Denver Health Medical Center's Trauma & Acute Care Fellowship was approved as an official training site by the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) in May 2008. Our first TACS Fellow will finish his training in June 2008. Trauma and Acute Care Surgery (TACS) encompasses trauma and non-trauma surgical emergencies, as well as surgical critical care. Individuals trained in TACS will be qualified to provide comprehensive emergent surgical and critical care to trauma and non-trauma conditions in virtually any body region or organ system. Through this integrated educational experience, we are providing residents with the training to become academic leaders in this emerging discipline.
The TACS curriculum is designed to build on the concepts and skills obtained during a 5-year General Surgery residency. The first year of the fellowship focuses on surgical critical care in an ACGME/RRC approved training program. Rotational experience includes trauma, cardiac, burn, and pediatric, as well as general surgical critical care. The broad experience gained through a diverse faculty and programmatic elements should prepare the fellow for their board examinations as well as their future career.
During the second year of the fellowship, the resident will acquire a comprehensive knowledge of critical care, trauma, and emergency general surgery as well as advanced operative skills and procedural techniques in thoracic and vascular surgery. Under the supervision of attending faculty members, the TACS fellow will be the physician responsible for patient evaluation, care, and intervention of all acutely ill surgical patients. Specific rotations on thoracic surgery, vascular surgery, transplant/hepatobiliary surgery, orthopedics, neurosurgery and interventional radiology will expand the general knowledge base and specific technical skills of the fellow. Acute Care Surgery rotations incorporate elective general, thoracic, and vascular surgery cases, surgical critical care, and emergent trauma and non-trauma cases. The TACS fellow takes call once a week, under the supervision of the TACS attending surgeon. Call at Denver Health embodies this paradigm of training, as the fellow will evaluate and operate on patients with trauma as well as thoracic, vascular, abdominal, neurologic, and orthopedic emergencies.
The TACS fellow is expected to participate in ongoing research at one of the parent institutions. Additionally, the fellow will be instructed in trauma system design and disaster management.
Sample schedule:
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MONTHS
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ROTATION
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LOCATION
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9
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Critical Care
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DHMC/UCHSC/TCH
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3
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Thoracic Surgery/Cardiothoracic Surgical Critical Care
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UCHSC/VAMC
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3
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Vascular Surgery
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SJH
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2
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Hepatobiliary/Transplant
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UCHSC/PSL
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1
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Orthopedic Surgery
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DHMC
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1
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Neurosurgery
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DHMC
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1
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Interventional Radiology
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DHMC
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4
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Trauma & Acute Care Surgery
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DHMC
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Denver Health Medical Center (DHMC), University of Colorado Health Science Center (UCHSC), The Children’s Hospital (TCH), Exempla St. Joseph’s Hospital (SJH), Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Hospital (PSL), Veteran's Affairs Medical Center (VAMC)
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Trauma & Acute Care Surgery Faculty:
(Left to Right)
Ed Kimm, MD
Jeffry L. Kashuk, MD
Jeffrey L. Johnson, MD
C. Clay Cothren, MD
Program Director,
TACS Fellowship
Walter L. Biffl, MD
Carlton Barnett, MD
Ernest E. Moore, MD
Associate Program Director,
TACS Fellowship
Surgical Specialty Faculty:
Dave Fullerton, MD - Cardiothoracic Surgery
John Mitchell, MD – Thoracic Surgery
Michael Weyant, MD – Thoracic Surgery
Igal Kam, MD – Transplant/Hepatobiliary
Michael Wachs, MD – Transplant/Hepatobiliary
Thomas Bak, MD - Transplant/Hepatobiliary
Michael Zimmerman, MD – Transplant/Hepatobiliary
Thomas Rehring, MD – Vascular Surgery
Whitt Hollis, MD – Vascular Surgery
Bob Allen, MD – Interventional Radiology
Kathryn Beauchamp, MD – Neurosurgery
Wade Smith, MD – Orthopedic Surgery
Steve Morgan, MD – Orthopedic Surgery
Gordon Lindberg, MD - Burn Surgery
Surgical Critical Care Faculty:
Robert C. McIntyre, MD FACS
Joshua Goldberg, MD
Marty Zamora, MD
Fareed Azam, MD
Pierre Moine, MD
Paul Wischmeyer, MD
Application Process:
For the Trauma & Acute Care Surgery Fellowship (which includes a year of Surgical Critical Care training), applicants must have completed a RRC-approved General Surgery Residency and be Board Eligible in General Surgery.
Please download and complete the application form. In addition, please submit:
Interviews will be granted on a rotating basis beginning March 1. Our program participates in the NRMP match. All documentation should be submitted to:
C. Clay Cothren, MD FACS
Program Director, Trauma & Acute Care Fellowship
Department of Surgery
Denver Health Medical Center
777 Bannock Street, MC 0206
Denver, CO 80204