Residents have many opportunities to provide input to the program. On a day-to-day level, residents help create the call schedule on their services and have great latitude to change it. At the beginning of each academic year, the different PGY levels meet to discuss upcoming rotations and present a preliminary yearly schedule to the administrative chief resident for review. All ideas and input are taken into consideration before the final schedule is drawn up. Periodically, town hall meetings are held to discuss issues before the scheduled resident retreat, which is held annually in the spring.
Administrative Chief Residents
Each year, two chief residents are selected by the Department of Surgery administration to become administrative chief residents. The administrative chief residents’ role is to work with the program director Paul Wise, MD, to create the yearly block schedule and the monthly call schedule for the residency. In addition, the administrative chief residents are responsible for moderating the weekly Morbidity and Mortality Conferences and educational conferences. Administrative chief residents are also voting members of the Surgery Residency Committee. This is an excellent leadership opportunity within the Department of Surgery. Katharine Caldwell, MD, MSCI, and Bradley Kushner, were selected as administrative chief residents for the 2023-2024 academic year.
Resident Representatives
Each year, the residents elect representatives to be voting members of the Program Evaluation Committee. This group meets most months to discuss resident, clinical and research issues. Annie Hess, MD, and Jorge Zárate Rodriguez, MD, are the resident representatives for the 2023-2024 academic year.
Administrative Research Resident
This role involves research resident assignments for student and resident labs and lectures, coordination for visiting professors, and assisting presenters during weekly Conference and M&M. The administrative research residents also take an active role in coordinating moonlighting opportunities for residents in the lab, and are members of the Curriculum Committee.
Curriculum Committee
Each year, residents are selected by department leadership to serve in a two year role as curriculum committee co-chair. The committee also includes the program director, vice chair of education, associate program directors, house staff office and WISE Center staff, as well as interested faculty and residents. The curriculum committee meets every other week to revise the general surgery education curriculum, develop the conference schedule, and recruit faculty to give lectures and education and simulation labs in the WISE Center. Tiffany Brocke, MD, and Will Gerull, MD, are the curriculum committee co-chairs for the 2023-2024 academic year.