AOCID Clinical Research Fellowship Program for Surgeons

Aim:
This fellowship program has been established for surgeons to gain training and experience in all phases of clinical research (study planning, monitoring, data analysis and publication).

Sponsor:
AOTrauma, AOSpine and AOCMF each may support annually one candidate to participate to this unique and challenging experience. Currently a maximum of two fellows can be enrolled at CID each year.

The selected fellow spends 3 months full time at the AOCID branch office in Dübendorf near Zurich, Switzerland.

Who is our fellow?
Fellows have the following profile:
. Medical Doctor (MD) with minimum surgical training (completed the AO Principles Course)
. Published at least one clinical investigation
. Willing and able to dedicate at least 10%-20% of time in clinical research
. Communication skills and ability to work in a team
. Proficient in English language (spoken and written)
. Supported by an AOTrauma / AOSpine / AOCMF member at the home clinic

What do we offer?
CID fellows are trained and guided as follows:

1- The fellow is guided by an AOTrauma / AOSpine / AOCMF medical mentor at his/her own clinic.

2- The fellow is guided by a methodological mentor at AOCID. On-site tutoring and support is provided by CID collaborators.

3- Training in Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guidelines.
Before the end of the fellowship, the fellow will complete an online course:
Protecting Human Research Participants, by the National Institute of Health Office of Extramural Research, USA
(Note = complementary online courses on Good Clinical Practice Guidelines are currently being evaluated and will be considered to be added to the training package).

4- Reading material: a copy of the AOTrauma handbook "Statistics and Data Management, a practical guide for orthopedic surgeons" (eds. Stengel D, Bhandari M, Hanson B) is provided.

5- Unless the fellow can demonstrate prior knowledge and experience in the use of a statistical software package, he or she is expected to follow an online introductory course on the analytical software Stata (StataCorp LP, Texas, USA) prior to starting the fellowship. This course is provided together with a free personal one-year software license.

What are the fellowship tasks?

1- Analysis and publication of own database.
This is one main objective of the fellowship. The fellow should be able to provide a completed database from his/her own clinic with the task to perform analyzes and publish the results by the end of the 3-month period. Preliminary work may be necessary before coming to AOCID depending on the complexity and progress of the identified study.

2- Planning own clinical study
As the second main objective, a small study protocol should be prepared defining the rational, objective, design and general methodology of the study. The study should be relevant to the home clinic and receive support from the local AOTrauma / AOSpine / AOCMF clinical mentor, so that it can realistically be implemented after the fellowship.

3- Support in various AOCID services
The fellow is also involved in various CID activities such as providing clinical expertise, answering external requests, or performing ad-hoc literature reviews.

4- Final presentation
The fellow is expected to give an internal presentation on both main projects before receiving his/her CID Fellowship certificate.

Certified CID fellows are further guided after the 3-month period in Switzerland, so that the submitted manuscript can be successfully published and/or the planned study implemented as much as it is possible. 

Additional logistical issues:

AOTrauma / AOSpine / AOCMF sponsors the following elements which are administered by AOCID:
- Travel to and from Switzerland
- Accommodation for 3 months

The fellow is expected to bring his/her own laptop with Stata software installed.

How to apply for the CID fellowship program:

The application form can be downloaded here.

Completed applications should be sent to:
AO Clinical Investigation and Documentation
CID Fellowship Program
Stettbachstrasse 6
8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland

There is currently one more CID fellowship position available to be conducted between April and December 2011.

The closing date for applications is 30 November 2010.

Applications received by this date will be pre-sorted by CID and forwarded to the respective AOTrauma / AOSpine / AOCMF Research Commission for final selection. The applicants will be informed per e-mail of the decision.

So far nine CID Fellows completed their program between 2005 and 2010. Read what they reported about their experience with CID:

Dr Philipp Honigmann, Germany		Dr Felix Brunner, Switzerland		Dr Max Reinhold, Germany
January to December 2005 Report		April to June 2006 Report		July 2006 to June 2007 Report
Dr Paula Sotelo, Chile		Dr Philipp Streubel, Colombia		Dr Jorge Rubio-Avila, Mexico
December 2006 to February 2007 Report		March to May 2007 Report		May to July 2008 Report
Dr Vikas Kulshrestha, India		Dr Joost van Middendorp, The Netherlands		Dr Pratik Desai, USA
September to October 2008 Report		August to December 2009 Report		January to March 2010 Report