Surgical Critical Care Fellowship

Our Surgical Critical Care Fellowship Program at the University of Minnesota is a one-year ACGME-accredited program open to physicians who have completed at least three clinical years in one of the following specialties: anesthesiology, emergency medicine (additional requirements), neurological surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopaedic surgery, otolaryngology, surgery, thoracic surgery, vascular surgery or urology.

We offer a comprehensive combination of clinical experiences and research opportunities for fellows to apply new advances in critical care.

Program Overview

This fellowship program accepts up to five fellows per year. Completion qualifies the fellow to meet the current criteria for admission to the Certificate of Added Competence examination given by the American Board of Surgery.

Our program provides invaluable opportunities including:

  • In-depth exposure to the main principles of critical care in an intense clinical and research atmosphere encompassing the range of critical care problems related to surgical diseases
  • The ability to function as a critical care surgeon at the staff level
  • Experience in administrative issues related to management of an ICU
  • The opportunity to conduct clinical and basic science research on a broad variety of interests, including treatments of sepsis, infectious diseases, acute lung injury, and cell and molecular biology of inflammation
  • Participation in a formal lecture and reading program


Locations

As a surgical critical care fellow, you would be able to take advantage of clinical rotations at nearby sites in the Twin Cities metropolitan area: University of Minnesota Medical Center—a Division of Fairview (UMMC), North Memorial Medical Center (NMMC), Regions Hospital, and Fairview Southdale. These rotations encompass the range of critical care problems related to surgical disease.

At all sites—UMMC, NMMC, Regions Hospital, and Southdale—the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) are staffed by a complement of surgery residents who are assigned no other responsibilities. Full-time staff trained in critical care surgery make daily patient and teaching rounds, and they follow their own on-call schedule for night and weekend coverage. At UMMC, a staff anesthesiologist and an anesthesia resident also participate. Each of the SICUs admits more than 600 patients per year.

Electives at our core hospitals allow fellows to receive additional experience in pediatrics, trauma, echocardiography, neonatal critical care, pulmonary, and other areas of interest.

Frequent interaction, at regular didactic conferences and formal meetings as well as on a more impromptu basis, helps ensure open communication and diverse scholarship among the faculty at the University, Regions, North Memorial, and Southdale.

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University of Minnesota Medical Center

This 432-bed hospital, completed in 1986, overlooks the Mississippi River on the East Bank of the University of Minnesota's main Minneapolis campus. A major regional and national referral center, it draws more than 50% of its patients from outside the Twin Cities. Over 20,000 surgical procedures and 500 solid organ transplants are performed each year.

At UMMC, fellows concentrate on complicated general surgery patients, transplant recipients, and individuals with severe respiratory failure (referred from all the general surgery services, obstetrics and gynecology, otorhinolaryngology, and orthopaedics).

Regions Hospital

This 435-bed hospital is on the edge of downtown St. Paul, about 15 minutes (by car) east of the University of Minnesota East Bank Campus. Acclaimed for its large emergency department, regional trauma center, and burn unit, Regions serves a substantial segment of the population of St. Paul, the capital city of Minnesota, and Ramsey County.

At Regions, a designated level I trauma center, fellows focus on multiply injured trauma patients and critically ill patients from general surgery, orthopedic surgery, otorhinolaryngology surgery, cardiac surgery, and neurosurgery.

North Memorial Medical Center

North Memorial Memorial Medical Center is an independent, 518-bed, major tertiary-care referral hospital and Level I trauma center serving North Minneapolis and its northwestern suburbs, Greater Minnesota, and northwestern Wisconsin

At NMMC, fellows have broad exposure to blunt and penetrating trauma. As well as, concentrate on the continued care of multiply-injured patients who are admitted to the ICU.

Fairview Southdale Hospital

Fairview Southdale Hospital is a Level III Trauma Center that serves the greater Twin Cities metro area.

2023-2024 Fellows

Mohammad Al Zoubi, M.D.
Nora Burkart, M.D.
Muhammad Ikram, M.D.
Kevin Kirkland, M.D.
Derek Tessman, D.O


See Our Fellow and Alumni List Here 

How to Apply

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Eligibility Requirements 

Effective July 1, 2022. See pages 16-17.

During recruitment, the Surgical Critical Care Fellowship Program utilizes the SAFAS application service. Please follow the SAFAS application instructions that are located on the SAFAS Website.

All applicants must also register for the NRMP SCC Match.

New Applicant Information

Employment-Related Information

Visa Sponsorship

The J-1 alien physician visa sponsored by the ECFMG is the preferred visa status for foreign national trainees in all UMN graduate medical education programs; therefore, the Division of Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery sponsors only J-1 visas. We do not sponsor H-1B visas. More information on the J-1 visa can be found on the UMN GME webpage.

Verification of Training

Requests to verify a Surgical Critical Care fellow's training at the University of Minnesota need to be emailed to nguye432@umn.edu or faxed to the attention of Verification Processing at 612-625-4411. For verification of subspecialty training, please contact the subspecialty directly.

To verify professional liability insurance information for a former UMN resident or fellow, find instructions on the Medical Malpractice Credentialing/Insurance Verification site.

Verification Contact List

Program Leadership

Dr. Bulander

 

Robert Bulander, MD, PhD

Program Director

Dr. Weinberg

Jennifer Weinberg, MD

Associate Program Director

Contact

Carol Nguyen
Program Administrator
nguye432@umn.edu

Address:
Division of Critical Care & Acute Care Surgery
516 Delaware St. SE
PWB 11-115B, MMC 195
Minneapolis, MN 55455