residency
Financial Planning Considerations for Surgical Trainees: Webinar Highlights
Authors: Camila R. Guetter, MD MPH*; Rachel E. Mooney, MD*; Alizeh Abbas, MD; Kylie Dickerson, MD *Indicates co-first authors. This blog summarizes key advice and resources from the AWS Webinar on Financial Planning, held on April 9th, 2026, and co-hosted by the Resident & Fellow and the Medical Student Committees. You can find the recording for this webinar here. Building Good Habits and Budgeting as a Medical Student or Resident From college to medical school to residency, each stage of training brings a new financial reality requiring different strategies and habits. Medical students often carry loan balances that only grow, while residents navigate, in many cases, their first paycheck and the challenge of dividing income between fixed expenses, personal wants, and savings. One of the most powerful habits trainees can build is automating their finances. Setting up automatic transfers to savings, loan payments, and retirement contributions eliminates guesswork and protects...
Self-Advocacy as a Trainee: The Grace to Grow
Author: Rosmi Thomas, DO As a child, I grew up in a chaotic household, but it brought me resilience and a strong sense of self. In my youngest years, we lived in an extended family home, and my older cousin was one of my first role models. Despite the 15-year age difference, she took me under her wing and provided insight on self-respect that few young people are fortunate enough to grasp. She was the first person to open my eyes to the concept of advocating for myself, and she taught me the power behind asking for what you deserve. Her genuine ability to remind you that you are deeply loved, and her persuasive charm, taught me the first and most important lesson of self-advocacy: you must know your worth. As an osteopathic medical student, I was advised on the advantages and limitations of pursuing a surgical residency. As a...
Crafting Your Residency Professional Development (Research) Years
Authors: Paulina M. Gutkin, MD1, Nensi M. Ruzgar, MD, MHS2 1Stanford University, Stanford, CA 2Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Many academic general surgical residency programs offer 1-2 years of protected, non-clinical time as an opportunity to pursue research interests, advanced degrees, or select fellowships. This typically takes place after 2-3 years of clinical training. Deciding how to best approach this time requires thoughtful consideration of several key questions. What is my end goal? There are numerous career paths in surgery, and each may warrant a different approach to protected time. It is okay to not have a fully defined career path yet. Rather than focusing on details, it may be helpful to frame these years as an opportunity to establish a strong foundation and develop a specific skillset or area of expertise. If considering fellowship, early reflection on subspecialty interests is valuable. Data from NRMP 2025 Match1 highlight varying competitiveness...
Issues faced by the female surgical trainees in developing countries
By Dr. Eshana Samaranayake Across South Asia, women are still a small minority in surgical training programmes, and that imbalance shapes daily experiences in ways that are easy to miss from the outside. ‘‘Surgery is for men’’ I have wanted to become a surgeon since high school, but when I prepared for the entrance exam I heard frequent warnings from family, friends, and colleagues. Much of it was well-meant, yet it rested on an assumption: surgery is too demanding for women to balance with personal life, especially where women are expected to carry most household responsibilities. Those expectations sometimes made me doubt myself, not because I lacked interest or motivation, but because I wondered how I would fit into a role society does not always picture for women. I feel fortunate to have been selected for surgical training, and I am now in my third year of general surgery residency....
Scrubbed in for the ABSITE: Webinar Highlights
Authors: Natalia Correa MD, Alizeh Abbas MD, Camila R. Guetter MD MPH, Nensi Ruzgar MD This blog summarizes key advice, tools, and resources discussed in the AWS Resident & Fellow Committee webinar “Scrubbed for the ABSITE”. What is the ABSITE? The American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination (ABSITE) is an annual test taken by all general surgery residents across the United States. It is a four-hour, computer-based exam of approximately 250 multiple-choice questions spanning the breadth of general surgery. Recent change to ABSITE Score Reports Historically, ABSITE scores were reported percentiles; however, recently, the ABSITE has shifted to reporting only raw scores, expressed as the percentage of questions answered correctly. This change encourages emphasis on personal improvement rather than comparison and competition. While this may decrease anxiety around small fluctuations, longitudinal performance still matters. Programs expect residents to maintain or improve their score percentage over time and programs set certain...
