Michigan Surgery Specialists, P.C. | Hand Surgery Fellowship

Our Mission

The Mission of the Henry Ford St. John Hospital Hand Surgery Fellowship Program is to cultivate clinically competent and compassionate hand surgeons that can treat a wide variety of hand disorders in a community setting. This is in keeping with the Henry Ford Health System's goal of providing holistic care with special attention to the poor and vulnerable.

Practice Philosophy

For over 50 years, Michigan Surgery Specialists has been a pillar in the community, ensuring that patient care is always our top priority. As mentors for the next generation of hand surgeons, it is our responsibility not only to guide our Fellows in the art of hand surgery, but also stress the importance of patient centered care.

About the Program

The Henry Ford St. John Hand Surgery Fellowship Program became accredited with The ACGME in April of 2021. Lead by Michigan Surgery Specialists P.C., this year long Hand and Microsurgery Fellowship accepts two board eligible General, Plastic or Orthopedic Surgeons each year. Throughout the rotation, Fellows will have the ability to learn from Michigan's top hand surgeons with all of the knowledge and resources provided by the state's largest hand surgery practice. Michigan Surgery Specialists will provide educational and clinical opportunities unlike any other fellowship through our multi-county clinic locations that allow Fellows to experience an array of patient populations, demographics and injury/illness encounters, and through our award winning physicians with decades of knowledge in hand and upper extremity surgery. In addition, Fellows will rotate through Children's Hospital of Michigan (to familiarize themselves with all aspects of pediatric hand cases) and the Microsurgery Department at Corewell Health Royal Oak (which will focus on Microsurgical and Super Microsurgical techniques).

The Benefits

Learning Styles

The physicians at Michigan Surgery Specialists come from all different backgrounds, fellowship programs and surgery styles. Because we employ General, Plastic and Orthopedic surgeons, Fellows will be able to experience different approaches to care from senior physicians and newer associates.

Diverse Communities

The Metro-Detroit area is filled with a wide range of population types across three counties. Fellows will rotate through all of our Metro-Detroit locations, which will allow them to experience the diverse cultures, socioeconomic statuses and ailment tendencies that each community has to offer.

Life Balance

The Fellowship rotation comes with several responsibilities, however Fellows are offered benefits to help maintain a solid balance of work and home life. These benefits include industry based compensation, healthcare benefits and paid time off.

Your Fellowship Experience

Our program allows Fellows to enhance their skills in a variety of patient settings, age groups, demographics and treatment styles to ensure they leave the program prepared for their career in hand surgery.

Clinic Rotations

Fellows will obtain clinic experience at multiple Michigan Surgery Specialists locations, which sees approximately 35,000 patients a year and performs over 5,000 procedures. The clinic patient population includes all ages, sexes, races and socioeconomic statuses and disease etiologies including, congenital, neoplastic, traumatic and inflammatory conditions of the hand.

Emergency Participation

Fellows will participate in the care of emergency patients though the Henry Ford Hospital System, Corewell Health System and the Detroit Medical Center System.

Surgical Training

Fellows will obtain additional surgical experience in a variety of settings that include in-office procedures, small community hospitals and large hospital systems, treating all age ranges from birth to geriatric patients, all levels of trauma and illness and an array procedure types from minimally invasive to open procedures.

Continuing Education

Fellows will also receive guidance through didactic educational activities including research projects, journal club meetings (lead by the practice's hand surgeons), case presentations, clinical vignettes and quality improvement initiatives. Meetings take place one to two times a week with a schedule of diverse discussion topics from various presenters.

Curriculum

The Acute Trauma and Complex Reconstructions of the Upper Extremity

All fellows participate in call [call is from home only] during the whole year at Henry Ford St. John, which is a level one trauma center, and Henry Ford Providence. When fellows are on specific rotations they will be available at institutions that the faculty is on-call other than the above sites. The fellows are involved in ER consultations, assessments of patients, developing the appropriate differential diagnosis, communicating with the referring and attending physicians, and treating minor conditions in the ER, developing a plan for the major reconstruction and repair in the operating room. The elective at Children Hospital of Michigan along with Dr. Mehta’s rotation will provide experience in pediatric hand surgery emergencies.

