Hand and Upper Extremity Fellowship

Columbia Orthopedics, formerly the New York Orthopaedic Hospital, at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center has had an ongoing hand surgical fellowship since its inception by Dr. Robert E. Carroll in 1958. To our knowledge, this is the oldest one-year fellowship dedicated to hand surgery in the United States. Throughout its long history, the goal of this Hand Surgical service has been to completely commit to educating and training the best leaders, innovators, and practitioners of hand surgery. Our primary fellowship goal is to offer the hand fellow a comprehensive education in the knowledge and skills requisite of a hand surgeon with the understanding that he or she will be capable of independent function while providing each patient with superior care. To this end, a concerted effort is made to maintain an appropriate volume and variety of surgical cases with specific emphasis on the hand fellow developing progressive surgical responsibilities.

Our educational methods have been organized to follow the outline given by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The fellowship is offered for one continuous academic year beginning on August 1. All fellows have completed training in orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, or general surgery. The training site for the fellow is at the NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia in New York City. The hand surgical caseload is varied and covers the discipline of hand surgery from congenital and developmental disorders through trauma and reconstruction, neoplasia, vascular disorders, degenerative and rheumatological diseases, and infections and metabolic disorders. In addition, this program fosters the academic approach to graduate medical education by emphasizing the hand fellow's participation in conferences such as grand rounds, journal clubs, and basic science lecture series as well as participation in applied and clinical research at the local, regional, and national levels.

2023 Fellowship Prospectus

Goals and Objectives

Under the direction of Melvin P. Rosenwasser, MD, the hand fellow is exposed to a broad spectrum of hand and elbow surgery including:

• Trauma
• Tumor
• Rheumatoid disease
• Congenital anomalies
• Peripheral entrapment neuropathies
• Nerve and vascular repair
• Infection

A fully-staffed microsurgery laboratory and microsurgical training program prepares the fellow for experience in bony and soft-tissue free flaps and replantation. The fellow receives training in sports injuries of the upper limb including elbow, wrist, and hand, as well as training in wrist and elbow arthroscopy. Exposure to hand and elbow injuries in the professional and collegiate athlete is part of the fellowship training. State-of-the-art library, photography, and computer facilities are available.