University of Florida College of Medicine Program

Program Identity & Fit

The University of Florida's I-6 integrated cardiothoracic surgery residency is embedded within a high-volume, tertiary academic Department of Surgery with over six decades of continuous ACGME-accredited cardiothoracic training and an affiliated VA medical center that is the second-largest adult cardiac program and highest-volume robotic thoracic surgery program in the national VA system. The six-year structure delivers dual cardiac-thoracic training through the first four years before allowing pathway tailoring, with multidisciplinary rotations in interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, endovascular surgery, oncology, and pulmonary disease, plus eligibility for UNOS cardiac and pulmonary transplant certification and exposure to complex aortic pathology. The department carries a substantial NIH-funded research portfolio (aortic aneurysm, transplantation, vascular biology, inflammation) and supports T32-funded surgeon-scientist tracks, reflecting an institutional structure built to produce both technically expert operative surgeons and academically engaged investigators. Graduates have pursued both academic surgery and private practice, and the program emphasizes graduated operative autonomy (average ~700 cases), a rigorous multi-tiered conference curriculum, and mentorship from a fourteen-member faculty with varied subspecialty expertise.