The Acute Care Surgery and Surgical Critical Care Fellowship is a two-year program providing advanced training in surgical critical care, trauma surgery and emergency general surgery.
The fellowship is one of a limited number of training programs in the country accredited by the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST). The program accepts three fellows per year.
Surgical Critical Care / Burn Fellowship
The ABA Verified Adult and Pediatric Burn Center at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is now accepting fellowship applications for a two-year Surgical Critical Care and Burn Fellowship. Applicants will need to apply via the SAFAS platform, and one applicant will be accepted annually on a rolling basis outside of the traditional match. The first year will be a year of Surgical Critical Care (ACGME) followed by one year dedicated to Burn care. We are accepting candidates who have or will have completed a residency in General Surgery.
Our Burn Center admits over 300 patients annually with approximately 25% of these being pediatric patients. Our catchment area includes Western North Carolina, Southwestern Virginia, Southern West Virginia, Eastern Tennessee, and Northern South Carolina. Our program aligns with ABA Burn Fellowship criteria and provides comprehensive training in Burn Surgery, which aims to create a leader of multidisciplinary treatment of burn patients with management of complexities involving their care.
Please contact the Burn Fellowship Program Director, Anju Saraswat, MD, at asaraswa@wakehealth.edu for more information.
Program Goals and Objectives
The central goal of the Surgical Critical Care (SCC)/AAST-accredited Acute Care Surgery (ACS) fellowship is to train well-rounded clinicians with broad knowledge in all aspects of trauma, critical care and emergency general surgery who are capable of disseminating expertise and education locally, regionally and nationally. We also aspire to produce surgeons who are prepared to become leaders in the fields of SCC and ACS either in an academic or community-based environment.Why Train at Wake Forest?
Fellows are exposed to the breadth of surgical critical care, trauma surgery and emergency general surgery at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, a tertiary care referral center and Level 1 trauma center for western North Carolina as well as parts of southern Virginia and Tennessee, resulting in a wealth of experience.
Approximately 2,800 patients are cared for annually on our Emergency General Surgery service. This along with our annual trauma volumes of approximately 4,000 patients, the ACS service supports a combined operative load of over 2,500 cases per year.
The responsibilities of the ACS fellow expand throughout the training program to a level similar to junior faculty, allowing the fellows’ skills to grow in a mentored environment.
The program is led by a dedicated and enthusiastic teaching force who have a wealth of experience in evidence-based care, technology, research and administrative development.
We are very proud of the training we provide our fellows. We believe that our fellows are well prepared to become leaders in the ICU and trauma/emergency surgery arenas. We thank you for your interest and look forward to having you learn more about the training opportunities we provide. Please feel free to contact any of our faculty or fellows if you ever have any questions.
Program Overview
Year 1 – Surgical Critical Care
The first training year provides advanced training in surgical critical care. Fellows receive comprehensive training in busy trauma and surgical intensive care units that provide experience in all aspects of critical care.
Year 2 – Acute Care Surgery
The second training year includes advanced training in trauma surgery and emergency general surgery, which includes six months of electives that may include:- Burn surgery
- Orthopedics
- Neurosurgery
- Vascular surgery
- Interventional radiology
- Thoracic surgery
- Hepatobiliary surgery
Fellows completing the program will be eligible for American Board of Surgery certification in Surgical Critical Care.
A Message from the Director
Thank you for considering our state-of-the-art Acute Care Surgery Fellowship at Wake Forest, in Winston Salem, NC. Located in the beautiful Piedmont Triad, we are a tertiary referral center for over 20 counties encompassing North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee. As a Level 1 ACS Verified Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center and ABA Verified Burn Center, we provide comprehensive treatment to injured patients of all ages. In addition, our robust Emergency General Surgery service provides surgical care to the most complex patients in the region. We are a two year AAST Acute Care Surgery Fellowship, with the first year focusing on advanced training in surgical critical care. The second year of the fellowship is based on the AAST curriculum and includes all aspects of acute care surgery.
While our program excels in all three pillars of acute care surgery (surgical critical care, emergency general surgery, and trauma), our faculty and culture is what makes us exceptional. The collaborative nature of our Division with a genuine interest in training the next generation of Acute Care Surgeons is what sets our program apart. From our award-winning Trauma Exposures and Techniques lab designed explicitly for our fellows to our daily morning report, our faculty are committed to excellence in both patient care and education. I joined the faculty at Wake Forest in 2016, and this is now my home. I can’t imagine being anywhere else and feel privileged to lead this exceptional fellowship.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if we can provide more information and we look forward to hearing from you! We hope you will consider joining our family.
