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Dr. Trista Reid

Welcome to the general surgery residency program at the University of North Carolina.

I am honored to be the director of the training program, a position I have held since the summer of 2023. Prior to that, I was the Associate Program Director since 2017. Our program is designed to help you as an individual accomplish your career goals through a mix of in-depth clinical training and academic/research opportunities. Our goals is to have the flexibility for you to achieve success regardless of what you desire in a surgical career with the foundation of the training program being your development as an independent and skilled surgeon, both in and out of the operating room.

The majority of the clinical training in our program is here at the University of North Carolina, a facility with more than 800 beds. Within the medical center are the UNC Memorial Hospital, UNC Children’s Hospital, the North Carolina Women’s Hospital, the North Carolina Cancer Hospital, and the new Surgical Tower. In our facility, the breadth and depth of surgery is practiced across multiple disciplines. Our residents also spend time at WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina (about 30 minutes from Chapel Hill), a 750 bed community hospital where trainees spend time on trauma and acute care surgery during their PGY 1, 3, and 4 years. Graduated responsibility and independence is a hallmark of our training program and the track record we have for producing outstanding clinicians is on par with the best training programs in the country. The faculty at UNC are from a diverse set of backgrounds and training environments and together create a dynamic environment for teaching and educating surgical residents. We truly are a family that cares and supports one another.

We are fortunate to have recruited and trained outstanding surgeons here at UNC over the last several decades. In addition to those who choose careers in general surgery, our graduates have successfully pursued fellowships at many of the best and most competitive training programs in the country. These include training in every surgical specialty including competitive programs such as pediatric surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, surgical oncology, colorectal surgery, and critical care. 40-50% of our graduates in the last ten years have pursued academic practices with the remaining in either community-based private practice or in community-based practices where they participate in resident training. Our graduates are recognized for their outstanding clinical training and the track record of our former trainees at the best fellowship programs continues to open doors for the next generation of residents. We allow for flexible, robust academic opportunities via optional research time in which residents are supported financially and via mentorship to pursue potential research interests. These opportunities include, but are not limited to: bench research in multiple on-campus labs with NIH funded surgeons, our world renown global surgery program in Malawi, Quality Improvement via the Institute for Healthcare Quality Improvement, Health Services and Outcomes research, Education research, research on Health Disparities, and the chance to train at one of the highest ranked schools of public health in the nation, the Gillings School of Global Public Health.

We truly believe this is one of the best training programs and training environments in the country. We hope that the information provided on the web site gives you further insight into our residency and allows you to see how you might fit into our training environment and tailor our program to your needs as a trainee. Please do not hesitate to touch base with me if I can answer any questions or provide additional information.

Sincerely,

Trista Reid, MD, MPH
Program Director
General Surgery Residency Program
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Phone: (919) 966-4653
Email: trista_reid@med.unc.edu