I am considering several residency options in Florida. Because of location, FAU surgery program is attractive to me. But I have heard mixed things about it. Anybody knows more about this program?
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Florida Atlantic University Surgery Program
- Thread starter SurgLife
- Start date
Hi there. Medical student here from the school, so I lot i will write here is from comments i hear from the current residents.
STAY AWAY!
1. Consider it a loose federation of groups. Several competing groups participate in the program and education is not their priority. the only academic component of the residency is the name "/FAU"; otherwise, fully community based program.
2. Current leadership is not the best. Their original PD was let go and now they have an interim team (rumor is he had some differences with the previous dean that could not be resolved). The current PD is regarded as a gossiper, rude and very inexperienced in surgical education. He plays favorites, talks bad about EVERYBODY and everything in the school and the residents in general don't like him. He constantly bad mouths the school and the program, yet, somehow, he is still part of it.
3. The new interim PD is a surgeon that is just 2-3 years out of her training! And she got the job because she is the daughter in law of one of the group leaders. SHE is a step down from the original PD and her lack of experience is perceived as a huge weakness. Also, her father in law is well known for being very malignant and it is expected that she will follow her footsteps. The residents feel trapped and cannot complain because they fear repercussions. Just overall a bad vibe from within the program.
4. If you are impressed by their fellowship placement, don't be. If you like trauma and wand to do trauma, there is a young surgeon there that is very well connected nationally and has helped the chiefs end up in great spots. But other than that, you are on your own. Very little support, and with the very young and unknown PD, very little is expected to change for good. The surgeons, other than the trauma surgeons, are just not into academics so they don't have any connections or desire to help.
5. Current residents don't feel well trained. They log multiple cases, more than national average, but they don't feel prepared. There is a lot of robot cases where they just dock the robot. They like their experience in some rotations, but at the end, they do not feel that they could do surgery on their own (only resident that went into private practice, had to do a "fellowship" in surgery so she could gain the experience.
6. they have had 4 candidates reject the position of PD and Chairman. FOUR! the politics between the groups is really bad, and now with an inexperienced young PD, they expect worse. They did a big mistake by letting the previous PD go, and now they are in a bad situation.
I am personally not going to rank them. Have to attend the interview to make sure i do not end up in a bad spot with my mentor, but even she was advising me to try to aim for a more "stable" program.
I think FAU was a good program but they gave the interim leadership to people that have guided the program to its current place: there are other places in south Florida that have better training experiences.
Hope it helps!
STAY AWAY!
1. Consider it a loose federation of groups. Several competing groups participate in the program and education is not their priority. the only academic component of the residency is the name "/FAU"; otherwise, fully community based program.
2. Current leadership is not the best. Their original PD was let go and now they have an interim team (rumor is he had some differences with the previous dean that could not be resolved). The current PD is regarded as a gossiper, rude and very inexperienced in surgical education. He plays favorites, talks bad about EVERYBODY and everything in the school and the residents in general don't like him. He constantly bad mouths the school and the program, yet, somehow, he is still part of it.
3. The new interim PD is a surgeon that is just 2-3 years out of her training! And she got the job because she is the daughter in law of one of the group leaders. SHE is a step down from the original PD and her lack of experience is perceived as a huge weakness. Also, her father in law is well known for being very malignant and it is expected that she will follow her footsteps. The residents feel trapped and cannot complain because they fear repercussions. Just overall a bad vibe from within the program.
4. If you are impressed by their fellowship placement, don't be. If you like trauma and wand to do trauma, there is a young surgeon there that is very well connected nationally and has helped the chiefs end up in great spots. But other than that, you are on your own. Very little support, and with the very young and unknown PD, very little is expected to change for good. The surgeons, other than the trauma surgeons, are just not into academics so they don't have any connections or desire to help.
5. Current residents don't feel well trained. They log multiple cases, more than national average, but they don't feel prepared. There is a lot of robot cases where they just dock the robot. They like their experience in some rotations, but at the end, they do not feel that they could do surgery on their own (only resident that went into private practice, had to do a "fellowship" in surgery so she could gain the experience.
6. they have had 4 candidates reject the position of PD and Chairman. FOUR! the politics between the groups is really bad, and now with an inexperienced young PD, they expect worse. They did a big mistake by letting the previous PD go, and now they are in a bad situation.
I am personally not going to rank them. Have to attend the interview to make sure i do not end up in a bad spot with my mentor, but even she was advising me to try to aim for a more "stable" program.
I think FAU was a good program but they gave the interim leadership to people that have guided the program to its current place: there are other places in south Florida that have better training experiences.
Hope it helps!
Last edited:
Thank you so much!Hi there. Medical student here from the school, so I lot i will write here is from comments i hear from the current residents.
STAY AWAY!
1. Consider it a loose federation of groups. Several competing groups participate in the program and education is not their priority. the only academic component of the residency is the name "/FAU"; otherwise, fully community based program.
2. Current leadership is not the best. Their original PD was let go and now they have an interim team (rumor is he had some differences with the previous dean that could not be resolved). The current PD is regarded as a gossiper, rude and very inexperienced in surgical education. He plays favorites, talks bad about EVERYBODY and everything in the school and the residents in general don't like him. He constantly bad mouths the school and the program, yet, somehow, he is still part of it.
3. The new interim PD is a surgeon that is just 2-3 years out of her training! And she got the job because she is the daughter in law of one of the group leaders. SHE is a step down from the original PD and her lack of experience is perceived as a huge weakness. Also, her father in law is well known for being very malignant and it is expected that she will follow her footsteps. The residents feel trapped and cannot complain because they fear repercussions. Just overall a bad vibe from within the program.
4. If you are impressed by their fellowship placement, don't be. If you like trauma and wand to do trauma, there is a young surgeon there that is very well connected nationally and has helped the chiefs end up in great spots. But other than that, you are on your own. Very little support, and with the very young and unknown PD, very little is expected to change for good. The surgeons, other than the trauma surgeons, are just not into academics so they don't have any connections or desire to help.
5. Current residents don't feel well trained. They log multiple cases, more than national average, but they don't feel prepared. There is a lot of robot cases where they just dock the robot. They like their experience in some rotations, but at the end, they do not feel that they could do surgery on their own (only resident that went into private practice, had to do a "fellowship" in surgery so she could gain the experience.
6. they have had 4 candidates reject the position of PD and Chairman. FOUR! the politics between the groups is really bad, and now with an inexperienced young PD, they expect worse. They did a big mistake by letting the previous PD go, and now they are in a bad situation.
I am personally not going to rank them. Have to attend the interview to make sure i do not end up in a bad spot with my mentor, but even she was advising me to try to aim for a more "stable" program.
I think FAU was a good program but they gave the interim leadership to people that have guided the program to its current place: there are other places in south Florida that have better training experiences.
Hope it helps!
This is very helpful. Is anyone else applying to programs in South Florida? I am not interested in trauma, so UMiami is not on my list of programs to interview or consider
