General Surgery Residency

• Our PGY1 residents begin their training as surgical interns, rotating throughout the general and subspecialty surgical services and learning to manage common preoperative consultations, and post-operative care. These experiences are expanded upon in our various subspecialty outpatient clinics, and in the operating room. All residents of all PGY years are expected to participate in operative training.

• The PGY2 year builds upon the foundations previously established as surgical interns. This year includes Surgical Critical Care, and is our first exposure to taking senior level call. PGY 2 residents also gain further exposure to subspecialty services while evaluating and managing new urgent and emergent consults.​

• PGY3 residents take on more leadership responsibilities as they progress into the role of senior residents. They take challenging overnight rotations in trauma and emergency general surgery aimed at improving their individual workup and acute management skills. During this time, they also continue to expand their operative technique through senior level operative experience. We also build an elective into the third year to allow residents the space to find the right sub-specialty fit if they are still exploring.​

• ​After completion of the PGY3 year, Clinical Scholar Track residents participate in one or more dedicated career development years. While many residents choose to stay at Rutgers during this time, participation in outside research fellowships is common. For more information, please see our “Research and Career Development Section.”​

• PGY4 year provides leadership experience as the senior resident on most teams as well as advanced sub-specialty experiences.

• Chief year is the culmination of all of the above. With the added administrative responsibilities including developing our educational and leadership curriculums, chief residents are expected to lead their services and direct patient management with the supervision of our attending faculty. Chief residents are also expected to directly train junior residents through teaching cases, simulation, and formal didactics. Our chief residents present grand rounds lectures throughout the year, aimed at improving their formal presentation  and educational skills.​

Our residency is privileged to rotate at the following clinical sites:

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is a 610-bed non-profit, public, research andacademic teaching hospital located in New Brunswick, NewJersey providing tertiary care for the Central New Jersey and beyond. The medicalcenter is a part of the RWJBarnabas Health System and the flagship hospital of thesystem. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital features a Level 1 Trauma Center, 1of 4 in New Jersey. ​

Morris Comprehensive Cancer Center

The Jack & Sheryl Morris Cancer Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey is the state’s firstand only freestanding cancer hospital and one of thirteen such facilities across the nation.The 12-story, 520,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility houses inpatient and outpatientcancer services coupled with research laboratories, retail space and ancillary servicesdevoted to patient health and wellness. The Morris Cancer Center includes the wide-ranging, advanced cancer care services offered by New Jersey’s only National CancerInstitute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Rutgers Cancer Institute andRWJBarnabas Health – all under one roof.​

Bristol Myer's Squibb Children's Hospital

The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson UniversityHospital (BMSCH) is a freestanding, 89-bed pediatric acute care children's hospitaladjacent to RWJUH. It is affiliated with both Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and theneighboring PSE&G Children's Specialized Hospital, and is one of three children'shospitals in the RWJBarnabas Health network. The hospital provides comprehensivepediatric specialties and subspecialties to infants, children, teens, and young adults aged0–21 throughout New Jersey and features an ACS verified level I pediatric trauma center,pediatric intensive-care unit and neonatal intensive care unit.​

RWJ Monmouth Medical Center

Monmouth Medical Center is a not-for-profit, 527-bed, regional tertiary care teaching hospital located in Long Branch, New Jersey. Monmouth's service area includes a population of nearly 1 million year-round residents in Monmouth, and portions of Ocean and Middlesex counties, as well as a large population of tourists. Admissions total more than 19,000 annually, and emergency visits total nearly 43,000 a year. The Unterberg Children's Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center is a pediatric acute care hospital. The hospital has 70 beds. It is affiliated with Rutgers University Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and is a member of RWJBarnabas Health​

Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center

Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center (PMC), is a 355-bed non-profit, tertiary, and academic medical center located in Plainsboro, New Jersey, servicing the Central Jersey area around Princeton. The hospital is owned by the Penn Medicine Health System and is their only such hospital in New Jersey.​
​
St Peters University Hospital

Saint Peter's University Hospital (SPUH) in New Brunswick, is a non-profit, 478-licensed-bed acute care teaching hospital. It has been designated by the state of New Jersey as aSpecialty Acute Care Children's Hospital, Regional Perinatal Center, and StrokeCenter that operates one of the largest maternity services in New Jersey and in the country

• Our didactic curriculum is hosted during weekly protected education time when our residents are excused from their regular clinic activities. ​

• During this time, we host our weekly morbidity & mortality conference. Following a structured and moderated format, we identify mortalitiesand unexpected complications and engage in reflective practice discussing possible interventions and areas of improvement, including theimplications of various social determinants of health in patient outcomes. These conferences are often interdisciplinary, including ourcolleagues in the departments of emergency medicine, anesthesia, or other surgical subspecialties. A recent addition to our M&M conferencehas been our Cultural Complications series, where we identify and discuss communication issues that deserve the same level of reflectivepractice and exploration.​

• The Department of Surgery Grand Rounds Series also occurs during this protected time. In addition to our accomplished residents and faculty,we are proud to have hosted many prominent visiting professors in recent years. The Division of Acute Care Surgery hosts our annual StanleyZ. Trooskin Distinguished Visiting Professorship Lecture in Trauma, the Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery hosts our annual Ruben-SalvatiLectureship, and the Division of Vascular Surgery hosts our annual Norman Rosenberg Lectureship. ​

