Message from
Niels D. Martin, MD - Program Director
Penn Trauma is one of the premier Trauma, Acute Care Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care training programs in the World. Our Urban, Level 1 trauma center provides cutting edge care for a diverse set of injury mechanisms, including a large cohort of penetrating trauma patients. Our Acute Care Surgery service is the largest surgical service within the institution, similarly caring for a very diverse and acutely ill and complex population. Finally, the busy Surgical Critical Care service provides exposure to the most critically ill patients from the broadest range of pathologies. In all these areas, education is paramount; this ensures our team is always at the top of its game, delivering top notch care, and also maximizing educational assimilation. Performance improvement processes, research, and leadership training round out our fellowship experience. We have several tracks including one-year Surgical Critical Care, two-year Acute Care Surgery, and a dedicated two-year Emergency Medicine/Surgical Critical Care track.
Niels D. Martin, MD
Program Director, Trauma and Surgical Critical Care Fellowship
Professor of Surgery
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The University of Pennsylvania’s Trauma and Surgical Critical Care Fellowship is a fully accredited ACGME training program within the Department of Surgery. The fellowship is designed to educate fellows in all phases of care of the critically ill and injured surgical patient.
Our training philosophy can be divided into several discrete areas including clinical training, research, academic framework, and trauma community integration. The clinical training is focused on cutting-edge, evidenced-based experiences in trauma, emergency general surgery (acute care surgery) & surgical critical care. Fellows will complete the program with not only top-notch technical expertise, but with the strongest command of all care strategies and theory. Fellows have clearly defined training goals and objectives with the highest attention to their educational experiences. Roles and responsibilities are clearly differentiated from the resident learners so there is minimal overlap.
Research opportunities abound at Penn, both within the division and in the very collaborative broader University of Pennsylvania community. Fellows acquire research mentors early who then ensure milestones are achieved resulting in successful completion of projects by fellowship end. Beyond the individual projects, all fellows participate in a continual research didactic series that provides all the building blocks to join or initiate a basic science or clinical research program at their next job.
Fellows will also leave our training program with a solid academic framework or understanding of how to establish themselves as an academic surgeon. This framework includes an understanding of choosing and obtaining growth and leadership opportunities locally and in external national and international societies. Formal administrative didactics and personalized exposure to our world-renowned faculty facilitates this exposure.
Fellow integration into the broader trauma and critical care community is facilitated by the large network of Penn trained acute care surgeons practicing around the world. This vast network (see history section below) exposes current and past trainees to the experience and mentoring of this academic faculty along with opportunities to collegially collaborate on a multitude of academic levels.
History
The Penn trauma training program was founded by C. William Schwab, MD in 1989. Since that time, over 100 fellows have completed the program and are now practicing around the world. Among this cohort are leaders in American Medicine including Deans, Chief Executive Officers, Chairs of Departments, Division Chiefs, Trauma Directors, ICU directors, and many other prestigious titles (see section on past fellows. This legacy of past trainees is a testament to vision and ideals created by Dr. Schwab that are now carried down and instilled in all our trainees. Of particular note is our strong history and commitment to training military trauma surgeons. Starting with Dr. Schwab who himself spent many years as a Naval surgeon, there have been over 20 military surgeons in the Penn trauma faculty and fellowship program.
Application process
For the 2027 match, applicants must use the Surgical Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery Fellowship Application Service (SAFAS) which was developed by the Surgical Critical Care Program Directors Society.
All suitable applicants will be invited to interview in person, where they will meet with individual faculty members, participate in our teaching program and interact with our current fellows.
Contact information
Contact the Program Coordinator,
Kim Moore at Kim.Moore@pennmedicine.upenn.edu with questions or for additional information.
The NRMP match program
The 2027 "Match Season" (Fellows matriculating on August 1, 2027) officially begins in June 2026 with interviews of prospective applicants to our programs occurring June and July (Wednesdays). Scheduling of interviews will begin in mid to late May. Rank order lists, registration and Match date information can be found at the National Resident Match Program (NRMP). Applications submitted after May 31 will not be considered.
Duration and scope of training
2-year trauma & surgical critical care fellowship
- Year One: our traditional critical care year, fulfilling all of the requirements of the American Board of Surgery. Rotations in our surgical ICUs is complimented by rotations in the neuro, cardiac, and medical ICUs as well. Extensive, fellow-level, didactic sessions abound. Two months on the trauma service are also included.
- Year Two: a graduated trauma and acute care surgery experience where fellows progressively manage the service, the trauma bay, and the OR. Part way through this year, fellows become “Fellows in Exception” where they are granted attending privileges. This experience allows fellows to hone their skills with autonomy while still fully supported as needed by the full faculty.
2-year emergency medicine surgical critical care fellowship (ABS approved)
We recognize candidates may also be considering training pathways through anesthesia and medicine, all of which have different match dates. Please know that although we 100% participate in the match, we are willing to have very “serious” conversations around candidacy throughout the academic year that will hopefully allow candidates to make an informed decision around which pathway to match into.
- Year One: Rotations in general surgery to fulfill the American Board of Surgery’s general surgery training experience. Rotations include emergency general surgery, thoracic, transplant, vascular, and GI surgery to name a few.
- Year Two: the traditional critical care year as described above.
1-year surgical critical care fellowship
- Year One: the traditional critical care year as described above.
Other fellow opportunities
- Instructor training for ATLS
- Access to Advanced Trauma Operative Management (ATOM)
- Access to Advanced Surgical Skills for Exposure in Trauma (ASSET)
- Access to Fundamentals of Critical Care Support (FCCS)
- Access to Disaster Management and Emergency Preparedness (DMEP)
- Vast Certificate programs from the University of Pennsylvania
- Collaborations within the greater University community
- Options for advanced degrees such as MPH and MSCE
Policies, procedures and clinical sites
A comprehensive guide to the policies and procedures for the Department of Surgery education programs. View all of the Housestaff polices and procedures.
Penn Medicine has seven clinical sites, to learn more, visit our clinical sites page.