Surgical Critical Care Fellowship

The Department of Surgery at the University of Michigan offers a 1-year ACGME-accredited fellowship in Surgical Critical Care (SCC) to train future academic and clinical leaders in the areas of critical care and trauma.

Program Overview

The Department of Surgery at the University of Michigan offers a 1-year ACGME-accredited fellowship in Surgical Critical Care (SCC), with 9 approved positions annually (6 adult/3 pediatric). Candidates for the fellowship include surgical residents that are on track to complete their General Surgery Residency training. Exceptional general surgery residents, who have completed three years of their program and wish to fulfill a fellowship year before continuing on with their General Surgery Residency, will be considered.

Our Strengths

  • History: The Surgical Critical Care Fellowship was started by Dr. Robert Bartlett in 1984. Dr. Bartlett also established the ECMO Program at the University of Michigan, and in the neonatal unit, turned around a 90% mortality rate in neonatal lung failure to a 90% survival rate.
  • ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation): Approximately 75-100 patients undergo Extracorporeal Life Support at the University of Michigan each year. Our fellows work with the established experts and researchers in this leading edge treatment, learning to independently work with ECMO.
  • Core Curriculum: Our outstanding Educational Core Curriculum includes information and exposure to issues regarding the administration of ICUs, national standards and issues in critical care, and recent initiatives to improve care of the critically ill and injured. Additional experience in severe respiratory and cardiac failure, and ECMO is included in the SICU and CVC ICU rotations.
  • Current Fellows and Placed Fellows: We have an outstanding class of current fellows, and our graduates have been recruited to faculty positions at academic and clinical centers throughout the country. Each year, we are proud to see our alumni becoming leaders in their own right. 

The goal of the program is to produce academic and clinical leaders in the areas of critical care and trauma. Upon successful completion of the surgical critical care fellowship, trainees are eligible to take the Surgical Critical Care Certifying Examination.

One year clinical fellowship with 13 four-week rotations: ten in Critical Care (SICU, CVC ICU, BICU, NICU), three elective rotations, which can be split into two weeks per elective. Electives include CCMU, CICU, Neuro-ICU, Pediatric ICU, Acute Nephrology, Nutrition, Airway Management, ECHO, ECMO, Burn. Pediatric critical care fellows spend ten rotations in Peds SCC, with one rotation in each of SICU, CVC ICU and BICU.

Weekly Educational Schedule:

  • Tuesday: Journal Club SICU Morbidity & Mortality
  • Wednesday: Core Curriculum Conference
  • Thursday: General Surgery Death & Complications

The educational program also includes quality improvement initiatives, morbidity/mortality conferences and grand rounds.

We are now accepting applications for the 2025-2026 fellowship class.

  • Applications may be submitted through the Surgical Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery Fellowship Application Service (SAFAS) of the Surgical Critical Care Program Directors Society.
  • Applications will be accepted between March 1 and July 15, 2024 and considered on a rolling basis.
  • Candidates who have all letters of recommendation uploaded by April 8, 2024 will have the earliest review.
  • Interviews will be scheduled in June and July 2024.

Contact Us

Contact the Program Administrator, Tia Reau at [email protected] with any questions.