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General Surgery Education

At the U-M Medical School Section of General Surgery, we seek to train exceptionally talented independent practitioners of surgery in any setting. 

We’re committed to educating the profession’s future surgical leaders, beginning with medical student education and extending to advanced fellowship programs. 

Our General Surgery Residency Program is ranked No. 1 among public university programs. Our competitive fellowships provide advanced training across the breadth of the specialty, from surgical critical care and endocrine surgery to minimally invasive surgery, acute care surgery and surgical breast care.

Excellence in Surgery Education

Trainees at the U-M Medical School Section of General Surgery can expect:

  • Diverse cases and clinical settings: Surgery trainees gain experience with all facets of general surgery — from abdominal conditions to endocrine disorders to trauma and burn — and learn from U-M’s experts in solid organ transplantation, thoracic surgery, vascular surgery, pediatric surgery, and bariatric surgery on specialty services and elective rotations. Your training ground includes the top-ranked Michigan Medicine academic medical center, and the Ann Arbor VA Healthcare System. We serve a diverse patient population from surrounding areas in southeastern Michigan, across the state, and nationally.
  • Depth of Expertise: General Surgery at the University of Michigan is one of the largest and most well-funded academic surgical teams of its kind in the country in a department with over 150 faculty members across specialties in clinical care and research.
  • Personalized learning opportunities: Trainees have their pick of opportunities to pursue research, leadership development, additional degrees, and other complementary learning options, in addition to their clinical training. Residents may pursue a 2-year period of formal Academic Development Time after their third year of clinical training.
Our Programs

Surgical training at U-M Medical School will prepare you to lead in the field. Whether you want to specialize in clinical care, research, education or a mix of all three, you'll find personalized opportunities to achieve your full potential here.

As a medical student, you’ll be welcomed into a department that cares deeply about educating the next leaders in our field. Learning opportunities for medical students include: 

  • M3 clerkships and M4 sub-internships
  • SCRUBS Program for M1 and M2 students exploring career interests in surgery, with opportunities to shadow in the OR, participate in surgical simulation training, and compete in the Surgery Olympics
  • Student Surgery Leadership Weekend, which prepares you to apply for and match in academic surgery, as well as providing mentoring for future surgical leaders

Our General Surgery Residency Program is ranked No. 1 by Doximity, and provides comprehensive surgical training for trainees. Fellowships provide additional opportunity to focus and specialize, with fellows serving as integral members of our interdisciplinary teams across oncology, endocrine surgery, critical care and colorectal surgery.

General surgery residents at U-M Medical School are supported by the Michigan Promise, a commitment to provide residents and faculty members in the Department of Surgery with resources and opportunities that empower each individual to achieve their professional and academic goals. Residents have created tailored programs to support trainees in building leadership skills through the Michigan Promise.

Michigan Promise

The Michigan Promise aims to empower faculty members and residents in the Department of Surgery to achieve professional success. We support initiatives connected to environment, recruitment, leadership, achievement, innovation and outreach.

Learn more about our Michigan Promise
Our Community

Feel at home in Michigan. Explore what it’s like to live, learn and grow in Ann Arbor among a diverse and supportive network of leaders in surgery.

Meet our community
Connect with Us
Featured News & Stories See all news 2024 Doximity General Surgery 1 in Nation v1.jpg
Department News
Two Michigan Medicine surgery residency programs are top in the nation in latest Doximity rankings
The 2024-2025 Doximity Residency Navigator rankings are out, and the Department of Surgery continues to excel in its commitment to providing a high-quality training experience for its residents.
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Department News
What makes a great clinical surgery educator? Faculty and residents weigh in
Surgeons often gravitate toward a particular pillar of the academic surgical mission. Some shine in research, others are at home in the operating room, and some thrive as teachers. That third pillar, education, is as critical as the others to prepare surgical trainees for future independent practice.
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Department News
2024 Moses Gunn Research Conference highlights
The Department of Surgery held the 35th annual Moses Gunn Research Conference on June 7 at the Michigan League to showcase the cutting-edge surgical research happening within the department. To participate, residents, medical students, and other researchers submitted abstracts of their work to be considered for a poster or an oral presentation at the conference.
Michigan Medicine General Surgery Resident Joy Obayemi
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Beyond missions: Building a sustainable kidney transplant program in Rwanda
Jeffrey Punch brings just one bag, a carry-on typically packed with a week's worth of underwear, socks and shirts, a jacket, three pairs of pants, a shaving kit and loupes. The pants are worn twice each to save on packing space. A mini pharmacy also collects frequent flier miles in case travel-related illness strikes
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Six receive Graduate Medical Education Awards for 2024
Four faculty and two staff members from the departments of Anesthesiology, Neurology, Radiology and Surgery, and the Office of Graduate Medical Education (GME), are recipients of GME Awards for 2024
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Department News
Meet the Michigan Medicine 2024 Surgery Intern Class
We are so thrilled to introduce our new class of surgery interns! Get to know them here and be ready to give them a Go Blue welcome when you see them in the halls and operating rooms this summer.