The fellowship training program in the Division of Hematology and Oncology is a combined three-year program leading to dual certification in the subspecialties of Hematology and Oncology. Trainees who have finished an approved internal medicine residency program are accepted into the prgram.

Accreditation
The fellowship program is approved by the Ministry of Health and the Lebanese Order of Physicians. Fellows who successfully complete the three-year program can sit for certifying examination.Trainees who wish to stay less than three years and to complete their training abroad are required to get recommendations from the program director in order to get their subspecialty certification.

Curriculum

Program Content

• Clinical
  The fellowship program is a full-time clinical training with patient care responsibilities for  30 of 36 months. They are devoted in the diagnosis and treatment of neoplastic diseases and include hematologic malignancies as well as benign hematologic disorders. The remaining 6 months are spent as vacations and elective rotations
  
• Research
  The fellowship training program provides research opportunities in cancer epidemiology and clinical and laboratory fields. Fellows have to develop their own research projects with the assistance of a faculty staff as a sponsor. Also they can be involved in the already existing protocols designed by members of the division.

Rotation Assignment

First Year

• Half day clinic every week for outpatients (Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation)
  • Throughout the entire fellowship period 
  • With an assigned faculty member through the entire training program
• Hematology and Hematopathology rotation - 2 months
• Bone marrow transplantation unit - 2 months
• Inpatient service (Hematology and Oncology including consultation) - 6 months 
• Elective - 1 month: Suggested rotations
  • Coagulation and Thrombosis
  • Blood bank, therapeutic pheresis, and peripheral stem cell collection
  • Hematopathology
  • GYN Oncology
  • Radiation Oncology
• Vacation - 1 month

Second Year

• Half day clinic every week for outpatients
• Radiation therapy - 2 months
• Inpatient service - 8 months
• Elective - 1 month 
• Vacation -1 month

Third Year
Clinical training rotation with research.

Research
Research is part of the training of all postdoctoral fellows. Clinical investigation usually begins soon after the start of the fellowship and is pursued throughout the fellowship. Physician-trainees are required to participate in either clinical, epidemiologic, or laboratory research.
The fellow is advised to choose an area of research within the discipline of Hematology-Oncology. The fellow is strongly encouraged to use all of the human and material resources of the division. The fellow will  have an advisor from the faculty who will guide the development of the fellow's program and will assume the major role in providing research training. The fellow will work closely with the advisor, but may also collaborate with other faculty members.

Areas of Research

• Clinical Trials
  Phase I/II trials with chemotherapeutic agents and their pharmacokienetics. Monoclonal antibodies and muti-institutional phase III trials.
  
• Basic Trials
  Molecular biology of tumor invasiveness and oncogenessis, angiogenesis, hemostasis and thrombosis, membrane ion transport, gene therapy strategies.

For more information, kindly visit the Graduate Medical Education (GME) website.