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General Surgery Residency

By the end of training, our residents perform more than 1,200 surgical procedures.

The General Surgery Residency at Baylor University Medical Center, part of Baylor Scott & White Health, is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

Our five-year program provides residents with extensive experience in both common and unusual cases, including: surgical oncology, endoscopy, minimally invasive, hepatobiliary, trauma and acute care, vascular, transplant, colorectal, breast and general surgery.

Baylor Dallas is one of the most active reference hospitals in the nation. In 56 operating rooms there are more than 20,000 surgical procedures performed annually. Baylor Dallas manages an estimated 20 to 30 percent of all major trauma cases in Dallas and is a Level I Trauma Center. The emergency department sees more than 120,000 cases per year.

We accept nine categorical general surgery residents and three pre-specialty positions each year.

Curriculum

Rotations are conducted in six-week blocks.

PGY1

Surgical Oncology, Baylor University Medical Center Trauma/Acute Care Surgery, John Peter Smith Hospital, Cook Children's Health Care System, Hepatobiliary

PGY2  

Waxahachie, John Peter Smith Hospital, Trauma/Acute Care Surgery,  Vascular, John Peter Smith Hospital ICU, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Hepatobiliary, Surgical Palliative Care

PGY3 

John Peter Smith Hospital, Transplant, Trauma/Acute Care Surgery, BUMC Surgical ICU, Waxahachie, Vascular

PGY4  

Waxahachie, Surgical Oncology, Cardio-Thoracic, Trauma/Acute Care Surgery, John Peter Smith Hospital, Vascular, Colorectal, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Elective

PGY5  

John Peter Smith Hospital, JPS elective operative, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Float, Hepatobiliary, 

 

CT 4/3 

1st 6 months PGY4 at Baylor University Medical Center

2nd 6 months PGY5 at Baylor University Medical Center

 

PGY1 monthly surgical leadership seminars

  • Seminar 1: Defining Leadership
  • Seminar 2: Communication and Conflict
  • Seminar 3: People Skills: Warmth, Resilience, Presence, Openness, Styles of Relating and Optimism
  • Seminar 4: Changing Culture: Strategic Thinking, Coaching and Effective Teaching
  • Seminar 5: Who We Are: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
  • Seminar 6: How to do It: The Thoughtful Leader
  • Seminar 7: What’s My Potential?: The Spectrum of Leadership 

PGY2-PGY5 seminars  

These seminars are designed to further develop insight using discussions based on selected readings and focused topics. 

 

Surgical Palliative Care 

Surgical Palliative Care is an important part of surgical training that has not routinely been a part of surgical training programs. We have instituted a Surgical Palliative Care/Ethics program. 

  • Every fifth Friday is dedicated to Surgical Palliative care and Ethics discussions based on recent patients on one of the surgery services 
  • Every PGY 2 will spend two weeks on the Palliative Care Service 
  • As a 3rd year on Baylor University Medical Center 7R ICU you will be expected to participate in all palliative care consults/discussion with the palliative care service  

 

Hospital Leadership Committees 

It is important to learn how the hospital works. Residents will have protected time to participate in hospital committees. You have the option to stay with a committee long term or change yearly to gain a broad exposure. A partial list of committees is below. If you have a particular interest we will help you find the appropriate committee. 

  • Surgical Services Council
  • Clinical Performance Committee
  • Best Care Committee
  • ICU Practice council
  • Surgery Peer Review
  • GME committee
  • Operational Efficiency Committee
  • OR Utilization Committee 
  • Trauma Performance Improvement 

We offer surgery residents access to a simulation environment that helps create a safer patient experience during real surgical procedures, improves physician performance, encourages critical thinking, prepares surgeons for unexpected events in the operating room and increases comfort when performing a procedure.

The Baylor Dallas Academic Surgery Simulation Program consists of three components: The Seeger Simulation Center, the Baylor Operative Skills Simulation (BOSS) lab and the Center for Evidence Based Simulation (CEBS).

In the Seeger Simulation Center, current simulation resources include:

  • Fundamentals of laparoscopic simulator
  • Endoscopic simulator
  • Cardiovascular access/ultrasound
  • Breast and thyroid mass exploration
  • Laparoscopy trainer
  • Endovascular simulator
  • Ultrasound simulator
  • High-tech mannequin

We also utilize high-fidelity simulators, including an arthroscopic simulator for increasing training in upper endoscopy, ERCP, biopsies, colonoscopies, etc.

The Baylor Operative Skills Simulation (BOSS) lab, which is a functional bioskills lab, allows residents to train on wet models or cadaveric specimens.

The Center for Evidence Based Simulation is the research and development arm of the program.

