Hackensack Meridian Health-Palisades Medical Center Program

Program Identity & Fit

Palisades Medical Center's General Surgery Residency is a community-based, ACGME-accredited five-year program (originally AOA-approved) built on a multi-site rotation model spanning a tertiary-care community hospital, a university hospital, and a small community hospital serving a large Latin community. The curriculum emphasizes broad general surgical fundamentals with graded clinical responsibility rather than a heavy research infrastructure, positioning graduates for either fellowship or direct practice. Alumni outcomes show consistent movement into subspecialty fellowships (colorectal, breast, trauma/critical care, thoracic, GI-MIS, endocrine), indicating a program that reliably feeds fellowship pathways despite its community-hospital base. The resident roster is heavily populated by DO graduates and international/Caribbean-trained physicians, reflecting a program culture receptive to nontraditional and osteopathic training backgrounds.