University of Kentucky College of Medicine Bowling Green Program

Program Identity & Fit

This is a small, community-based general surgery residency (two positions per year, ten total) sponsored through The Medical Center at Bowling Green under the University of Kentucky College of Medicine banner, serving as the regional referral hospital for Southcentral Kentucky. The curriculum emphasizes broad general surgical training with early operative exposure, a dedicated consult service, and structured rotations in vascular, cardiothoracic, plastics/burn, and transplant, with select subspecialty months (trauma, transplant, surgical oncology, pediatric surgery) completed at the UK Lexington academic campus. Research is not embedded as a defining feature but is supported through a monthly protected research/study/wellness half-day, journal club, and Grand Rounds, indicating a program oriented toward producing well-rounded clinical general surgeons rather than physician-scientists. The program's identity centers on graduated clinical autonomy in a mid-sized community hospital setting with periodic tertiary-level exposure via its UK academic affiliation, appropriate for training that can lead to either community general surgery practice or subspecialty fellowship.