The Department of Surgery at the U-M Medical School offers a 1-year ACGME-accredited fellowship in Surgical Critical Care (SCC) to train future academic and clinical leaders in the areas of critical care and trauma.
The Department of Surgery at the U-M Medical School offers a 1-year ACGME-accredited fellowship in Surgical Critical Care (SCC), with 9 approved positions annually (6 adult/3 pediatric). Candidates for the fellowship include surgical residents that are on track to complete their General Surgery Residency training. Exceptional general surgery residents, who have completed three years of their program and wish to fulfill a fellowship year before continuing on with their General Surgery Residency, will be considered.
Our Strengths
- History: The Surgical Critical Care Fellowship was started by Dr. Robert Bartlett in 1984. Dr. Bartlett also established the ECMO Program at the University of Michigan, and in the neonatal unit, turned around a 90% mortality rate in neonatal lung failure to a 90% survival rate.
- ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation): Approximately 75-100 patients undergo Extracorporeal Life Support at the U-M Health each year. Our fellows work with the established experts and researchers in this leading edge treatment, learning to independently work with ECMO.
- Core Curriculum: Our outstanding Educational Core Curriculum includes information and exposure to issues regarding the administration of ICUs, national standards and issues in critical care, and recent initiatives to improve care of the critically ill and injured. Additional experience in severe respiratory and cardiac failure, and ECMO is included in the SICU and CVC ICU rotations.
- Current Fellows and Placed Fellows: We have an outstanding class of current fellows, and our graduates have been recruited to faculty positions at academic and clinical centers throughout the country. Each year, we are proud to see our alumni becoming leaders in their own right.
The goal of the program is to produce academic and clinical leaders in the areas of critical care and trauma. Upon successful completion of the surgical critical care fellowship, trainees are eligible to take the Surgical Critical Care Certifying Examination.
We are not accepting any applications at this time. Information about applying for the 2026-207 fellowship class will be posted in the Spring of 2025.
Current fellows are training to become future leaders in surgery. We emphasize teamwork, excellence, and leadership while preparing our fellows with resources to be successful in their careers.
The University of Michigan offers highly competitive salaries and tremendous benefits to our residents/fellows. An overview of salary, benefits and employment eligibility is available on the University of Michigan Medical School website.
The Surgical Critical Care Fellowship is a one-year clinical fellowship focused on providing high level Critical Care training in the management of complex, acutely ill and injured patients to supplement General Surgery residency. The fellowship offers Adult and Pediatric Tracks.
Weekly Educational Schedule:
- Monday: Trauma Case Conference
- Tuesday: Journal Club; (monthly) CCUS Case Conference
- Wednesday: Core Curriculum Conference
- Thursday: General Surgery Grand Rounds/Death & Complication
The educational program also includes monthly quality improvement initiatives, SICU morbidity/mortality conferences and Grand Rounds.
The Adult Surgical Critical Care Fellowship prepares graduates to become leaders in the field of Acute Care Surgery/Trauma. The curriculum includes 13 four-week rotations at the U-M Medical School: ten core Surgical Critical Care (Surgical ICU, Cardiovascular ICU, Trauma Burn ICU), three elective rotations in Critical Care Ultrasound, Neurocritical Care, Mechanical Ventilation/Airway Management and an additional two week rotation in Critical Care Transport/Survival Flight, CCMU, CICU, Pediatric ICU, Acute Nephrology, Nutrition, ECMO, Burn Surgery.
The curriculum is designed to provide broad exposure to Surgical Critical Care, including care of complex general surgical, trauma, burn, vascular, oncologic, transplant, subspecialty surgery, cardiothoracic, complex airway and neurologic emergencies. The full spectrum of organ support including complex mechanical ventilation, CRRT, VA/VV ECMO is managed within the Core ICUs. Opportunities for career support and mentoring in advocacy, surgical education, health services research, safety and quality assurance and clinical trials conduct are available to interested fellows.
The Pediatric Surgical Critical Care Fellowship prepares graduates to become leaders in the specialty as part of an accelerated 1-year program combining pediatric and adult surgical ICU training. We accept 3 fellows a year.
This program is designed for applicants who have completed their General Surgery residency and seek further training in the post-operative management of the critically ill pediatric surgery patient. At the end of the program, trainees are eligible to take the Surgical Critical Care Certifying Examination through the American Board of Surgery.
As a fellow, you will spend 8 months at CS Mott Children’s Hospital, U-M Health’s nationally ranked children’s facility, home to neonatal and pediatric intensive care units (NICU and PICU).
You will gain experience in the pre-, peri- and postoperative management of complex pediatric surgery patients from the neonatal period and into young adulthood. Common diagnoses in these patients include necrotizing enterocolitis, gastroschisis, congenital diaphragmatic hernia and esophageal atresia with tracheoesophageal fistula. The multiple injury child is a common admission to the PICU as we are a referral center for the state of Michigan. You will become proficient in the management of mechanical ventilation, fluids and electrolytes and parenteral nutrition in the neonate and pediatric patient. You will also have the opportunity become adept at ECMO management in the neonatal, pediatric and adult populations.
Your remaining 3 months are spent at University Hospital caring for critically ill and injured adults, learning fluid and electrolyte balance, blood gas interpretation, respiratory therapy, and hyperalimentation in this population. Fellows attend all regular conferences within the Section of Pediatric Surgery as well as the Surgical Critical Care core lecture series and journal club.
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.
- Joseph Boachie, MD
- Amanpreet (Preet) Brar, MD
- Andrew Brodie, MD
- Victoria Burton, MD
- Rebecca Hasley, MD, MPH
- Sarah King, DO
- Anthony Kronfli, MD
- Elizabeth Magowan, MD
- Spencer Wilhelm, MD
- Ricard Butler, MD
- Kyle Carpenter, MD
- Megan Janeway, MD
- Adam Sheka, MD
- Tandis Soltani, MD
- Patrick Suggs, MD
- Staci Aubry, MD
- Michael Christofis, DO
- Cory Criss, MD
- Nina Delavari, DO
- Danielle Dougherty, MD
- Andrew Guzowski, MD
- Natalie Lopyan, MD
- Elizabeth MacLean, MD
- Chris McCulloh, MD
- Michael Pienta, MD, MS
- Jack Vernamonti, MD
- Tessa Watt, MD, MSc
- Megan Beems, MD
- John Donkersloot, MD
- Alexis Nickols, MD
- Christina Regelsberger-Alvarez, MD
- Daniel Suarez, MD
- Lise Tchouta, MD
- Farwa Batool, MD
- Benjamin Carr, MD
- Jennifer Cirino, MD
- Megan Coughlin, MD
- Jafar Haghshenas, MD
- Jeremy Kauffman, MD
- Elliott Overman, MD
- Abdullah Wafa, MD
Program Director
Medical Director
Associate Professor of Learning Health Sciences
Associate Professor of Surgery
Program Associate and Service Chief, Surgery
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