Medical Education
Committed to Teaching Future Generations of Physicians for our Community
Medical Education
Committed to Teaching Future Generations of Physicians for our Community
Thank you for your interest in the General Surgery Residency Program of Mount Sinai Medical Center.
As the largest private, independent, not-for-profit teaching hospital in South Florida, our 672-bed facility delivers the most advanced and highest quality care in the region. The Department of Surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center has a long and distinguished history of training excellent surgeons and leaders. Our surgical residency program was established in 1954 and since then has been committed to providing excellent patient care and an abundance of clinical educational experiences. Our residents complete their surgical training with exceptional breadth and depth of clinical experience.
Our attending physicians all share a passion for surgical education. We provide a strong academic foundation for resident training in a supportive learning environment. Our residents’ experiences are supplemented by a strong base of fellowship-trained surgeons in multiple disciplines who further augment the general surgery residency training at Mount Sinai Medical Center. Clinical training encompasses five years of residency across the breadth of general surgery and surgical specialties. This includes rotations that will expose the trainee to general surgery, surgical oncology, breast surgery, head and neck surgery, minimally invasive/upper GI surgery, hepatobiliary surgery, pancreas surgery, colorectal surgery, vascular surgery, pediatric surgery, transplantation, thoracic surgery, burn surgery and trauma and critical care. The majority of the training is here at Mount Sinai Medical Center with additional training in educational partnership with Jackson Memorial, Miami Children’s Hospital and Hollywood Memorial Hospital.
As an academic training site, there are numerous opportunities for our residents to develop their aptitude for teaching. Medical students from NOVA Southeastern School of Medicine and Florida International University School of Medicine rotate with us every month for their third year surgery clerkship and fourth year sub-internship. We are one of a select few original statutory teaching hospitals in the state of Florida helping to assure that our community has talented, well-trained doctors now and in the future.
At Mount Sinai Medical Center, we have a dedicated teaching faculty, modern facilities, and a teaching hospital environment that provides for excellence in patient care and resident education. At Mount Sinai Medical Center, you will gain the knowledge, skills, and other attributes necessary to reach your highest potential as a physician trained in the specialty of surgery. We look forward to helping you achieve your professional goal of a career in surgery.
Sincerely
Kfir Ben-David, MD, FACS
Chairman, Department of Surgery
Program Director, General Surgery Residency
The General Surgery Residency Program at Mount Sinai Medical Center is committed to excellence in the training and education of future surgeons. The focus of the training program is to create surgeons competent to care for the breadth of general surgery.
At Mount Sinai Medical Center, we stress the physician’s primary obligation to patient care and patient advocacy. We have a core belief that progressive independence, both in and out of the operating room, is critical to effectively train surgeons who are ready to practice the day they leave our training program. We work hard to assure that residents have a substantial clinical experience that allows them to be independent as chief residents and act as the teacher for junior residents.
Our program maintains an atmosphere that is supportive and conducive to learning, ensuring that each resident has the opportunity to develop the skills to achieve his or her individual career goals. Our excellent ancillary support services in the hospital ensure that residents may focus their time on patient care and formal learning activities.
Members include the Program Director, the Associate Program Directors, the Program Coordinator, Chair of Surgery, chief residents and core faculty members. Any active problems or issues are discussed, and plans for resolution and/or implementation are developed. A Clinical Competency Committee composed of select faculty members meets semi-annually to review the progress of house staff and to identify any resident performance issues or unmet needs.
Residents are provided with:
Residents are eligible for:
We have transitioned many of our didactic teaching conferences to be back in person. Our weekly morbidity and mortality conference along with our weekly basic science and journal club has resumed to be in person at the request of our surgical residents. We continue to have a mandatory Gastrointestinal Multidisciplinary Oncology Tumor Board, Head & Neck Oncology Tumor Board, and Breast Oncology Tumor Board each week for the residents to attend. All rotating residents actively participate in these teaching conferences by presenting preoperative and postoperative patients. These meeting have remained on a video conferencing platform.
We have had another successful year of graduating three chief residents who were all females. Each chief resident spent a total of four months on our GI Surgery service, Vascular Surgery service and our General Surgery service in two month block rotations. They each matched in their desired fellowship programs (Burn, Cardiac and Plastic Fellowship) at major medical centers.
