Cardiothoracic Surgery Integrated Residency

We are pleased to announce the creation of our cardiothoracic surgery integrated residency (I6) program. Our first class, consisting of one resident, will start July 1, 2025. We aim to recreate the high quality and success of our traditional cardiothoracic surgery training program.

The I-6 Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency Program at the University of California, San Diego is designed to train individuals to become leaders in the discipline of cardiothoracic surgery. Our program strives to instill the knowledge, skills, clinical judgment, and attitudes necessary for graduates to excel as cardiothoracic surgeons. To accomplish these objectives, we combine a fundamental education in general surgery with adult and congenital cardiac and general thoracic surgery, with a rich exposure to clinical material. Our division is one of the busiest cardiac surgery centers on the West Coast, providing an excellent breadth of operations that span coronary revascularization, structural heart disease, mechanical circulatory support, and heart/lung transplantation. We have one of the largest heart transplant programs in the United States. Our general thoracic surgery section performs in excess of 1000 operations per year, providing ample opportunity for training in open, robotic, endoscopic, and thoracoscopic procedures.

The first three years of the curriculum are designed to provide a strong training in general surgery, integrated with operative rotations in cardiac and thoracic surgery. Rotations in cardiac catheterization and advanced catheterization skills, intensive care unit medicine, cardiac anesthesia, and endoscopic thoracic procedures are also part of the curriculum in the first three years.

The final three years of training provide a concentrated focus on adult cardiac surgery, general thoracic surgery, and congenital cardiac surgery. Residents have the option to tailor their curricula to fit the specialty of their choosing. All residents have opportunities to engage in research either during training or as separate years research years, if desired.