• Our resident education takes many forms, including structured Socratic seminars based on the SCORE curriculum, mock oral exams for oursenior residents, case-based lectures. A rotating ”Senior Series” lectureship is afforded to our senior residents, with topics ranging from“Finding Balance” to “Developing a Professional Identitiy,” and ”Finances in Running a Private Practice.” We have also instituted a leadershipcurriculum that is tailored to every PGY level that trains our residents to gradually grow into their roles as leaders of the healthcare team. ​

• Outside of our structured education time, individual rotations also provide didactic education specific to their subspecialties. This occursthrough departmental tumor boards, journal clubs, and educational rounds throughout the rotation schedule.​

Our simulation curriculum provides early exposure to the various tools of laparoscopic and endoscopic surgery, as well as robotics trainingresulting incompletion of the FLS and FES certification. Certification in robotics is also available and granted to senior residents uponcompletion of the required number of training cases.​

Our program is equipped with surgical simulation facilities including laparoscopic trainers, Endoscopic simulators, and robotics trainingconsoles. We have also developed a curriculum of simulation training for basic surgical techniques including bedside procedures, advancedairway management, central arterial and venous line placement, endovascular, and many additional procedures using cadavers.​​

At the end of the second or third clinical year, residents in the Clinical Scholar track enter their dedicated research and professional development time. Based on their intended post-graduate plans, this period can range from 1-3 years. Residents may use this time to enter formalized research fellowship programs, or build their time around other specific interest. Many or our current residents and alumni have chosen to pursue additional graduate degrees including MPH and PhD. While there are opportunities for residents to remain within the Rutgers University system, there are no restrictions on where a resident may choose to spend this time. ​

There are many resources within the Rutgers Healthcare System which aid in research productivity for residents who stay within our system. These include, but are not limited to: ​

The Rutgers Clinical and Research Data Warehouse (CRDW)​

• The Rutgers Clinical and Research Data Warehouse (CRDW) serves as a central repository, uniting diverse healthcare data sources including Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), Clinical Trial Management System (CTMS), Tumor Registries, Biospecimen Repositories, and cutting-edge medical imaging and genomics.​

• A collaborative team from Rutgers and Rutgers Health collects and standardizes this wide-ranging clinical and research data. Leveraging expertise in data mining, computing, and pattern recognition, our goal is to tailor treatments, refine medical practices, and uncover disease insights.​

• This resource is invaluable for researchers, clinicians, and healthcare professionals, providing access to aggregated and organized clinical data. It facilitates research, analysis, and the generation of insights into various medical conditions, treatments, and outcomes.​

The Rutgers Institute for Translational Medicine and Science​

• RITMS serves as the academic home for clinical and translational research, infrastructure and training for RBHS, Rutgers University, and its partner institutions across New Jersey.​

• RITMS organizes and co-sponsors translational and clinical research seminars, workshops and meetings and disseminate information to its members and partner institutions, directly through emails and our website​

• Using the Research with Rutgers University Portal, sponsored by the RITMS, you can search our expansive research network by field of interest, expertise, or even for individual researcher’s profiles to identify new potential collaborators throughout the university.​

​Given our central location to both New York City, Philadelphia, and the rest of the Northeastern Corridor, many of our residents choose to conduct their research at other nearby universities and medical institutions, including: ​

• Columbia University ​

• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center ​

• MedStar Georgetown University Hospital ​

• Fox Chase Cancer Center ​

• Many, many more ​

​All residents PGY-2 or greater are invited to present their current research projects during our annual “Resident Research Day.” Below you can find the flyer for our most recent event: ​

Our program believes that resident wellness is an integral aspect of surgical training, and that the best trained surgeons are those who feel included in every aspect of their training and have a sense of agency in the decisions that affect them most. With those guiding principles in mind, we have designed many aspects of our program to incorporate these principles:​

• We employ a “Wellness Wednesdays” quarterly scheduled personal half days​

• We provide four (4) weeks of paid vacation per academic year ​

• We schedule a regular hour-long block during our weekly, protected, academic time to allow for the completion of administrative tasks ​

• A majority of our surgical services employ a PA/NP to assist with floor work, freeing up operative time for every level of resident​

• We schedule quarterly townhalls to discuss residency-wide initiatives aimed at improving the program ​

• Multiple anonymous reporting systems are available to raise issues of concern​

• As employees of the Rutgers – RWJMS, our residents have access to the Rutgers Employee Assistance Program, now called Lyra Health. Lyra is a 24/7 mental health partner which offers confidential, evidence-based support, and access to wellness coaching, self-care resources, and most importantly, six (6) personalized, confidential, evidence-based mental health care sessions with various levels of clinically trained therapists, free-of-charge​

• Rutgers physicians also have access to a clinical psychiatrist with over 20 years of experience and specializes in care for Physicians and healthcare workers, who is specifically hired by the medical school to work with physicians within the healthcare system ​

• Our residents also have access to Rutgers Recreation, the recreation program for the undergraduates and medical students of Rutgers, free-of-charge. Through Rutgers Recreation you have access to every gym and natatorium on campus. ​

• Most importantly, our residents and faculty see each other as colleagues and family. While there are many opportunities for structured mentorship and structured hangouts, there is no shortage of camaraderie amongst everyone who calls our program home. Whether that is pick-up basketball or pickleball, Chinese New Year dumpling making, or world cup watch parties, we are there for each other. We cannot wait to meet you in person.