There is a full range of protected educational conferences as well as rotation specific conferences. These conferences are designed to supplement your bedside clinical experiences further developing your medical knowledge.

Protected Time Conferences

  • Education Conference, Monday 3:00pm-5:00pm. The first six months is ABSITE system-based topics. The second six months is mock oral preparation, journal club and specialty attending lectures following the SCORE curriculum.
  • Chiefs Conference/M&M, alternating Friday 7:00am-8:00am. Attending led with residents either presenting selected cases or else cases selected from current case logs.
  • Grand Rounds, Friday 8:00am-9:00am. Selected topics and visiting professor presentations (six named lecturers per year).
  • Introductory Leadership Seminars (leadership book discussions after the PGY-1 year), seven Fridays spread out through the year, 3:00pm-4:00pm.
  • Simulation/cadaver lab, designated Fridays, 2:00pm-4:00pm

Rotation Specific Conferences

Each service has its own education conferences to further enhance your medical knowledge. These are specific to the subspecialty and often are multidisciplinary (MDT), which provides exposure to experts (surgical and non-surgical) in the various aspects of patient care.

Conferences include:

  • Liver Tumor Conference
  • Pancreas Tumor Conference
  • Aortic Conference
  • Heart Transplant Selection Conference
  • Liver Transplant Selection
  • Kidney Transplant Selection
  • Trauma Conference
  • Surgical Critical Care Conference
  • Vascular Case Conference
  • Rectal Cancer MDT
  • Colorectal Basic Science Conference
  • GI Foregut MDT
  • Colorectal M&M
  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease Conference
  • Colorectal Division and City-Wide Journal clubs
  • Aorta Case Conference
  • Esophageal Disease MDT

 

Our residency program offers a diverse research environment. Residents are expected to perform research and publish papers during their residency and make presentations at local, regional and national meetings.

Clinical research is facilitated by faculty members who provide education, advice, support, review and structure. All attendings are interested in clinical research at all levels, from randomized controlled trials to retrospective review of large numbers of patients with complex issues.

The department provides statistician and manuscript preparation support. The Baylor Scott & White Research Institute support staff attached to the department facilitate IRB approval for all projects and Seeger funds for research management. Numerous databases exist within the department to facilitate clinical research.

Industry and cooperative cancer group trials are available throughout the department.

Quality Improvement, surgical outcomes, patient safety, population health and surgical leadership

The practice of surgery is continually changing. Data and metrics play an ever-increasing role in helping us continually improve the delivery of patient care. Data are how we are judged against our peers. Using our EHR, ACS NSQIP and QITI we are now able to evaluate our clinical performance and compare it to our peers in real time.

During your five years of residency you will be introduced to how these metrics are collected, how they are and will be shared locally and nationally and what it will mean for the future practice of surgery. You will finish residency with the skill set to use the current tools and have the foundation to adapt to future programs for quality improvement in your own practice.

As a resident at Baylor you will be involved in continuous quality improvement. A major project within the Department of Surgery is the 5 Phases of Care Teams, led by senior surgical residents under the supervision of our Surgical Safety and Quality Officer. You will also be assigned a hospital committee (see curriculum) to attend on a monthly basis to learn the inter workings of the hospital regarding patient care, financial, strategic, quality, efficiency and process/structure issues.

Our goal of involving you in what we call the intangibles of surgical training (the nonclinical) is to prepare you to be a leader in the field of surgery. The practice of surgery is rapidly changing and you will be the future of our profession. Not only will you need to learn to care for patients but you will need to learn how to navigate the changing world of medical delivery and influence how decisions are made. We feel this program along with the Leadership Seminars (see curriculum) will prepare you for local, regional or national involvement.

