Surgery

Welcome to the General Surgery Residency Program at Mercer University School of Medicine – Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, Georgia. We appreciate your interest in our training program. Our categorical five-year surgical residency program gives bright, highly motivated individuals the opportunity to acquire the full spectrum of surgical skills and knowledge necessary to become a competent general surgeon, whether destined for direct entry into practice or moving on to surgical subspecialty fellowship.

Graduates from our program have gone on to extraordinary clinical fellowships as well as into highly performing clinical practice. Our 30 faculty members are recognized experts in their fields of specialization. Our program is fully accredited by the ACGME residency review committee with five categorical positions available per year for a total of 25 categorical residents in the five-year program. Our ACGME accreditation follows the next accreditation system (NAS) and we have currently a 10-year cycle approval, which is the highest possible.

The surgical program offers exceptional clinical opportunities in acute and outpatient settings. The program emphasizes early operative exposure and our graduates have some of the highest caseloads as operating surgeons. More than 1,000 operations are usually performed by each resident. In evaluating our residents using the operative performance metrics, all of our residents are graduating with top operative ability both in experience and in confidence.

As a tertiary care, university-based medical institution that serves 24 counties in Georgia and four counties in South Carolina (a land mass larger than the states of New Jersey and Connecticut combined) the breadth of cases seen is unsurpassed. Advanced minimally invasive procedures (liver, bariatric, pancreas), vascular interventional approaches, and exposure to robotic surgery are a few examples of the experience residents receive in our program.

At the completion of our residency training program, house officers gain in-depth experience in general surgery, trauma, plastic, surgical critical care, surgical oncology, endocrine surgery, vascular surgery, cardiothoracic, ENT, transplantation, MIS, and pediatric surgery.

Our didactic curriculum follows the national SCORE web-based program with strong faculty support. The didactic program also includes lectures on Systems-Based care, Evidence-Based reviews in Surgery, Mortality, and Morbidity conference, combined radiology conference and an ethics curriculum. Monthly research conferences support our belief that research is an important part of surgical education. Our residents are expected to publish a peer-reviewed article before graduation and all of our residents present at regional and national meetings

In accordance with the ACGME’s core competencies, our curriculum reflects the best aspects of practice-based learning and improvement. Our teaching involves a significant degree of mentoring and preceptorship, allowing residents to work directly with a single faculty member. We urge you to strongly consider this unique mentorship environment and the degree to which our faculty can serve as a wonderful resource for career direction.

Thank you for your interest in our world-class surgical residency program. We are committed to providing a supportive learning environment with great attention to diversity and a learner-centered, evidence-based educational program.

Sincerely,
Christopher K. Senkowski, M.D., FACS
Professor and Chair
Program Director, General Surgery Residency
Department of Surgery

For more information, please contact our residency program coordinator, Debbie Wells, at (912) 350-8598 or by email

Mission Statement

The Memorial Health University Medical Center General Surgery Residency Program’s mission is to develop the next generation of physicians and physician leaders. As a part of HCA Healthcare, we are driven by a single mission: Above all else, we are committed to the care and improvement of human life.

This program is designed to offer residents a rewarding, educational environment where residents are provided individualized learning opportunities by faculty and staff who support and sustain one another throughout quality care delivery. Our faculty are committed to ensuring the residents' clinical experience and educational needs are fulfilled while expanding residents’ perspectives to be inclusive of cultures, values, and ideals.

Program Overview

The General Surgery Program at Memorial Health University Medical Center is fully accredited by the ACGME residency review committee with five categorical positions available per year for a total of 25 categorical residents in the five-year program.

Our ACGME accreditation follows the next accreditation system (NAS) and we currently have a 10-year cycle approval, the highest possible rating.

The program's goals are to prepare the resident to practice safe surgery with sound judgment and to offer the education needed to ensure that the resident passes the qualifying and certifying examinations of the American Board of Surgery. The resident is offered increased responsibility for patient care that begins on the first day of the residency and progresses to supervised, independent clinical activity in the chief resident year.

In addition to our core general surgery curriculum, we offer an enhanced curriculum in hepatobiliary surgery, endovascular surgery, and advanced minimally invasive surgical techniques. Our curriculum promotes the use of technology and minimally invasive surgery and includes a web-based application, didactic lectures, laparoscopic trainers, a laboratory animal facility, and surgical simulation.

Our list of specialties includes trauma/critical care, surgical oncology, ENT, cardiothoracic, vascular surgery, colorectal surgery, pediatric surgery and minimally invasive surgery. Our graduates have gone on to pursue prestigious fellowships or work in private practice.

Our residents are involved in all levels of medical school teaching, including clinical teaching, clinical experiences, departmental conferences, lectures and discussions. Each resident is required to have a peer-reviewed article published before graduation.

The Department of Surgical Education at Memorial Health University Medical Center trains Mercer University School of Medicine third- and fourth-year medical students.

The students have a documented curriculum that is coordinated with the curriculum being performed at the Medical Center of Central Georgia.

Conference Schedule

Conference Schedule

Residents have time on Thursdays from 7:00am until approximately 1:00pm for the academic component of their surgical training.

The instructional methods for our conferences include performance presentation, feedback, and formal classroom instruction. The core curriculum is integrated into these discussions and through the assignment of special projects.

The use of laparoscopic trainers and high-tech simulation for minimally invasive surgery is also part of our curriculum. Residents have an opportunity to use animal models for the development of minimally invasive and open surgical skills.

Residents also engage in a formal mock oral examination in preparation for the qualifying examination for the American Board of Surgery.

The main components of our curriculum are

• morbidity and mortality (M and M) conference
• grand rounds
• basic science conferences
• systems-based practice
• subspecialty conferences
• chairman’s conferences
• pathology conferences
• trauma M and M
• monthly research meetings
• ABSITE and mock oral review
• MIS training

Basic Conference Schedule Format