The chief resident rotating on the GI Surgery service continued to manage a team of residents caring for patients who have had complex foregut/bariatric surgery, colorectal surgery and hepatobiliary surgery. On this particular service the chief resident, and the rotating residents, will have an opportunity to care and operate on patients with esophageal/gastric malignancy, hiatal hernias, reflux, achalasia, anorectal pathology, inflammatory bowel disease, colon /rectal cancer, liver and pancreatic disease. The chief resident will be involved in the management of all patients on this service and will perform complex foregut surgeries, bariatric weight loss surgeries, hepatobiliary surgeries such as liver and pancreatic resections via laparoscopic and open approaches. Approximately 4-10 major hepatobiliary surgeries are performed per month including pancreaticoduodenectomy, distal pancreatectomy, and formal/non anatomic liver resections. Chief Residents will perform approximately 10-12 Pancreaticoduodenectomies (Whipple) upon graduation. The average case volume per month is approximately 80-100 major cases and 50-75 colonoscopies/upper endoscopies. Four attending surgeons make up this service. Dr. Hochwald was hired as our new Chief of Surgical Oncology Section and Director of our Comprehensive Cancer Center adding further expertise to our resident education.
We continued with our Dembrow rotation for our surgery residents giving them a unique exposure to head and neck oncology including thyroid/parathyroid pathology as well as neck dissections, laryngeal cancer, and head/face/neck basal cell/squamous cell/melanoma. Consequently, our surgical residents will each typically graduate with 40-50 thyroid/parathyroidectomies/parotidectomies and 15-20 neck dissections. Additionally, all aspects of breast surgery are performed on this service with exposure to plastic/reconstructive surgery. This service is managed by a PGY4 who oversees a team of junior residents. We currently have three dedicated board-certified surgeons who oversee this entire service.
The chief resident on the Vascular Surgery manages a team of residents who treat all acquired peripheral vascular disease and dialysis access via open and endovascular techniques. We now have 5 vascular surgeons dedicated to teaching our residents on this service. On this service the residents have an early exposure to vascular surgery, angiography and endovascular techniques is afforded to the junior residents. Advanced skills of open vascular surgery are available to chief level residents, such as carotid endarterectomy, lower extremity endarterectomy and bypass, and abdominal aortic aneurysm disease. This allows our chiefs to graduate with an average case volume of 200 major vascular cases. Every Thursday our residents attend a mandatory educational Vascular Surgery conference to discuss their upcoming surgical cases,
The chief resident rotating on the Manheimer General Surgery Service is responsible for a team of residents who cover the majority of elective general surgery and acute emergency general surgery cases including bowel resections, laparoscopic and open complex hernia repair, colon resections, gastric perforations, and other acute abdominal pathology. We have hired two additional general surgeons to complement the current 4 busy general surgeons. The average case volume per month is approximately 125 major cases among 6 attending surgeons which include appendectomies, cholecystectomies, common bile duct exploration, inguinal and ventral hernia repairs, upper/lower endoscopies, PEG tube placement, tracheostomies amputations and soft tissue excisions.
Our Robotic Surgery curriculum has expanded to include colorectal as part of our GI and General Surgery Services. We recently added a third DaVinci Xi Platform with a Teaching Console for educational purposes with the goal to expose general surgery residents to the robotic platform. The resident robotic curriculum requires to pass online and simulator training prior to operating on the console. Our surgery residents continue to practice on our Academic da Vinci Trainer which affords them full access to this education platform. They are able to perform many simulated surgical procedures based on personal level of achievements. This has been well received by all the faculty and residents.
We have appointed Dr. Sumana Narayanan as our associate program director and chair of our clinical competency committee. She is a fellowship trained Surgical Oncologist with a very busy practice who dedicates much of her time to teaching our surgery residents. Additionally, we have implemented a mandatory mentor/mentee program for all of our surgical residents. A dedicated surgical grand round is devoted to this topic at the beginning of each academic year. Each resident chooses their mentor and is encouraged to meet with them at least once a month. The resident is able to change their mentor of choice at their semi-annual evaluation as they see fit.
Lastly, we have established a resident wellness program. Each resident has 6 hours off clinical and academic duties once a month during the weekday to help with their wellbeing, doctor and dental appointments and any personal issues/appointments that need to be addressed during working business hours. This has been well received by all surgical residents.
