Atrium Health Navicent The Medical Center-Mercer University School of Medicine Program

Program Identity & Fit

This is a university-affiliated, community-based general surgery residency at Atrium Health Navicent, a Level 1 trauma center (3,500+ trauma admissions annually) serving as the primary clinical site for Mercer University School of Medicine, an institution explicitly founded to address physician shortages in rural and medically underserved Georgia. The program emphasizes high operative volume (1,200+ cases over five years), a robust acute care surgery/trauma infrastructure, and an active robotic/bariatric surgery division with growing case numbers. Research is structurally embedded rather than incidental: a dedicated trauma research pillar, multi-institutional IRB projects, and near-universal PGY3-5 resident engagement (94%) with formal readiness benchmarks (CITI training, eIRB accounts) across all PGY levels. The program's recent graduating classes have gone on almost universally to subspecialty fellowships (acute care surgery, surgical critical care, bariatric/MIS, vascular), reflecting a fellowship-oriented culture built around trauma acuity, structured mentorship, and resilience through a demanding, high-volume community/academic hybrid environment.