Carilion Clinic- Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine Program

Program Identity & Fit

Carilion Clinic-Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine is a university-affiliated, community-based academic program in Roanoke, VA whose explicit mission is to graduate chiefs capable of entering broad-based general surgical practice directly, with roughly half of graduates going straight into practice and half pursuing fellowship. The program is deliberately "horizontal," de-emphasizing hierarchy, and offers heavy operative autonomy, with graduates averaging around 1,100 major cases and above the 85th percentile for teaching-assistant cases, reflecting a strong emphasis on chief-level independence. Research is structurally embedded (a PGY1 Introduction to Research rotation, mandatory QI/research project, assigned research mentors) but framed as a requirement to be met rather than an identity-defining pursuit, and is paired with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute/Virginia Tech infrastructure for those who want deeper basic-science involvement. Clinical training spans trauma, acute care, HPB, colorectal, surgical oncology, vascular, and a community hospital rotation (New River Valley), and the program values team-oriented residents who function well as leaders and can operate broadly and confidently without fellowship.