Every resident who trains here gets the same thing at the core: broad operative volume, early autonomy, and faculty who know your name. What differs is the shape of the training around it.
We offer three tracks. You may apply to one, two, or all three — and we encourage applying to more than one. Applying to multiple tracks does not dilute your application, and it does not signal indecision. It tells us you want to train here, and it gives us more ways to say yes.
How our positions are structured. Each year we fill:
Eight PGY-1 categorical positions — six general surgery categorical and two Surgeon-Scientist Pathway
Thirteen preliminary positions — ten undesignated and three designated for Interventional and Diagnostic Radiology
Each track has its own NRMP program code.
Applying to more than one track: apply to as many as fit your goals, rank them in the order you prefer, and the Match does the rest. There is no penalty for applying broadly across our tracks.
Categorical General Surgery
The Categorical General Surgery program is a five-year ACGME-accredited program leading to board eligibility in general surgery. Residents rotate across the MUSC downtown campus (Level I trauma, burn, emergency general surgery), Ashley River Tower (GI specialty, colorectal, surgical oncology, HPB, thoracic, vascular, endocrine), MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital, the Ralph H. Johnson VA, and community sites across South Carolina. Optional dedicated research time is available.
Best for: applicants seeking comprehensive general surgery training with the flexibility to pursue fellowship or go straight into practice.
Preliminary
The preliminary program offers one-year positions for residents building toward a categorical position, an advanced specialty, or additional clinical experience before the next step. Preliminary residents rotate on the same services, take the same call, and operate alongside our categorical interns — they are full members of the residency, not a parallel class.
We offer thirteen preliminary positions each year, in two groups:
Ten undesignated preliminary positions — open to applicants pursuing a categorical position, an advanced specialty, or a strong clinical foundation year.
Three designated preliminary positions for Interventional and Diagnostic Radiology — filled through the MUSC IR/DR program, under a separate NRMP code, by applicants applying to the advanced IR/DR program. These are not open to general surgery applicants.
Preliminary residents receive individualized advising toward their intended destination, and our preliminary alumni have gone on to categorical positions and advanced specialty training at MUSC and nationally.
Best for: applicants pursuing an advanced specialty, re-applicants, and those seeking a strong clinical foundation year.
Surgeon-Scientist Pathway
A longitudinal track for residents whose careers will be built on scientific investigation. Research is integrated across training, mentorship teams form early, protected research time is substantial, and departmental support continues through the final clinical years and into grant submission.
Best for: applicants planning an academic career in which research will be a primary, funded activity.
Train as a surgeon. Train as a scientist. Not one after the other.
The MUSC Surgeon-Scientist Pathway takes a longitudinal approach: mentorship and scientific identity begin in the first year, deepen through dedicated research time, and are actively supported through the final clinical years, when most residents historically lose their research footing.
MUSC is a participating institution in the American College of Surgeons Surgeon-Scientist Training Pathway national pilot — a coordinated effort to modernize how surgeon-scientists are trained and to connect them to the wider physician-scientist community. Joining the pilot means our residents train inside a national cohort: shared guiding principles, common outcome measures, and dedicated sessions at meetings including the ACS Clinical Congress and the Academic Surgical Congress.
The pathway is separately matchable. It has its own NRMP program code, so you match directly into it rather than after you arrive.
What a Surgeon-Scientist Does
A surgeon-scientist operates, sees patients and learns how to run a research program. Our residents work across the full methodological range:
Translational and animal models — bridging discovery and first-in-human application
Clinical trials — as coordinators, sub-investigators, and eventually principal investigators
Health services and outcomes research — through the Surgical Outcomes Research Nucleus (SORIN)
Innovation, AI, and human-centered design — through the Schiller Innovation Center
How the Pathway Works
1. Early connection to mentors. Every pathway resident builds a multidisciplinary mentorship team early — a scientific mentor, a surgical mentor, and pathway leadership.
2. Monthly surgeon-scientist sessions. Residents meet monthly with surgeon and PhD investigators. Past sessions have covered:
IRB navigation and administrative resources
Implementation science
Clinical trials and working with industry
Introduction to grant writing
Responding to reviewers
Transitioning to faculty
Negotiating an academic contract
3. Protected, immersive research time. Dedicated research years hosted in translational laboratories and research groups across the department.
4. Funding support. We help residents compete for extramural funding and apply for institutional and individual awards, including T32 and VA mechanisms and NIH F-series awards. Extramural application is expected and supported
5. Continuity through the final clinical years. Departmental support continues after the research years so residents finish training with productivity intact and a credible path to K- and R-level funding as junior faculty.
Allison Frederick, MD — Research Resident
Primary mentor: Aaron Lesher, MD, MSCR (Pediatric Surgery)
In a recent six-month period: 5 publications and 6 presentations, including 2nd place in the Pediatric Trauma Society resident paper competition and 1st and 2nd place awards at the NC/SC ACS meeting. Representative projects: a randomized feasibility study of virtual versus face-to-face care using a mobile health platform for outpatient pediatric burns; a comparative analysis of racial disparities between adolescents and adults undergoing bariatric surgery using the MBSAQIP database.
Pathway Leadership
Jean Marie Ruddy, MD
Mary Kate Bryant, MD, MSCR
Applying
We match two Surgeon-Scientist Pathway residents each
year through a dedicated NRMP program code.
The pathway is one of three tracks. You may apply to it
alone or alongside our categorical and preliminary tracks — applying to
multiple tracks is encouraged, and doing so does not weaken your candidacy
for any one of them.
