Residency Overview

As a General Surgery resident at UW, you will receive a rich, diverse clinical and operative experience in a variety of hospital settings. Approximately 60 percent of your residency takes place at UW Hospital; the remaining 40 percent is divided between the VA Hospital and Meriter Hospital. Each year, six categorical general surgery residents are selected through the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) and six chief residents graduate.

Full-time faculty in the Division of General Surgery staff the UW Hospital and VA Hospital. The faculty's academic and clinical interests are concentrated in the following general surgery subspecialties: hepatobiliary/pancreatic/gastrointestinal surgery, surgical oncology, colorectal surgery, bariatric surgery, peripheral vascular surgery, trauma/critical care/burn surgery, and pediatric surgery. Additionally, the faculty from the Division of Transplantation plays a major role in the Division of General Surgery's educational programs.

The subspecialty interests are grouped to form three general surgery and one vascular service at the UW Hospital and a combined general surgery and vascular service at the VA Hospital. The general surgery services and the vascular service at VA are led by either a chief resident or a PGY-4 and consist of a mid-level resident (generally a PGY-3) and a junior resident (PGY-1 or PGY-2). The Meriter general surgery services is staffed by excellent general surgeons, some of whom once were UW General Surgery residents. Each resident performs over 1000 operations during his or her residency; about 300 complex cases are handled during the chief year. On all services, we emphasize the longitudinal care of patients, from pre-hospital evaluation, through in-hospital management, to post-hospital care.

You will be exposed to the various subspecialties of surgery mainly during your PGY-1 and PGY-2 years. We offer rotations in pediatric surgery, cardiac surgery, thoracic surgery, transplantation, critical care, and anesthesia. A senior-level rotation on our busy transplant service (over 400 solid organ transplants per year) is shared with a transplantation surgery fellow.

Generally, four of the six categorical residents elect to participate in two years of laboratory research, which takes place between the PGY-2 and PGY-3 clinical years. In addition to working in a research laboratory (usually within the Department of Surgery) you will be trained in experimental design, manuscript writing, grant writing, biostatistics, and many other pertinent topics. A department faculty member or a basic scientist serves as your mentor during this well-organized and rigorous learning experience, which nearly always results in publication of several manuscripts and presentations at national meetings. Active basic science research programs exist in most general surgery subspecialty areas.  We also have funded training opportunities and specific curriculum for residents wishing to do translational or clinical trials/outcomes research.

In recent years, about 70% of our chief residents have gone on to additional fellowship training, with several subsequently pursuing academic careers. We also are proud of the outstanding general surgery and specialty surgeons we have trained that serve communities throughout the country.

Whether you wish to undertake a fellowship after your general surgery residency, go directly into a community general surgery practice, or pursue an academic surgical career, the University of Wisconsin General Surgery residency will give you the experience you need to succeed.

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General Surgery University of Wisconsin Department of Surgery
First published: 07/15/02 Last updated: 11/21/09 webmaster@surgery.wisc.edu
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