Our Alumni

2022 Graduates
Ron Baxter, MD Private practice
Kimberly Jacinto, DO Private practice, DFW
Ric Butler, MD Critical Care Fellowship, University of Michigan
Kelsey Cowen, MD Critical Care Fellowship, Henry Ford
Matt Perryman, MD Critical Care Fellowship, Las Vegas
Harkaran Guryan, MD Private practice
Jessica Kruger, MD Private practice
2021 Graduates
Matt Black, MD Transplant Fellowship, Northwestern
Kaitlin Bokhari, MD Breast Surgery Fellowship, UTSW
Joel Chacko, MD Private practice, Houston
Cathryn Coleman, MD Private practice, DFW
Arnes Huskic, MD Trauma/Critical Care Fellowship, University of Minnesota
Harkaran Guryan, MD Private practice
Ryan Kostka, DO Critical Care Fellowship, BUMC
Chris Pedersen, MD Vascular Surgery Fellowship, Minnesota
Portia Schmidt, MD Private practice, DFW
2020 Graduates
Lauren Beliveau, MD Vascular Surgery Fellowship, BUMC
Michael Ewing, MD Private practice, Houston
Gabriel Gonzalez, MD Vascular Surgery Fellowship, BUMC
Joshua Mark, MD Private practice, DFW
Cory McLaughlin, MD Pediatric Surgery Fellowship, University of Arkansas
Sarah Mustafa, MD Critical Care Fellowship, BUMC
Lisa Parker, MD Colon-Rectal Fellowship BUMC
Katherine Wright, MD Critical Care Fellowship, BUMC
2019 Graduates
Mark Draoua, MD Plastic Surgery Fellowship, Houston Methodist
Drew Farmer, MD Trauma/Critical Care Fellowship, University of Penn
Jessica Goodwin, MD Plastic Surgery Fellowship, UTSW
Lauren Kastner, MD Private practice, Arkansas
Sara Kim, MD Private practice, Allen, TX
Marissa Mencio, MD Endocrine Fellowship, Icahn School of Medicine, NY
Edward Otts, MD Private practice, Alabama
Sasha Still, MD CT Surgery Fellowship, University of Alabama Birmingham; Aortic Surgery super-fellow, UAB
2018 Graduates
Sean Arredondo, MD Plastic Surgery Fellowship, Ohio State
Justin Collier, MD CT Surgery Fellowship, Baylor Scott & White The Heart Hospital
Tai Do, MD Private practice, DFW
Philip Edmundson, MD Trauma/Critical Care Fellowship, UT San Antonio
Jon Harris, MD Private practice, DFW, TX
Robert McCurdy, MD Private practice, Arkansas
Benjamin Raber, MD Breast Surgery Fellowship, MD Anderson
Michael Smith, MD Private practice, Waco
Tracy Soledad, MD Private practice, DFW
4/3 General Surgery Cardiothoracic Fellowship
Jack Squires, MD 2023 graduate
Emily Shih, MD 2024 graduate

  • Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

    Baylor University Medical Center, Graduate Medical Education (GME) is committed to advancing and passionately promoting a training environment where all feel welcomed and valued.
    A culture of inclusion encourages innovation, and is a catalyst for building dynamic teams that serve our communities.

    Learn more

How to Apply

We use the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) to electronically accept residency applications, letters of recommendations, dean’s letters, transcripts and other credentials directly from your medical school.

Visit ERAS to apply

Application Requirements

Eligible candidates should provide:

  • Dean's letter from medical school
  • Minimum of three letters of recommendation
  • Photograph
  • Medical school transcripts
  • USMLE or COMLEX transcripts (Step I results are mandatory; Step II results are desirable)

Interviews

Your interview experience will include an overview by Dr. Goldstein, Program Director, formal interviews with attending surgeons and a fourth-year resident, as well as dedicated time to meet our residents. Interviews will be conducted virtually for the current application cycle.

 

Learn more about Baylor Scott & White's housestaff appointment eligibility, including guidelines for international medical graduates.

Medical Student Opportunities

Elective rotations are available to fourth-year medical students that are interested in pursuing a residency at Baylor University Medical Center. Interested allopathic or osteopathic students from accredited institutions may apply through the AAMC Visiting Student Learning Opportunities application service (VSLO).

Visiting electives may be offered in two or four week rotations from July through January. Students can begin viewing the courses and dates being offered, prerequisites, and institutional requirements at VSLO starting in March. Applications will be accepted starting April 1.

Baylor University Medical Center is dedicated to training a new generation of healthcare professionals that reflect the diverse communities we serve. To encourage top candidates from underrepresented social groups within the profession of medicine, the Department of Medical Education will annually offer a $1500 scholarship to assist with transportation and housing costs while rotating in Dallas on an approved VSLO elective.

For more information, please visit the Undergraduate Medical Education page.

Contact Us

Wendy Shelley
Program Administrator
Wendy.Shelley@BSWHealth.org

General Surgery Residency
Baylor University Medical Center


3500 Gaston Ave.
2nd Floor Pickens
Department of Surgery
Dallas, TX 75246

Working at Baylor Scott & White Health

Compensation and Benefits

In addition to competitive stipends, we offer our residents a full menu of employee benefits. We help offset the cost of many of these benefits; others are options you can choose to pay for yourself.

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Life in Dallas

Dallas provides access to metropolitan entertainment and culture while maintaining the lowest cost of living among the top 10 largest U.S. cities.

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Why Baylor Scott & White

As the largest not-for-profit health care system in Texas and one of the largest in the United States, Baylor Scott & White Health includes 48 hospitals, more than 900 patient care sites, more than 6,000 active physicians and more than 40,000 employees.

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