General Surgery Residency Program

Thank you for your interest in the General Surgery Residency Program at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center!  We are extremely proud of our institution, its mission, and the residents we train.

Harbor-UCLA is a county-funded academic medical center located in the southwestern part of Los Angeles.  We are the second busiest Level 1 Trauma Center in LA and serve a diverse ethnic and socioeconomic patient population.  Faculty and residents alike are honored to “put patients first and to provide exceptional patient-centered care with the respect and compassion we would want for our loved ones regardless of their ability to pay.”

The General Surgery Residency places tremendous emphasis on resident education with our main objective to train highly competent and compassionate surgeons.   We have a comprehensive didactic program and skills lab designed to complement a robust clinical experience.  Weekly M&M conferences, a bimonthly faculty administered ABSITE review session, journal clubs, and mock orals are just a few of the highlights.

The County hospital environment develops appropriate, graduated resident autonomy under the supervision of academic faculty.  Our residents obtain a rich and early operative experience.  Chief residents graduate with close to 1200 cases each (national average is 1050), and the expectation is that senior residents serve as teaching assistants to the junior residents.  Training residents to be independent surgeons in both clinical decision making and operative technique is our goal.

The residents’ clinical experience is augmented by important affiliations with surrounding hospitals including: Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (pediatric surgery), UCLA Ronald Regan Hospital (solid organ transplant and endocrine surgery), University of Southern California (burn surgery), City of Hope Medical Center (surgical oncology), and Kaiser Permanente South Bay and Baldwin Park (general surgery and minimally invasive surgery).  That being said, all major surgical subspecialties are represented at Harbor-UCLA.

Harbor boasts a well-rounded, dedicated faculty of full-time academicians, each appointed by the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.  The majority of our surgical services (MIS, CRS, pediatric surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, and surgical oncology) do not have fellows, so there is no competition for resident cases.  Finally, we are one of the few County hospitals in the United States to have two da Vinci robots and have an organized curriculum for resident robotic training.

Resident research is an expectation between the 3^rd and 4^th year of training and sponsored by the institution.  Last year’s research residents were involved in numerous publications, and all participated in presentations at local and national meetings.  An annual resident research competition allows each resident to showcase their work to the department.

Harbor’s combination of outstanding hands-on training and research experience has translated into great success in placing our chief residents into fellowship.  Many of our graduates have pursued fellowship training in a wide array of specialties: Pediatric Surgery, Surgical Oncology, Trauma/Critical Care, Vascular, Colorectal, MIS, Cardiothoracic, and Plastic Surgery. We also have graduates who affirm their preparedness by taking jobs in general and rural surgery.

We are most proud of the exceptional quality of our residents — from entering, aspiring surgeons to accomplished, graduating Chiefs.  All share a strong work ethic and commitment to taking care of any patient in need.  It is my honor to lead this program and will continue to work to uphold our standard of excellence in surgical training.