellows will feel quite prepared in managing post-transplant patients.
Adult liver transplants: Our team has performed more than 4,000 liver transplants. We have achieved international recognition for our program and have developed many pioneering treatments that are now used worldwide.
Pediatric liver transplants: Our team has performed around 1,000 pediatric liver transplants. This high volume makes our Pediatric Liver Transplant Program one of the largest, most reputable programs of its kind in the world.
Split liver transplants: We are one of the only locations where patients have access to split liver transplants. Since 2020, we have performed around 400 of these procedures for adult and pediatric patients with a 100% success rate.
The goal of our program is to prepare trainees to achieve excellence in the multidisciplinary clinical care of patients including ambulatory care, inpatient management, and procedures. Through exposure to a range of investigators engaged in clinical, translational, and basic research in transplantation & liver’s disease, we also aim to provide our advanced trainees a strong foundation in clinical investigation to launch them into successful careers in academic medicine. Dedicated research time and resources will allow our trainees to develop and execute independent research projects with the appropriate mentorship.
The program provides a full-time, 2-week to 6-month training experience. In special circumstances, arrangements can be made for other lengths of training depending on your needs and interests.
• Fellows: Qualified applicants for the Hepato-Pancreatico-Biliary & Transplant Fellowship must have completed a general surgery residency program at an accredited institution.
• Residents: To be eligible for the Hepato-Pancreatico-Biliary & Transplant residency, you must have successfully completed a board-approved program in general surgery. Your general surgery program may be completed either through Zhejiang University Graduate Medical Education or another accredited program.
• Students:
1. Must be a final-year medical student when you are scheduled to participate in the rotation. This means all your core / required clerkship rotations are complete at the time of the clinical elective.
2. Medical School Approval - Letter of good standing from the dean’s office of your medical school indicating you are in the final year with your expected graduation date, in good academic standing and meet all requirements to complete an elective for academic credit.
Focus Areas & Subspecialties:
1. Living donor transplantation (liver & gut)
2. Deceased donor liver, kidney, gut and pancreas transplantation
3. Pediatric transplantation exposure
4. Multidisciplinary team management
5. Multi-organ transplants
6. Paired donation
7. Multidisciplinary management of non-HPB malignancies involving the HPB tract
Skills:
1. Basic surgical skills: Puncture, catheterization, gastric tube, etc
2. management of end-stage liver disease and its complications
3. immunosuppressive management
Monday
1st Week: Introduction & Welcome, Program overview and objectives, Department introduction
Weekly: Journal club, Liver transplant QA, MDT conferences, Complicated case study
-Topics:
multidisciplinary involving hepatologists, surgeons, oncologists, radiologists, and psychiatrists
Liver disease imaging interpretation
participate in the formulation of a clinical plan
Tuesday
Weekly: Journal club, MM, Transplant Surgery Observation, Basic surgical skills training
-Major themes:
1. Risk assessment
2. Genetic epidemiology
3. Heritable syndromes
4. Early detection
Wednesday
Weekly: Journal club, Post-transplant clinic, Academic lecture, Case-based discussion, Teaching rounds
Thursday
Weekly: Journal club, Outpatient observation, Surgical skills training:
1. Suturing, knot tying, hemostasis
2. Puncture, catheterization, gastric tube,
3. Square knot, surgical knot
Friday
Weekly: Journal club, Clinical rounds, Clinical skills training, Special task training,
Last Week: Wrap-Up & Reflection, Participant presentations or discussion of key takeaways, Feedback session
After each rotation, each faculty member evaluates each fellow according to core competencies of patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, and system-based practice. Faculty members meet with fellows individually for verbal feedback and evaluation. Monthly, an aggregate evaluation of a fellow’s clinical progress is conducted through a clinical competency faculty committee.
President, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine
Director, Zhejiang Key Lab of Pancreatic Diseases
Prof. LIANG is a recognized leader in the fields of hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery, as well as organ transplantation. He has also received recognition as a highly effective hospital administrator and scientific educator.
Executive Deputy Director of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery Department
Deputy Director, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Pancreatic Disease
Prof. BAI has been engaged in general surgery for more than 20 years, and experted in hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery and liver transplantation.
Deputy Director, Liver Transplantation Center
Prof. ZHANG is responsible for the diagnosis and treatment of various end-stage liver diseases, especially viral liver cirrhosis, alcoholic liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, etc.
The program is free of charge.