** Until the foreseeable future most of our conferences are hybrid (both in person and on Microsoft Teams). Most conferences will have standing Microsoft Teams invitations that will show up on your calendar.
The Conference Fellow's responsibilities include:
Preparing and presenting certain conferences as detailed below; please prioritize clinical duties during the work day and check with your staff before working on conferences during the work day
Reading diagnostic cases
CONFERENCES
INTERDISCIPLINARY
OrthoOnc/Pathology/Radiology Conference: every Tuesday 9am, usually Yawkey 2nd floor (room 2-210), except for first Tuesday of the month, when it is usually held in Austen 244A.
Connective Tissue Oncology Conference (CTOC) (every Thursday 4:45pm, Yawkey 4-910 - some conferences may be remote only with Teams link provided by the Rad Onc staff; review cases on Thu earlier in the day with any attending)
Rheumatology (usually first Wednesday of the month, 8am - please attend in person in Yawkey 4-910; review cases the day before with scheduled attending)
Sports Medicine (every Thursday 8am, watch-only; MSK fellow does not need to prepare or present cases)
*updated 06/2025
ORTHOPEDIC ONCOLOGY/PATHOLOGY/RADIOLOGY (TUESDAY, 9am, Yawkey 2-210 or Austen 244A/Microsoft Teams)
The case list will be sent to the Conference Fellow by the Orthopedic Oncology Fellow. The list is usually sent on Monday. Pre-load the cases for Tuesday AM conference on PACS/Visage (MGH Tuesday Ortho Conference List).
If the list is not sent by the end of the day on Monday, contact the Ortho-Onc fellow via email to double check if they have uploaded the list somewhere else. Sometimes they add cases late in the day because it's an OR day for them.
Access to PowerShare
PowerShare is a software used by some physicians to upload outside studies. We will send out instructions on how to access PowerShare.
Dr. Nielsen from Pathology commonly uses this for Ortho-Onc Tuesday conference, and he will share the cases with the conference fellow for that week.
CTOC (THURSDAY, 4:45 pm, Yawkey 4-910/Teams)
***PLEASE REVIEW INSTRUCTIONS BELOW***
The weekly list of cases for CTOC will be shared on Microsoft Teams. We will get you added to the list during the first week of fellowship. If you're conference fellow and can't find it, please let us know.
Proactively check the CTOC list early in the week – close out that list at 8 cases on Wednesday at noon. When that number is reached, type in big letters somewhere on the sheet "LIST IS CLOSED". Please write down your email and a message "cases already being prepared/worked on, if any changes are needed please email ...." (add your email) - this last step helps avoiding last minute changes or swaps.
Dress code for the conference is formal (dress shirt for men, and the equivalent for women).
*** PLEASE NOTE that conference preparation can usually be done throughout the week. Fellows can use some time to prepare for Sarcoma conference during the day in the reading room on Thursday, but this is in addition to their duties of covering the reading room (“Online”). Fellows are still expected to read cases and help with other reading room duties (including phone calls).
Review ALL imaging as if you were dictating the case – fellows have caught lesions not mentioned in reports that have changed management! We usually review the CTOC cases in the reading room early Thursday PM and an attending will usually join the conference with you.
Prepare individual PowerPoint files for each case, with the initials and MRN as the title of the file (see templates uploaded to Teams folder). This is so that Surgery, Pathology, and Radiation Oncology can search for these files if they would like to. Also, if you have a follow-up case, you can find the old file so you don’t need to make it from scratch.
As the last slide for each case, have bullet points that include:
1. Size of lesion
2. Local extent (borders – thinking about it from a radiation oncology perspective) and invasion (bones, muscles, nerves, vessels, bowel, ureter, etc.)
3. Distant metastases (all sarcoma cases need a chest CT! If there isn’t one available, make sure that is known. Make sure you review this study carefully as well).
How to find the CTOC weekly list of cases
CTOC templates and tips
We have a few templates for CTOC saved in a Microsoft Teams folder that we will share with you.
Dr. Rosenthal's tips on CTOC conference
SPORTS MEDICINE CONFERENCE (Thursday, 8am*) - we will update you on the date/time for this, some changes coming 2025-2026.
RHEUMATOLOGY (Usually first Wednesday of every month, 8am, Teams or Yawkey 4-910 Conference Room)
Case list will be sent the week before or at the latest on Monday of the week of conference
Review the the cases ahead of time and go over them with the assigned attending sometime on Mon or Tue (these are usually cases with reports and a known history - conference is mostly for teaching of imaging findings, and a little for discussion among the rheumatologists regarding clinical management)
Cases are shown on Visage (no slides)
Sometimes they have the rheumatology fellows take the cases first
Be ready for questions!
MSK Interesting Cases (select Fridays throughout the year and eventually other days of the week)
all fellows should collect the best cases from call and upload them for the Conference fellow to show.
What to show? Aunt Minnie classics, unusual things, cases the on-call team wants a second opinion on.... anything you find interesting is game!
As the conference fellow, please take some time on Friday to familiarize yourself with the cases that will be shown (no need to do a deep dive, just read the notes written by whoever added the case and you can take a look at the images to know how to start showing it - most times the person who added the case will guide you on what they want you to show)
Biopsy Review Conferences (select Fridays throughout the year)
Review biopsies and results for pre-procedure imaging, procedure technique, and pathology result
Work with Rafael to organize the list