Virginia Tech® home

Surgery

The Department of Surgery has a longstanding tradition of education at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital dating back to the original surgery residency which began at Roanoke Hospital in 1959.

The Department of Surgery is comprised of 11 sections that include

Acute Care Surgery

Cardiovascular & Thoracic

Dental

General

Neurosurgery

Otolaryngology

Pain Management

Pediatric

Plastic & Reconstructive

Western Region

Wound Care

Our faculty mentor and teach medical students, residents, and fellows in both didactic and clinical settings, through ACGME-accredited resident and fellow training programs.

Faculty

Value Domains

The Surgery department supports the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine value domains in the following ways:

Basic Science

The surgery faculty contribute their expertise to the curriculum in anatomy, surgical science, and clinical evaluation for all VTC School of Medicine M1 and M2 students in the broad areas of interest covered by the departmental sections. Our faculty also partner with graduate and undergraduate students at VT offering clinical rotations, research opportunities, and mentorships.

Clinical Science

The M3 students participate in clinical block rotations in General Surgery (Oncologic, Minimally Invasive, and Bariatric), Pediatric, Trauma Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care. The M3 students also spend time in Dentistry as part of their Family Medicine experience. 

The M4 students may participate in electives in all of the former specialties as well as Anesthesiology, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Dentistry/Oral Health, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology, Pain Management, Plastic Surgery, Urology, Vascular Surgery, and Wound Care.

Research

High-level basic science research opportunities are abundant in all of the sections of the Department of Surgery through Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, and the Virginia Tech Schools of Neurosciences and Biomedical Engineering. These include investigations in team familiarity and safety, neurobiology, epilepsy, obesity, breast oncology, and genetic markers associated with tumors and scar tissue. Studies focus on quality of patient care and improving outcomes after surgical intervention, trauma and critical care.

Health Systems Science and Interprofessional Practice

Given that teamwork across all staff and many disciplines is the foundation of any properly functioning care delivery model within the surgical specialties, interprofessionalism is a point of emphasis in the Department. Medical students and physician assistant (PA) students are integrated into the clinical block rotations in general, pediatric, critical care, and trauma surgery and may also participate in electives in all of departmental subspecialties. An interactive session during the M3 clerkship is devoted to enhancing knowledge regarding Surgical Quality improvement as a component of Health Systems Sciences.

In 2018 the department began offering a post-graduate Advanced Clinical Practitioner Fellowship in Surgery for Physician Assistants (PAs) and Nurse Practitioners (NPs) in the field of Acute Care Surgery

Student Research

Not all student research projects are represented here, only those that have been published.