What Surgeons Can Learn from Greek Myth: A More Effective Mentorship Model
by Taylor Corsi, MD; Elise Presser, MD In Homer’s The Odyssey, Athena – protectress and goddess of wisdom, practical reason, handicraft, and war strategy – disguises herself as Mentor, a counselor who guides Telemachus in his journey to find his father and restore the kingdom of Ithaca. This story has framed the modern conception of mentorship as an intergenerational relationship between mentor and mentee that benefits the mentee’s growth and accomplishment of stated goals. While the importance of mentorship is clear in the story, the perception of how mentorship is best achieved is worth reinvestigating. Upon closer inspection of our beloved Greek myth, Athena’s wisdom was provided not merely from her form as Mentor. Importantly, Athena also disguised herself as a shepherd and the daughter of a ship captain. While many scholars have classically attributed Telemachus’ success to Mentor’s guidance alone, Athena advises a diverse network of figures who contribute...
A Common Silence: Perspectives on Pregnancy Loss During General Surgery Residency
by Cleo Siderides, MD and Caitlin J. Cain-Trivette, MD Pregnancy loss is a painfully common experience among surgical trainees, yet our institutions remain poorly equipped to respond with support and compassion. Surgical trainees are more than twice as likely to experience pregnancy loss than the general population,1 yet no formal safeguards exist to protect trainees enduring these sentinel events. Cleo’s first pregnancy ended in a missed miscarriage at 9 weeks, followed by six weeks of medical and surgical management amidst the relentless pace of residency. The day after I took medication to induce a miscarriage I was on a 24-hour trauma call, bleeding through my scrubs to the point that I tied a jacket around my waist between cases. I emphatically stated that no, I did not feel like I needed to step away from work. I saw the hardship as a way to prove my grit and worth as...
Bridging the Gap: Female Surgeons in Malawi and the Power of Representation
By Dr. Sharon Cheryl Bonya Female surgical trainees face structural and cultural barriers that extend far beyond the operating room. They are not just training to master technical skills, they are also navigating expectations, isolation, and leadership in spaces where their presence still surprises many. In Malawi and across much of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), female surgeons face a double burden: under-representation within the surgical workforce and the cultural headwinds that make leadership, mentorship, and progression more difficult. Despite recent gains in training capacity in East, Central and Southern Africa, women surgeons remain a minority with implications for patient trust, communication, and equitable access to surgical care. According to the NHS workforce data, women make up about 17% of general surgery consultants in the United Kingdom. In the United States, women account for roughly 22.6% of general surgeons, based on figures from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). These numbers...
I am Superwoman, I can do it all, but should I?
By Dr. Ashley Toussaint Since I was young, I’ve been called a “workhorse.” I’m the one people rely on to get things done, to do more, be more. If something needs to be handled, I’m your woman. That mentality has pushed me through life, and it has served me well. I was a Division 1 athlete in college, then went to medical school, and now, I’m a general surgery resident. That same mentality has carried me through my residency, too. I’ve had two kids while in residency and am currently expecting my third. I delivered both of my children the same day I worked at 40+ weeks pregnant, 18 months apart. I managed to breastfeed and pump for both of my daughters for over a year each. It wasn’t always easy, pumping while rounding on patients, operating, even driving to work. There were days when I did laparoscopic and robotic...
Navigating the Transition from Residency to Fellowship
By Brienne Ryan You think one would be used to this by now. As medical professionals, we transition frequently into new environments, new roles with new responsibilities. It is the dogma of medical training that we gain graduated autonomy with each step we advance and the closer to attendingship we become. So, what makes fellowship different and why do some struggle? If you are one of the hundreds of fellows in the early months of fellowship who find yourself uneasy about your performance, uncertain about your decision, or just plain overwhelmed with your new position, please know that you are not alone. Struggling during fellowship is commonplace and these might be a few reasons why. Fellowship is an entirely different beast from residency. First and foremost, it is a much smaller cohort of peers. When I graduated from surgical residency, a friend and prior senior co-resident said something that I,...
