The Residency Program in Thoracic Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas provides clinical training in adult and pediatric cardiac surgery and general thoracic surgery in a three-year tenure. Residents rotate through St Paul University Hospital, Zale Lipshy University Hospital, the Dallas VA Medical Center, Children’s Medical Center, and Parkland Memorial Hospital, and also participate in over 1700 major thoracic and cardiovascular procedures across the University affiliated hospitals. Our program is fully accredited by the Residency Review Committee for Thoracic Surgery.
The program offers a well-balanced training experience in all aspects of thoracic surgery, as evidenced by the distribution of major operations performed by the program: 787 adult cardiac, 525 general thoracic, and 463 pediatric cardiac. A strong effort is made to develop resident skills early to enable them to serve as the operating surgeon in the majority of cases in which they participate. Residents typically serve as the operating surgeon in over 220 major cardiovascular cases throughout their residency.
During the training period, electives are available that allow residents to seek additional expertise in areas of interest. A fellowship in heart and lung transplantation is available at St. Paul University Hospital. The UT Southwestern Heart Transplant Program at this hospital is the leading program in Texas with one- and five-year survival rates of 91% and 82%, respectively; this ranks the program among the top 5 programs in the nation. UT Southwestern has recently developed a new center for Minimally Invasive Surgery, and the volume of VATS and minimally invasive coronary bypass procedures is rising.
Researchers in the department have grant funding that supports studies in myocardial metabolism and myocardial protection, preservation strategies for lung transplantation, and gene therapy and cellular replacement therapy for heart failure. Opportunities for basic research are available to residents outside of the three year training program.
