East Tennessee State University-Quillen College of Medicine Program

Program Identity & Fit

ETSU/Quillen General Surgery is a rural-focused, broad-based academic program in Appalachian Tennessee where 65% of graduates enter independent practice directly after residency—inverting the national trend toward fellowship—reflecting a deliberate identity built around producing comfortable, autonomous general surgeons rather than fellowship pipeline output. Training spans five affiliated sites (Johnson City Medical Center, a Level I trauma center; Bristol Regional; Holston Valley; Franklin Woods; and the VA) exposing residents to both academic and private-practice operative styles, with early, graduated operative autonomy (interns performing open hernias, seniors teaching open cholecystectomies) as a hallmark. Research is meaningfully supported, not incidental: a dedicated six-faculty Surgical Research Division with NIH funding, postdoctoral fellows, and an endowed research chair exists specifically to mentor residents who want an academic or fellowship trajectory, alongside an elective international rotation and a Global Surgery Fellowship. The program explicitly values residents motivated toward independent rural/community surgical practice while remaining structured to also support those pursuing competitive subspecialty fellowships.