Obesity and Gastrointestinal Surgery Training Program

Program Directors: Randy Seeley, PhD and Justin Dimick, MD, MPH

Application Deadline: March 22nd, 2024

About the Program

This two-year training program is structured around supervised research projects and a required core curriculum. The goal of the program is to ensure that each trainee:

  1. Design, implement, and report a research project
  2. Obtain formal instruction on fundamental research methods
  3. Obtain instruction on fundamental biological principles

Because of the differences in research methodology, there will be two tracks: 1) basic mechanistic science, and 2) outcomes and health servies research. A core curriculum of didactic instructional courses and seminars are prescribed for each trainee to enhance knowledge in health systems, economics, policy, and clinical and health services research methods. The complete curriculum can be found here: http://med.umich.edu/csp/curriculum.html.This unique training program leverages the experience of faculty members across multiple departments and disciplines including Internal Medicine (metabolism, endocrinology, diabetes, cardiology), School of Kinesiology, Pediatrics (pulmonology, health policy, Department of Surgery (gastrointestinal surgery, minimally invasive and bariatric surgery, acute care surgery), Transplant Surgery and the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. In addition to project-based learning and didactic coursework, trainees will participate in conferences for “cross-fertilization” of ideas to combine basic science and clinical outcomes research. In creating a culture that innovates at the intersection of these two fields, trainees will be able to fully maximize the opportunities of this interdisciplinary approach. Ultimately, this program will prepare scientists and surgeon-scientists for a career dedicated to studying obesity surgery.

Candidates must be citizens of the United States or permanent residents with a terminal clinical or research degree (e.g. MD, PhD).

How to Apply

To begin the application process, please send your curriculum vitae and a letter describing your research interests and/or questions to [email protected] by March 22nd, 2024.