Department of Surgery

Surgical Critical Care and AAST Fellowship

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About the Program

The ACGME Surgical Critical Care (SCC) Fellowship Program offers one year of comprehensive clinical training at one of the nation’s leading Trauma and Emergency Surgery centers in the United States. The program is augmented and designed to include time for research. There is also an opportunity for a two-year training track that will give the fellow AAST acute care surgery fellowship certification. Both the one and two-year tracks include one year of accredited ACGME training, permitting eligibility to sit for the ABS SCC certification examination. The program has a 100% first-time pass rate since its inception.
The fellows lead comprehensive, interdisciplinary SICU team rounds each morning developing critical care decision making skills to optimize safe, high quality pre-operative, intra-operative and post-operative care. There is a state-of-the-art fresh tissue dissection laboratory and skills center with a dedicated fellow curriculum along with dedicated time for weekly core lectures and journal club.

The program has a dedicated research fellowship program. There is ample opportunity and resources are available to pursue projects in multiple areas of investigation. Our fellows have an extensive publication history and have received numerous nationally recognized awards for research excellence.

Our environment of learning, including clinical schedules, is focused on patient safety, fellow/faculty/staff well-being and professional-personal life balance.

Ultimately, we aim to train those who will be clinically accomplished and wish to be leaders in the field- whether it be research, education, or quality improvement (QI).

  • https://safas.smapply.io/ We accept all applications through SAFAS and adhere to the NRMP rules. Deadline for applications to be considered is July 10 of the application year. All applications will be reviewed and invitations sent by the end of July for August interviews.
    INTERVIEWS WILL BE IN-PERSON.

    1. When is the deadline?
      1. Deadline will be July 10.  Any applications after that may not be considered for interviews
    2. How do I apply?
      1. All applications are received through SAFAS for review
    3. How many fellows do you have?
      1. ACS/TRAUMA/SCC: ONE 1-year slot and FOUR 2-year slots.
      2. BURN: ONE 1-year
    4. What’s the different between 1- year and 2-year tract for ACS/TRAUMA/SCC?
      1. All FIVE fellows will complete the 1-year ACGME-accredited surgical critical care fellowship.  During this time, the fellow will take some call to gain trauma and acute care surgical cases.  The 2-year track offers the opportunity to finish the AAST acute care surgery fellowship certification by increasing overall operative volume, management of ACS patients, and administrative opportunities including QI projects, research and educational activities common to level 1 trauma centers.
    5. Are you an AAST verified fellowship?
      1. Yes, this is our 2-year track and all fellows who successfully complete the two years will receive the AAST certification.
    6. Do you consider J1 visas?
      1. Yes, we do
    7. How many cases do the fellows complete?
      1. By the end of the first year, fellows complete on average 100 index cases with an additional 100 take back and minor cases.

Contact Information

Program Coordinator:
Jackie Stout
Jackie.stout@med.usc.edu

Program Director SCC:
Lydia Lam
Lydia.lam@med.usc.edu

Program Director AAST:
Meghan Lewis
Meghan.lewis@med.usc.edu