Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota, offers a dynamic and robust five-year categorical General Surgery Residency program. During your training, your responsibilities increase with your experience, capability, and performance.

Unique program opportunities include:

• Learning about and performing both common (such as gallbladder, hernia, and appendix) and complex (such as liver, pancreas, stomach, and aorta) procedures in a one-on-one setting with Mayo surgeons.
• Having direct access to faculty members that, in addition to caring for patients in their clinical practices, are committed to teaching and facilitating the growth of medical knowledge. Our faculty members are recognized leaders in their fields, who publish more than 300 papers each year and give more than 200 presentations annually.
• Participating in rounds each morning as part of a small team working with one staff surgeon. During rounds, new patients are presented, inpatient management is reviewed, and teaching sessions are held.
• Writing all orders and being responsible for managing your patients throughout your residency.
• Participating in the Surgical Olympics which evaluates General Surgery PGY-1 residents on surgical skills and knowledge
• Outstanding research opportunities

From the moment you step foot on campus, you’ll notice we care about people differently. Our firm belief that the needs of the patient come first is the foundation of a culture that unites every health care provider, scientist, student, and trainee in a singular mission to provide hope and healing to the world — one person at a time.

We take note of where you came from and what led you here. Everything we do is centered around mentoring you in medical research and patient care to have the impact you’ve always known you could have.

Integrated Community and Rural Surgery Track

The Integrated Community and Rural Surgery Track combines the academic excellence of Mayo Clinic residency with a robust community and rural surgical experience within Mayo Clinic Health System. An emphasis on surgical breadth within general surgery and surgical subspecialties allows a qualified candidate to confidently practice in a community, rural, or international setting after successful completion of the residency.

If you have an interest in community or rural surgery, come take a look at our program. We have a lot to offer and are looking for motivated, driven students who want to help build a program with incredible resources.

Accreditation

The General Surgery Residency program at Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota, is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and is approved for 11 categorical positions each year.

Certification

Every resident who successfully completes the General Surgery Residency is eligible for certification through the American Board of Surgery (ABS).

Program history

General Surgery education is rooted in the very foundation of Mayo Clinic. Will and Charlie Mayo started off as assistants in their father’s practice before traveling all over the world to learn skills from the leaders of surgery at the time and bring them back to Rochester. Charlie Mayo specialized in surgery of the head and neck while Will Mayo specialized in abdominal surgery. The brothers, while they recognized the importance of honing the craft of basic general surgery, they also recognized the importance of exposure to many other specialties. Some consider the Mayo brothers to be the creators of the first multispecialty group practice. The Mayo Clinic General Surgery Residency formally began in 1915, when the Mayo brothers created the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, enlisting surgeons from all over the world to provide patient care and engage in cutting-edge research.

The program became accredited by the American Board of Surgery in the 1950s and by the forerunner of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in the 1970s. Since that time, hundreds of residents have completed their training in general surgery at Mayo Clinic.

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