General Surgery

Our goal is to recruit individuals who are committed to excellence in patient care. At present, five senior residents graduate from our freestanding, fully accredited five-year general surgery program every year. Over the years, our residency program has been successful at recruiting and training exceptional candidates who have passed the American Board of Surgery exams and continued on to fellowship training.

The department of surgery educates medical students from Michigan State College of Osteopathic Medicine, University of Toledo College of Medicine and Eastern Michigan University Physician Assistant Program on rotations throughout the year. Almost all of the faculty surgeons hold teaching appointments at the University of Toledo College of Medicine.

Trinity Health Ann Arbor is also unique among community hospitals in the commitment of the faculty to the hospital and its programs. We provide general hospital care as well as specialized referral care to a large surrounding population base in Southeastern Michigan. We are also proud to be in full compliance with the ACGME mandated duty hour restrictions.

We offer a five-year Categorical General Surgery Residency Program under the direction of David G. Heidt, M.D. Appointments to the program are made through the National Resident Matching Program.

Over 12,000 operative procedures were performed in 2019 in the main operating room suite at Trinity Health Ann Arbor. This includes 4,829 operations performed by services covered by our residents. There is extensive experience with trauma victims as well as peripheral vascular and cardiac surgery patients. Over 32363 patients are discharged annually.

In addition to the Main OR Suite, residents gain operative experience in the Outpatient Surgery Center (OSC). These patients have surgical procedures not requiring lengthy post-operative observation and skilled care. In the OSC approximately 7500 cases are performed annually. Over 3,400 of these cases are performed by services covered by our residents.

To compliment inpatient activities, outpatient clinic practice experience is achieved in two ways:

• Private office clinic practice in faculty offices located attached to the hospital.
• The Academic Surgery Program (ASP) clinic office. ASP is run like a group surgical practice with residents caring for their patients under the supervision of surgery faculty. Over 1,000 patients are seen in this clinic annually. Residents see their own patients in the ASP clinic office and provide primary surgical care as needed including OSC or hospital operative procedures with follow-up care in the ASP clinic office.