Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship

A senior male surgeon performs surgery in an operating room with two female surgeons assisting.

Gain essential cardiac and thoracic surgical expertise

Our two-year fellowship provides exceptional training in cardiothoracic surgery, surgical leadership and multidisciplinary teamwork.

We offer: 

  • Rotations at four hospital sites to give you experience in adult cardiac and thoracic surgery, and pediatric cardiac surgery
  • Training in collaboration with other primary and specialty physicians to diagnose and treat lifelong disease states
  • Experience in guiding and working with interdisciplinary teams
  • Award-winning faculty 

Expectations

You will be part of the surgical team and work with general surgery residents and medical students. You will participate in teaching opportunities in the daily care of surgical patients. 

You must attend clinic according to faculty schedules and will assume primary responsibility for diagnostic workup and treatment plans. Rotations are at four hospital sites:  

  • OHSU Hospital and Portland VA Medical Center, which have adult cardiac and general thoracic surgery rotations
  • PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, Washington, which has adult cardiac and thoracic surgery rotations
  • OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, which has a pediatric cardiac surgery rotation 

Curriculum

Your weekly clinical schedule includes: 

  • General thoracic surgery clinic on Monday, Wednesday and Friday
  • Interventional cardiology or cardiac surgery cath lab on Thursday
  • Multidisciplinary lung clinic and conference on Friday 

Weekly patient conferences include: 

  • VA Lung Tumor Board on Monday
  • OHSU Surgery Morbidity and Mortality conferences on Monday
  • OHSU Cardiothoracic Surgery Morbidity and Mortality conferences (second Monday)
  • Cardiology Multidisciplinary Conference on Tuesday
  • Esophageal Care Conference on Wednesday
  • Pulmonary Radiology Conference on Wednesday
  • Multidisciplinary Lung Conference on Friday
  • Interventional Cardiology/Cardiac Cath Conference on Thursday
  • VA Multidisciplinary Cardiac Conference on Thursday 

Weekly curriculum reviews: 

  • Congenital cardiac surgery on Tuesday
  • Adult cardiac surgery on Wednesday
  • General thoracic surgery on Friday 

The program does not require outside rotations or a research year. Fellows are expected to select, research and present a systems-based clinical project at surgery grand rounds in June of their second year. 

How to apply

You must have completed a residency in general surgery. You must register with both the: 

  • Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS)
  • National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) 

You must ensure you meet all program prerequisites and institutional policies for appointment before ranking a program through the NRMP. Candidates are selected through ERAS. 

Fellowship leaders

Paul Schipper, M.D., FACS, FACCP, is the program director and a professor of surgery. He has special expertise in lung and esophageal cancer, surgery for emphysema, and minimally invasive thoracic surgical techniques. His medical research has focused on epidemiology, risk assessments for surgical resections, and surgeries to remove lymph nodes to check for cancer. 

Section heads

OHSU Adult Cardiac Surgery

    • Appointments and titles

      • Professor of Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, School of Medicine

    • Appointments and titles

      • Associate Professor of Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, School of Medicine

OHSU General Thoracic Surgery

Portland VA General Thoracic Surgery

Doernbecher Children’s Hospital

PeaceHealth Southwest Washington

    • Appointments and titles

      • Assistant Professor of Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, School of Medicine

    • Appointments and titles

      • Assistant Professor of Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, School of Medicine

    • Areas of interest

      • Complex coronary revascularization
      • Minimally invasive mitral valve repairs and replacements
      • Minimally invasive aortic valve replacements
      • Aortic surgery

Apply now

Apply through ERAS. 

Questions?

Email us at surgdept@ohsu.edu. 

Faculty careers

Find professor, physician and APP faculty jobs at OHSU.

Explore jobs 

Graduate medical education

Find tools and resources for graduate medical students. 

Get details

Be part of something bigger