
About the Program
It is the goal of the Fellowship Council-Accredited Complex Gastrointestinal Surgical Fellowship at AdventHealth Orlando to train future leaders in surgery whose focus is on GI and HPB. The main purpose of fellowship training is to provide the structured educational and training experience necessary to achieve expertise in these types of complex surgical procedures and patient care. The fellowship duration is 12 months. This fellowship focuses strongly on minimally invasive techniques, as well as robotic approaches for the management of complex gastrointestinal and HPB disease processes within the context of advanced GI surgery training.
The fellow will spend equal time performing minimally invasive and open surgeries. This is facilitated by a core faculty that includes surgical oncology fellowship-trained surgeons, whose practice is mainly dedicated to HPB and Surgical Oncology in general. This faculty is complemented by the presence of faculty from other backgrounds (minimally invasive fellowship trained surgeons, GI surgeons and endoscopists), who are leaders in their fields.
Clinical research is an integral component of the fellowship, and funded basic science labs are available for those who may be interested in pursuing research during the fellowship year. Submission of abstracts to national meetings is encouraged. The fellow will be also required to prepare manuscripts for publication at peer-reviewed journals.
A new, state-of-the-art skills training center is available for the training of residents and fellows, offering opportunities to participate in educational training activities with the house staff.
Sebastian G. de la Fuente, MD
Program Director
Program Faculty

Sebastian G. de la Fuente, MD, FACS
Program Director

Georg Wiese, MD
Associate Program Director

Steve Eubanks, MD, FACS
Chair of Academic Surgery

L. Thomas Chin, MD
Preceptor – Specializing in Transplant Surgeon

Jeffrey Chiu, MD
Preceptor - Specializing in General Surgery

Alexandos Coutsoumpos, MD
Preceptor - Specializing in General Surgery

Nicholas Feranec, MD
Preceptor – Specializing in Radiology
Timothy McElveen, MD
Preceptor - Specializing in General Surgery
Bernadette Profeta, MD
Preceptor - Specializing in General Surgery
Collin Tully, MD
Preceptor - Specializing in General Surgery
Current Fellows

Molly Russo, MD
PGY-6
Curriculum
Rotations | Blocks |
---|---|
Surgical Oncology | 8 Months |
Minimally Invasive and Upper GI Surgery | 1 Month |
Transplant | 2 Months |
Electives | 1 Month |
The fellow will be exposed to a wide variety of conditions during the duration of the fellowship. This will allow acquisition of advanced technical and clinical skills essential for the professional clinical care of patients. This is due to the referral nature of our facility, as well as attraction of complex cases by the nationally and internationally renowned faculty. The fellow's time will be spent between core surgical oncology rotations, as well as minimally invasive. Rotations are typically shared with a junior general surgery resident with equal responsibility in the care of patients. Fellows are not required to take in-house calls but are responsible for the management of patients at all time with faculty supervision.
Expected Case Load:
The curriculum of this Fellowship includes the following goals and objectives, as detailed by the The Fellowship Council/ACGME core competencies.
- Patient care, including laparoscopic and robotic minimally invasive techniques
- Medical knowledge with an emphasis on multi-disciplinary oncology patient care
- Practice-based learning and improvement
- Interpersonal and communication skills
- Professionalism
- Systems-based practice
For more information please contact Maria Cepero, Complex Gastrointestinal Surgical Fellowship Coordinator
Program Information
- Research
-
The Importance of Research
- Helps to fulfill the ACGME competency requirement of "practice-based learning"
- Helps our quality assessment
- Helps us to serve our patients better and with more treatment options
- Teaches Residents how to achieve these goals in their future practices
Residents and faculty involved in required GME scholarly activities receive guidance from the Center for Academic Research Excellence (CARE) through the Clinical Academic Research team, comprised of an Academic Research Mentor, a Project Coordinator, and a Regulatory Coordinator. In addition, the center includes a group of biostatisticians, a health economist, and a medical editor.
CARE assists residents and faculty with all types of scholarly activities (case studies, QI projects and research studies), from study design and protocol development, to data analysis and poster, presentation or manuscript preparation.
- Eligibility
-
The Department of GME at AdventHealth is pleased to offer a one-year Fellowship Council accredited fellowship in Complex Gastrointestinal Surgery.
Candidates must have completed a general surgery residency in the United States, hold an M.D. or equivalent degree and be board eligible or board certified in general surgery. Interested candidates must email the required items below to the Fellowship General Mailbox.
Requirements:
- Completion of US General Surgery Residency Program
- M.D. or equivalent degree
- Board eligible or board certified in surgery
- CV
- 2 letters of recommendations
Please Contact Us for more information.
- Benefits
-
For more information on the many benefits offered across all programs, click here.
Alumni

Saleh Abdel Jalil, MD
2023-2024

Andrew Guzowski, MD
2022-2023
AdventHealth Surgery

Sarah Brehm, MD
2021-2022
Private Practice with North Orlando Surgical

Daniel Barrera, DO
2020-2021
Las Vegas Associates as a Hepatobiliary and General Surgeon

Georg Wiese, MD
2019-2020
AdventHealth General Surgery

A. Daniel Pinnola, DO
2018-2019
Grand Strand Health - Dept of General Surgery, Myrtle Beach, SC

Shani Fruchter, DO
2017-2018
NYU Langone Health- Dept of Surgery, New York, NY

Lusine Mesropyan, DO
2016-2017
Conemaugh Health System, Johnstown, PA

Daniel Tentori-Figueroa, MD
2015-2016
ABC Medical Center, Cuajimalpa de Morelos, MX

Amy Collins, MD
2014-2015
Jackson North Medical Center, Miami, Fl

Neal Agee, MD
2013-2014
Lutheran Health Physicians, Fort Wayne, IN

Application Process
Join Our Fellow Team
- Applications must be submitted to The Fellowship Council.
Please visit The Fellowship Council for interview season dates and deadlines.

Fellowship Coordinator
Contact Information
Maria Cepero, Complex Gastrointestinal Surgical Fellowship Coordinator
2501 N. Orange Avenue
Orlando, FL 32804