We have 7 Surgical Teaching Services at Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, FL.
Our Program has recently expanded our complement to graduating 3 Chief Residents per year beginning with the Class of 2019. Currently we have 20 Residents in our Program:
Rotations
Service | Attendings |
DEMBROW | Rodrigo Arrangoiz, MD Sumana Narayanan, MD Juan Paramo, MD |
MANHEIMER | Jennifer Davies, MD Devendra Joshi, MD Marc Rafols, MD Luis E. Rosario Alvarado, MD Charles Trujillo, MD Stephen Unger, MD Jonathan Zadeh, MD |
VASCULAR | Edward Andraos, MD Michael Ayad, MD Jacob Schwartzman, MD Manuel Sivina, MD Stephen Unger, MD |
CARDIA SURGERY | Steven DeBeer, MD Angelo LaPietra, MD Fernando Safdie, MD Roy Williams, MD Steve Xydas, MD |
SICU | Kyan Askari, MD Carolina De la Cuesta, MD Federico Gorostiaga, MD Luis E. Rosario Alvarado, MD Charles Trujillo, MD |
GI SERVICE | Kfir Ben-David, MD Steven Hochwald, MD Kiranmayi Muddasani, MD Manuel Viamonte, MD Henry Wodnicki, MD |
NIGHT FLOAT | Jennifer Davies, MD |
Category | Minimum | Class of 2022 | Class of 2021 | Class of 2020 |
Skin/Soft Tissue | 25 | 49 ± 8 | 43 ± 11 | 54 ± 11 |
Breast | 40 | 54 ± 11 | 65 ± 11 | 57 ± 13 |
Head and Neck | 25 | 78 ± 37 | 131 ± 42 | 117 ± 8 |
Alimentary Tract | 180 | 347 ± 47 | 372 ± 18 | 419 ± 21 |
Abdominal | 250 | 402 ± 7 | 372 ± 29 | 407 ± 32 |
Vascular | 50 | 225 ± 57 | 286 ± 66 | 240 ± 13 |
Endocrine | 15 | 30 ± 16 | 63 ± 29 | 52 ± 20 |
Operative Trauma | 10 | 39 ± 18 | 41 ± 18 | 33 ± 1 |
Thoracic | 20 | 38 ± 10 | 39 ± 17 | 68 ± 6 |
Pediatric | 20 | 26 ± 3 | 31 ± 2 | 31 ± 3 |
Plastic | 20 | 18 ± 7 | 21 ± 3 | 14 ± 2 |
Laparoscopic – Basic | 100 | 286 ± 8 | 255 ± 31 | 291 ± 37 |
Endoscopy | 85 | 118 ± 8 | 105 ± 7 | 148 ± 22 |
Laparoscopic – Complex | 75 | 223 ± 47 | 227 ± 9 | 251 ± 5 |
Total Major Cases | 850 | 1249 ± 155 | 1360 ± 37 | 1383 ± 46 |
Six positions are offered at Mount Sinai Medical Center’s General Surgery Residency Program each year.
Mount Sinai Medical Center participates and accepts applications only through Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). In addition, your application will only be considered if you are enrolled in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). You must contact your medical school for delivery of your application, transcripts, dean’s letter, and faculty recommendations to our program via the internet.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DEADLINE FOR APPLYING THROUGH ERAS IS NOVEMBER 4, 2023.
NRMP #’s: 1105440C0 Categorical Program
1105440P0 Preliminary Program
Program ID #4401122075
**Only J-1 Visas are accepted for training.**
1. Letters of recommendation:
2. International medical graduates:
Upon receipt of the completed application, our selection committee will review all materials. Invitations for interviews will be offered via email from April Chisolm, program coordinator. Selected applicants are interviewed on Saturdays, in December and January.
Inquiries may be directed to April Chisolm, program coordinator, via email, April.Chisolm@msmc.com, or by phone at 305.695.1255.
Final confirmation for appointment shall be subject to a satisfactory health examination conducted by Mount Sinai Medical Center’s Employee Health Services Department. Such physical examination will include a screening test for the presence of non-prescribed substances, alcohol, and nicotine products. Offers of appointment to prospective employees who test positive for nicotine will be rescinded.
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