General Surgery Residency Program

We welcome you to apply to our program!

As part of Virtua, a multi-hospital health care organization serving the both the urban and suburban communities of South Jersey, our residency program offers a wealth of educational and experiential opportunities.

Mission Statement

The mission of Virtua Health is "Be Well, Get Well, Stay Well." The mission of Virtua’s General Surgery Residency is to promote this culture within our patients as well as ourselves.

Our program will produce surgeons who have in-depth experience in the promotion of health and prevention of disease, as well as the evaluation, diagnosis and management of patients who suffer from illness across the broad spectrum of surgery. Our residents will be trained to become compassionate and intellectually oriented surgeons who have an in-depth understanding of the psycho-social and economic impact of disease as well as the role of the patient's personal beliefs and values in their health and delivery of care. Our graduates will have attained the knowledge, technical skills and principles to enter the independent practice of Surgery or to seek further training in subspecialties of the field and to become productive and contributing members of their communities.

Vision

The goals and objectives of the Virtua General Surgery Residency are as follows:

  1. To develop outstanding knowledge and technical skills across the broad spectrum of General Surgery in order to effectively manage patients who suffer from illnesses across the wide spectrum of the field;
  2. To provide residents with extensive experiences and in-depth training across various settings and with diverse populations;
  3. To assist residents in learning to tailor management in a patient-centric manner based on acuity as well as the patient's personal values and beliefs;
  4. To help residents to develop skills in critical thinking, interpersonal communications, teaching, research, information systems, practice management, professionalism and life-long learning;
  5. To expand the knowledge base of Surgery through scientific inquiry;
  6. To prepare residents to practice within diverse communities and health care delivery systems;
  7. To prepare residents for success across a wide variety of career options;
  8. To promote wellness among our residents and our educational community and to assure residents' satisfaction with their experiences in the program.

Why Choose Virtua General Surgery?

While Virtua General Surgery is a new residency program, it sits at the confluence of both new and old, gaining the benefits of each. Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital has hosted surgical residents for decades on the general surgery, transplant, and vascular surgery services. Much of the academic leadership at Virtua has extensive experience from successful programs in the surrounding academic institutions. These include:

  • Dr. Brendan McCracken, the general surgery program director, who was surgery program director at Hahnemann, and
  • Damien DiStefano, the surgery program administrator, who has years of experience as a surgical program administrator at Penn and Temple.

As a new program, the Virtua General Surgery Residency has the backing of a very successful health care system in Virtua and the benefit of Rowan University’s growing medical academics programs. This academic alliance enables us to build out a robust academic program that includes skills development and simulation.

More Info About The Surgery Residency