About the Fellowship
Our Philosophy
We believe that a fellowship year should be a fellowship, not an extension of residency. Our fellows enter the program as experienced surgeons, and we structure the year around actual responsibility, meaningful autonomy, and continued maturation of clinical judgment.
Faculty remain closely engaged and available, but fellows are expected to lead, make decisions, and develop the confidence necessary for independent practice.
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Clinical Experience
The core of the fellowship is six months in our closed Shock-Trauma ICU, which cares for critically ill trauma and emergency general surgery patients. During these rotations, the fellow leads the multidisciplinary ICU team, directs daily rounds, and coordinates the work of General Surgery residents, advanced practice providers, and medical students. The team is supported by dedicated pharmacists, respiratory therapists, clinical nutritionists, rehabilitation specialists, and an experienced nursing staff.
Additional rotations include the Surgical ICU, which provides exposure to critically ill patients from a broad range of surgical specialties, and the Neuro ICU, where fellows gain additional experience managing complex neurologic and neurotrauma pathology. Elective time is also available and can be tailored to the fellow’s clinical interests and future career goals.
Call Experience
Fellows take 24-hour call every other Saturday in a role designed to provide increasing independence and approximate the responsibilities they will assume after fellowship. During these calls, the fellow manages trauma resuscitations, operative cases, and critical care issues across the service. An Acute Care Surgery faculty member remains in-house and immediately available, allowing the fellow substantial independence while maintaining appropriate support and supervision.
This experience is intentionally different from residency call. The goal is to give fellows the opportunity to integrate operative judgment, trauma leadership, and critical care decision-making while functioning with increasing independence.
Education
Fellows have two protected educational conferences each week covering surgical critical care, trauma, emergency general surgery, operative management, and other topics relevant to the contemporary practice of Acute Care Surgery.
Education also occurs continuously at the bedside and in the operating room. Our small fellowship size allows for close interaction with faculty and an educational experience that can evolve throughout the year based on each fellow’s strengths, interests, and career plans.
Beyond Clinical Training
Excellent Acute Care Surgeons need to understand not only how to care for complex patients, but also how the systems surrounding that care function.
Each fellow participates in a quality improvement project and is incorporated into Trauma Peer Review and Trauma Operations, providing direct exposure to performance improvement, patient safety, and the administration of a Level I Trauma Center. Fellows may pursue additional quality, research, or educational projects based on their interests.
Additional professional development opportunities include ATLS instructorship, participation in the ASSET course, and other educational experiences available throughout the year.