Baystate Medical Center's Department of Surgery is proud to be at the forefront of surgical residency education in the United States. In existence for over 60 years, the general surgery residency program is staffed by experienced teaching faculty who are nationally recognized and provide leadership on national accreditation, policy, and review boards.
Our role in charting the future course of surgical education is as important as our long tradition of academic excellence. We feel that it is our responsibility to make sure that our residents have broad clinical exposure so that they will be able to fill a critical need in our changing health care delivery system. Thanks to our faculty of more than 50 surgeons, representing virtually every surgical field, we are pleased to be able to offer broad-based clinical experience on a single campus.
Our surgical training is complemented by the Baystate Simulation Center and Goldberg Surgical Skills Laboratory. This center is an American College of Surgeons (ACS) Accredited Comprehensive Level I Education Institute, accredited since 2007. As one of an elite group of national and international ACS-accredited centers of excellence of education in simulation, the Center has been highly involved in cognitive and procedural skills training for undergraduate and graduate learners of the institution since 2005. The Baystate Simulation Center is recognized as a SAGES Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) and Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery (FES) certification center.
As the regional campus of UMass Chan Medical School, Baystate Health facilities and its vast faculty engage third year UMass Chan medical student clerks as part of our mission to invest in the health and welfare of our local communities through medical education. Our surgical residents play a vital role in this process and have proven themselves to be excellent teachers in the past, with annual recognition as top educators by Tufts University School of Medicine students, of which Baystate served as the western campus for over thirty years. In addition, our proximity to the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus and research laboratories allows scholarly opportunities for training surgeons interested in preparing for an academic career. This research environment, when combined with Baystate’s rich learning opportunities in all specialty clinical services, makes our training program a desirable destination for trainees seeking expert instruction in minimally invasive as well as traditional open surgical procedures.
We consider the role of physicians teaching other physicians to be critical to our mission. We also recognize the importance of research in the education of surgeons. To facilitate investigative activity, we provide full-time staff support, funding, and the opportunity for resident research during the five year curriculum through a concentrated research laboratory adjunct between the second and third year of training. The program has also facilitated opportunities for residents to earn advanced graduate degrees while spending time in the laboratory. Two past residents have additionally obtained PhD degrees from the University of Massachusetts while in research. Over 94% of our residents choose to complete a subspecialty fellowship before entering community or academic practice. Graduating residents have been very successful in obtaining competitive fellowships in pediatric surgery, surgical oncology, breast oncology, plastic surgery, vascular surgery, cardiothoracic surgery and other specialties.
As you approach your choice of residency programs, we hope you will give serious consideration to the Department Surgery at Baystate Medical Center.
Sincerely,
Nicolas Jabbour, MD
Professor and Chair, Department of Surgery, UMass Chan-Baystate