The surgical critical care fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital is a one-year ACGME-accredited fellowship for residents with at least three years of ACGME-accredited general surgery training in the United States. The program provides surgical education of the highest caliber leading to American Board of Surgery certification in surgical critical care.
Surgical critical care training at the Brigham offers a diverse experience encompassing all elements of surgical critical care. Our program allows each surgical critical care fellow to obtain significant experience to develop independent responsibility in the postoperative care of a variety of complex surgical patients. In addition to the core ICU rotations our program uniquely offers an extensive array of electives and elective time in order to cater your education experience to your interests and gaps in knowledge. Comprehensive list of electives below. In addition, each fellow spends one month on the Trauma/ACS service where they oversee one of our teams.
In addition, the program is designed to provide a highly academic and research rich opportunity to set our fellows up for a successful academic career.
Program Director
Associate Program Director
Brigham and Women’s Hospital is an academic, clinical, and scientific powerhouse with a long history of firsts. We foster a shared commitment to predict, prevent and treat the world’s toughest diseases. Our affiliation with the Dana Farber Institute, a world leader in cancer treatment and research, as well as Boston Children’s Hospital, named the number one children’s hospital in the country for the past decade, offers our fellows the opportunity to take care of some of the sickest and most complex patients in the world. Fellows are active participants in multidisciplinary discussions that often are on the cutting edge of medicine.
Our culture of providing excellence in patient care, teaching and research affords an exceptional environment for clinical training and participation in exciting advances in basic and clinical research.
Committed to teaching and mentoring the next generation of surgeons and leaders in medicine, our faculty is comprised of experienced clinicians who impart a breadth of knowledge and expertise during clinical rounds and in clinics. In addition, our faculty have a diverse array of academic interests and expertise that allows for successful mentorship relationships for our fellows. Meet our Faculty.
Rotations
In order to become experts in management of critically ill surgical patients, fellows spend the majority of time (weeks required by ACGME) providing care and supervising trainees in one of our core ICU units:
Our ICUs are staffed by a broad group of physicians including surgeons, anesthesiologists, emergency medicine physicians, obstetric-gynecologists, and interventional radiology intensivists. Within this model, patients and learners benefit immensely from a multidisciplinary approach to care and teaching.
We dedicate a total of 12 weeks to elective, to allow our fellows the flexibility to individualize their year of training. Elective opportunities include:
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· International Rotations · ECMO Team · MEDFlight · Neurosurgical ICU or MICU · Boston Children’s Hospital Pediatric ICU · Congenital Heart Defect Team · Ultrasound/TEE · Metabolic Support Service (Tracheostomies, Feeding tubes, lines) |
· Infectious Disease · Renal Replacement Therapy · Airway/Anesthesia · Palliative Care · Geriatrics · Burn Surgery · Trauma/ ACS Service |
Didactics
Fellows attend daily didactic seminars that are protected, exclusively for the surgical/anesthesia ICU fellows. Additional conferences include General Surgery M&M, SICU/MICU M&M, Journal club, Trauma/ACS surgery research meetings, and thoracic case conferences.
The Brigham is dedicated to patient centered research and innovation, which is also core to our division of trauma, burn, and surgical critical care. We expect our fellows to actively participate in research and join our divisions research efforts. We are fortunate to have one of the most productive surgical public health research centers, The Center for Surgery and Public Health (CSPH) housed within the Brigham which is a joint initiative with Harvard Medical School and the Harvard. T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Most of our faculty are actively involved at CPSH (including the current Director of the Center, Dr. Zara Cooper).
We also are very proud of our Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation, whose mission is to catalyze multidisciplinary collaboration to inspire groundbreaking innovation, effective prevention and compassionate intervention to both civilians and military heroes who endure traumatic injuries and events. Fellows are welcome to join the current initiatives or propose their own ideas.
The surgical critical care fellowship program matches four fellows each year to the one-year clinical program. Fellowship positions are matched via the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). All applicants should apply submit via the SCC and ACS Fellowship Application Service (SAFAS).
If you have any additional questions about the application process or our fellowship, please contact Deirdre McLaren at dtmclaren@bwh.harvard.edu.
We require the following documents to be available for download through SAFAS for a complete application to be reviewed:
Our deadline for receipt of your application and all supporting documents for the fellowship position starting August 1, 2025 is July 1, 2024. Interviews are granted on a rolling basis by receipt date.
Each application is reviewed in its entirety with a focus toward a combination of overall academic excellence, leadership ability, career development potential and personal character.
We interview approximately 30-40 candidates for the program each year. Although we receive applications from many well-qualified candidates, it is not possible to interview all who apply. Those who are invited will be notified on a rolling basis based on the application receipt and review date for interview sessions in May, June and July. All interviews are held virtually.
With our United Against Racism Initiative, Mass General Brigham is dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our workforce. Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) promotes this mission by offering mentoring, training, networking events, and more to foster career advancement and professional development. The DEI also supports a number of employee resource groups to provide support and community.
Fellows at Brigham and Women’s have access to resources to help them stay healthy and manage work-life balance. Resources include our robust Employee Assistance Program, a lease guaranty program to assist with moving to the Boston area, transportation and parking programs, loan repayment and deferment options, mental health tools, and parenting resources such as lactation rooms and equipment, day care, and back-up childcare services. Visit our GME Website for more information.
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