Atlantic Health Morristown Medical Center
General surgery residency
The general surgery residency at Atlantic Health Morristown Medical Center provides immersive surgical training with early operative experience, a structured curriculum and exposure to complex cases. Residents learn in a collaborative environment focused on clinical excellence, leadership and well-being.
A message from the residency program director
Thank you for your interest in the General Surgery Residency Program at Morristown Medical Center. As a graduate of the program (1994), I am proud of what Morristown has to offer the aspiring surgeon. We are a nationally recognized center of excellence, with modern, state-of-the-art facilities offering robotic, laparoscopic and open surgical options for all patients. The hospital is a tertiary referral center for most of northwestern New Jersey.
Our dedicated cancer center, level one trauma center, open heart surgery program and children's hospital ensure that residents learn from a steady stream of interesting and challenging patients. We are also a primary care hospital, with an abundance of surgical patients arising from the surrounding community and a busy Emergency Department.
Our surgical training program features early operative experience and a structured curriculum. Most of your time is spent at our main hospital, where our dedicated teaching staff ensure that you receive individualized attention. Our approach to patient care is team oriented, and you will train with the support of cohesive, highly skilled residents, nurses and support staff. At completion of your training, you will be a team leader, having acquired the operative and leadership skills at the core of general surgery.
The immersive nature of surgical residency can be stressful, and we recognize the risks that stress and burnout pose to surgeons in training. At Morristown, we have tried to identify and reduce the root causes of stress. We pay attention to work/life balance and foster a supportive work environment. We have incorporated resources to better recognize and cope with stress into our curriculum.
Morristown has a long history of training excellent surgeons. Many graduates are successful general surgeons, and many others are equally successful in acquiring competitive fellowship positions. Some have returned to Morristown and are valuable members of the teaching staff. All are part of a family that share a common bond: superlative training during surgical residency at Morristown.
We are grateful you have chosen to learn more about Morristown and look forward to learning more about you.
Kevin James, MD, FACS
Surgical Residency Program Director
Highlights of Morristown Medical Center’s five-year program:
- 38 residents, graduating seven chief residents each year.
- Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) approved program.
- Operating experience of recently graduated chief residents amounts to more than 1,200 cases.
- Rectangular program, accepting seven categorical residents to proceed through five years of training.
- Graduates pursue careers in general surgery, surgical subspecialties and new high-tech aspects of minimally invasive surgery, including robotic surgery.
- More than 75 percent of the past five years' graduates obtained cardiac, cardiothoracic, endocrine, surgical oncology, laparoscopic, vascular and colorectal fellowships.
- Seven surgical services, each with an average daily census of more than 20 patients.
- Provides a balance of high-tech surgery, quality inpatient and outpatient care, and scholarly activities.
- Program's strength lies in operative general surgery. Emphasis is placed on the development of a refined surgical technique through a wide array of exercise and individual instruction.
- Gagnon Institute of Bioskills Training and Innovation for inanimate training in both open and minimal access techniques.
- Member of American College of Surgeons National Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) and recognized by the organization as:
- One of 37 ACS NSQIP participating hospitals to achieve meritorious outcomes for surgical patient care in 2012.
- One of only 25 hospitals in the United States to achieve exemplary outcomes for surgical patient care in 2009.
- American College of Surgeons Level I Trauma Center.
Morristown Medical Center was again ranked the number one hospital in New Jersey by U.S. News & World Report in its 2020-2021 Best Hospital rankings and was ranked among the best 50 hospitals in the nation for Cardiology & Heart Surgery, Gynecology and Orthopedics. It was also recognized in all ten common adult procedures and conditions. Learn more >
Get to know our program
Watch this video to learn more about the Surgery Residency Program at Atlantic Health Morristown Medical Center.
Residency & fellowship highlights
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