A Letter to Applicants
Dear Applicants,
Welcome and thank you for taking interest in the Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) General Surgery Residency Program! We are excited to share the attributes which make our program an outstanding place to train to become a board-certified surgeon.
Our surgical residency is a group of diverse, well-rounded and hard-working individuals. Our work environment provides autonomy to thrive as growing clinicians and surgical trainees. The support we receive from our faculty, program directors and administrative staff is excellent. We embrace camaraderie and resident wellness.
LVHN is a high-volume center that provides care to patients with diverse disease processes. The broad variety of surgical subspecialties allows us to receive the experience and mentorship for our desired fellowships. Additionally, our health network is continuously expanding in the state of Pennsylvania to increase our catchment of patients, broadening our exposure to surgical diseases. We have priority as junior surgeons, as there are few surgical fellowships at LVHN.
The intensive care experience is unparalleled, and our residents finish PGY-2 competently managing critically ill patients and proficiently performing beside procedures. We have one of the highest-volume Level I Trauma Centers in the nation, which includes adults, pediatrics and an ABA-verified burn center. Our trauma mid-level providers care for non-ICU patients, enabling us to attend all trauma activations, participate in operative trauma and manage critically ill patients. Our hospital is unique in that we have a direct-to-OR trauma bay.
LVHN is a robust tertiary care center and well regarded in the Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania. Our main campus is Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH)–Cedar Crest, which is a 1000-plus bed hospital. We also have rotations at our nearby LVH–Muhlenberg campus, which provides a community experience.
Our junior residents are trained early on to become excellent clinicians, and operative experiences start at the beginning of intern year. Our senior residents graduate with outstanding surgical skills and case volumes surpassing ACGME and ABS requirements for graduation. Our journey is long, but each day brings new inspiration, learning opportunities and fun.
We look forward to meeting many of you. Good luck with interview season, and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!
Sincerely,