Registrars & Fellows

Formal education opportunities for all disciplines include multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings across relevant cancer streams, teaching ward rounds, journal clubs and other formal and informal opportunities.

Further information about specific education opportunities for each discipline is provided below.

Anaesthetics and pain management

Anaesthetics, perioperative medicine and pain medicine registrars and fellows will be involved in providing a comprehensive peri-operative service. Strong emphasis is placed on perioperative medicine with preoperative risk stratification using cardiopulmonary exercise testing, active prehabilitation strategies and enhanced recovery after surgery programs. Intra-operative anaesthesia places strong emphasis on reducing the neural inflammatory stress response, with emphasis on neuraxial techniques, anti-inflammatory strategies and goal directed therapies to enhance postoperative recovery. Postoperatively we provide high acuity care and acute postoperative pain management ward rounds and experience in managing acute persistent pain with post hospital discharge clinics.

Formal education for anaesthetics, perioperative medicine and pain medicine registrars and fellows include:

• dedicated, rostered weekly teaching time including lectures, practical workshops and tutorials, with a monthly teaching afternoon that places emphasis on pain medicine
• monthly morbidity and mortality meeting
• monthly journal club (with statistician support)
• cardiopulmonary exercise testing teaching sessions
• weekly teaching acute pain rounds
• access to our annual national conferences, which place emphasis on perioperative medicine, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, enhanced recovery, anaesthesia for robotic surgery, and pain medicine.

Registrars and fellows are also required to complete the supporting training and educational requirements of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) and Faculty of Pain Medicine for those that undertake pain fellowships.

For enquiries regarding formal education opportunities in anaesthetics and pain management, contact:

A/Prof. Bernhard Riedel 
Email: [email protected]

Anatomical pathology

Anatomical pathology registrar training at Peter Mac comprises day-by-day involvement, predominantly in histopathology and cytology reporting, with a heavy emphasis on cancer pathology, as well as formal training sessions at Peter Mac and St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, and with the Royal College of Pathologists Australasia (RCPA) Victorian Anatomical Pathology Training Program.

Registrars will be exposed to cut up and reporting of a wide array of cancer resection specimens and biopsies, as well as immunohistochemical and molecular testing of cancers, frozen sections, non-gynaecological and FNA cytology. The nature of referrals to Peter Mac provides exposure to cases of increased complexity and difficulty.

Appointments to registrar positions are made through the RCPA. Advertisement of Victorian registrar positions usually takes place in June or July at www.rcpa.edu.au with appointments made in September/October.

For enquiries regarding formal education opportunities in anatomical pathology, contact:

Dr Christopher Angel
Email: [email protected]

General medicine

Formal opportunities for registrars in general medicine take place in the acute assessment area audit meetings and ward rounds.

For enquiries regarding formal education opportunities in general medicine contact:

Dr Daniel Steinfort
Email: [email protected]

Haematology

Formal education opportunities in haematology include attending and participating in the following weekly activities (please note times are subject to change after the merger of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Royal Melbourne Hospital haematology units):

• teaching ward rounds each Monday and Thursday at 9 am
• multidisciplinary team meetings each Wednesday at 12:30 pm
• pathology meetings each Wednesday at 4:15 pm
• journal club each Thursday at 8 am
• radiology meetings each Thursday at 1 pm
• registrar journal club alternate Fridays at 8 am
• molecular MDT alternate Mondays at 11 am.

For enquiries regarding formal education opportunities in haematology, contact:

Dr Dennis Carney
Email: [email protected]

Associate Professor Simon Harrison
Email: [email protected]

Infectious diseases

Formal education opportunities in infectious diseases include attending and participating in the following activities:

• weekly infectious disease unit meetings
• weekly journal club
• fortnightly Melbourne Infectious Diseases Group (MIDG) meeting, including biannual presentations.

Opportunity also exists to teach HMOs and medical students about infectious diseases and present relevant infectious disease issues at oncology and haematology journal clubs.

Completion of at least one project and at least one publication is also expected.

For enquiries regarding formal education opportunities in medical oncology, contact:

Professor Monica Slavin
Email: [email protected]

Medical oncology

Formal education opportunities in medical oncology include attending and participating in the following weekly activities:

• research meetings
• journal club
• medical oncology department meetings
• medical oncology radiology meetings
• inpatient care multidisciplinary team meetings
• the statewide registrar training program.

Registrars and fellows are also involved in education activities within the clinical services and throughout the VCCC.

For enquiries regarding formal education opportunities in medical oncology, contact:

Prof Linda Mileshkin
Email: [email protected]

Dr George Au-Yeung
[email protected]

​​​​​​​Palliative care

Educational opportunities in palliative care for trainees include:

• clinical teaching in regular consultant led ward rounds and daily outpatient clinics
• attachment to oncology tumour stream and ONTrac at Peter Mac specialist service for adolescent and young adult patients with cancer
• twice monthly academic meetings
• monthly research meetings
• weekly diagnostic imaging review meetings
• weekly multidisciplinary team meetings
• participation in department research and quality assurance programs
• participation in twice monthly statewide Victorian Palliative Medicine Training Program education meetings.

For enquiries regarding formal education opportunities in palliative care, contact:

Associate Professor Brian Le
Email: [email protected]

Radiation oncology

Radiation oncology registrars and fellows will be involved in ward and ambulatory care across Peter Mac’s 12 cancer streams.

Formal education opportunities also include a series of lectures and tutorials each Monday afternoon.

For enquiries regarding formal education opportunities in radiation oncology, contact:

Dr Neda Haghighi
Email: [email protected]

Dr Daisy Mak
Email: [email protected]

Radiology

Formal education opportunities in radiology include attending and participating in the following activities:

• monthly education sessions run by radiologists
• weekly one-hour teaching sessions with a consultant
• significant on-the-job training.

For enquiries regarding formal education opportunities in radiation oncology, contact:

Dr Kwang Chin
Email: [email protected]

Surgical oncology

There are a range of activities organised by the surgical oncology department. The following staff are required to join in the activities of the division:

• RACS SET trainees from the Royal Melbourne Hospital and St Vincent's Hospital
• advanced trainees in Upper GI and Colorectal Surgery and Urology
• un-accredited general surgical trainees
• fellows in breast and melanoma surgery, colorectal surgery, upper GI surgery, urology, gynaecology, and head and neck surgery.

All trainees are expected to attend the Wednesday morning divisional meeting as well as the tumour stream multidisciplinary team and academic meetings. They are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunities to participate in any of the many academic presentations throughout the hospital during their rotation. All trainees undertake a small research project if possible during their rotation.

For enquiries regarding formal education opportunities in surgical oncology, contact:

Professor Michael Henderson
Email: [email protected]

Upcoming events

Orientation for term 3 will take place on 1 August 2016 from 7:30 am to 12 pm. Participants will be emailed with further information relating to the orientation program as well as access to the LMS two to three weeks before the term begins.