General Surgery Residency

Welcome

I would like to welcome you on behalf of the General Surgery Residents and Faculty. We are grateful for your interest in the General Surgery Residency program at St. Mary’s Medical Center. The decision on where to train as a surgeon is the most important decision in the trajectory of a surgeon’s career.

St. Mary’s Medical Center’s General Surgery Resident Program offers a five-year ACGME accredited surgery program where residents receive hands-on experience from day one. Residents of the program are taught directly by attendings, on a one-on-one basis, and engage in all aspects of general surgery from surgical procedures to valuable clinic experience. The program also equips residents with a clear understanding of how to run a private practice. Graduates of the General Surgery Resident Program at St. Mary’s Medical Center have successfully entered General Surgery practice or have obtained prestigious fellowships.

Our residents perform a heavy caseload of approximately 300-350 cases yearly. Throughout each year of the program, training both increases in intensity and autonomy, which gradually allows the resident more independence in the operating room while maintaining individual support of an attending. Furthermore, the General Surgery Resident Program at St. Mary’s Medical Center has a well-established culture that eliminates all competition among residents for cases. A mixture of both didactic and clinical service experience is blended into the program to ensure graduates are both intellectually and technically capable as well as emotionally mature surgeons.

There are a number of factors to be considered when choosing a residency program and clearly, one of the most important is the track record of the recent graduates. The training program is intentionally broad-based and has produced graduates with a wide variety of clinical interests. St. Mary’s General Surgery Resident Program provides care in a community based hospital with diverse staff and patients.

I hope that over the course of your interview experience you come away as excited as I am about our programs.

Mission

To educate and train exceptional, well rounded, team-oriented general surgeons in a community-based setting who can provide excellent, evidence-based clinical and surgical care to all patients in a variety of settings.

Aim

To produce competent and confident surgeons who can provide a multitude of surgical options for any given general surgery practice.
To establish and maintain a strong program that is centered on mentoring, teaching, friendships, lifelong learning, and overall well-being.
To provide education and promote health and welfare for patients.

Residency Diversity

St. Mary’s General Surgery Residency Program is committed to recruiting diverse individuals to our residency program. In this context, we are mindful of all aspects of human differences such as socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, spiritual practice, geography, disability, career goals, and age.

Diversity enhances the educational climate, thoughtfulness in our patient care, and serves as a catalyst for change ultimately resulting in greater health care equity.

Equity – To guarantee fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all trainees, faculty, and staff. To identify and eliminate barriers that prevent full participation of minority groups.

Diversity – To ensure our program encompasses individuals of diverse race and ethnicity and from various backgrounds and socioeconomic environments.

Inclusion – To create environments where everyone feels welcomed, respected, supported, empowered, and valued.

Program Director: Dr. Kramer

Dr. Adam Kramer graduated from Des Moines University of Osteopathic Medicine in 1995. He then completed his General Surgery Residency at Ohio University in 2000. He has been a Member of the staff at St. Mary’s Medical Center since 2000 and has served as the Medical Staff President, Chairman of the Breast Center and a member of numerous other committees during his time on staff. He is an Adjunct Clinical Professor at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences and UMKC. Dr. Kramer has been training Residents and Medical Students for his entire career.

Dr. Kramer is a Member of the American Society of Breast Surgeons and the American Hernia Society. He has special interest in Minimally invasive and Robotic Assisted Surgery. Training Residents is important to Dr. Kramer for many reasons including: preparing them for future practice and helping the residents and himself to keep up with the changes in surgical techniques and technology.

Associate Program Director: Dr. Harper

Dr. Harper is a local graduate of general surgery residency at Kansas City University – St. Mary’s Medical Center. He received his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from University of Nevada, Reno. He attended medical school at Touro University in the San Francisco Bay area. After earning his doctorate in osteopathy, Dr. Harper completed a year-long internship at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, California. His general surgery residency was completed locally at the Kansas City University – St. Mary’s Medical Center program.