The fellows has month long rotation at Corewell Health Royal Oak with the micro-surgery team. They will do a one week long basic micro-surgery course in the rat lab followed by three week clinical rotation developing experience in complex soft tissue re-construction and micro-surgery construction. They will have access to the micro surgery rat lab at Corewell Royal Oak and Henry Ford Providence throughout the year to improve their micro-surgical skills.

The Ambulatory Hand Surgery Experience

The fellowship faculty is divided into five groups and the Hand fellow will rotate for two months in each of these groups. The majority of the experience at Michigan Surgery Specialist Hand Center (MSS) is in the Ambulatory setting and at least 5, 000 cases are done in this setting. During each two month rotation the fellows will be required to do two full days a week in the clinics at MSS with the appropriate attending faculty as part of their rotation. They will also operate with the same faculty at least two days a week, which will be primarily at the Ambulatory Surgery facilities at Surgeon’s Choice Medical Center. They will also follow the Attending Physician to other ambulatory facilities associated with the participating sites.

They will also be on call from home with their respective faculty during each rotation as noted above.

The elective at Children Hospital of Michigan along with Dr. Mehta’s rotation will provide experience in pediatric Hand Surgery non emergent hand surgery cases and congenital deformities.

Didactic Conferences

Weekly Sessions: There will be weekly core curriculum sessions. The fellow will be required to prepare and present/give at least one of these conferences a month.
Monthly Sessions: There will be monthly sessions that include
- Monthly Journal Club
- Monthly Mortality and morbidity case reviews
- Research/Quality Improvement Conference

Research/Quality Improvement

An active research/quality improvement component is included within the fellowship training program. A meaningful research/quality improvement experience is provided with appropriate protected time for each fellow. A faculty member selected will serve as a specific research/quality improvement mentor for each fellow.

The immediate goal of the research/quality improvement experience is for the fellow to learn sound methodology in designing and performing research/quality improvement studies and the correct interpretation and synthesis of research/quality data. During this phase of training the fellow will work under close guidance of the research mentor.

Continuing Medical Education and Society Memberships

In addition to participating in the organized didactic conferences established within the fellowship program it is also strongly encouraged that all fellows become candidate members of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand and the American Association for Hand Surgeons as well as any local society. Participation in the continuing medical education activities of these professional organizations will help foster the standards of professionalism and augment the process of lifelong learning.

Experience in Developing Teaching Skills

The program provides an environment for the fellow which fosters and highly regards the activities of teaching. This includes the education of not only medical students, physicians, and other allied health personnel but also the education of the patients. Development of these skills requires the fellow to receive instruction and feedback in counseling and communication techniques. This latter training includes cultural, social, behavioral and economic issues such as confidentiality of information and indications for life support systems.

How to Apply

The Henry Ford St. John Hand Surgery Fellowship became accredited with the ACGME in April of 2021.
To apply, visit https://www.assh.org/applications/s/fellowshiphome

Application requirements include:

CV
3 exam score documents
3 recommendation letters

Match Program

The hand fellowship match is managed by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). This application platform is not connected in any way with the NRMP. Candidates need to separately register for the match and create a match list with the NRMP. Visit their website for more information: www.nrmp.org/fellowship-applicants/

Meet Our Fellows

Current Fellows

Past Fellows

Meet Our Fellowship Team

Dr. Mehul Mehta

Fellowship Director

Meet Dr. Mehta

Lindsay Gilbert

GME Program Manager

Contact Lindsay

Welcoming Dr. Anna Babushkina and Dr. Wednesday Hall to our NEW Farmington Hills location!

Hand Surgery Fellowship

Michigan Surgery Specialists has partnered with Henry Ford St. John Hospital to form the St. John Hand Surgery Fellowship Program. Our practice offers a clinical experience unlike any other, providing decades of expert guidance and education for the next generation of hand surgeons.