Department of Surgery
Residency Program
Our Mission is to assure that at the completion of their five year training our Graduates are equipped with the knowledge, experience, and technical skills to succeed professional whether they choose academic or private practice, with or without further fellowship training. Our graduates will be expected to have the maturity, personal skills and ethical standards to become respected and productive members of the surgical profession.
Welcome to the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center General Surgery Residency Programs web site. We hope that these pages will give you helpful information about the structure of the Residency Program, our commitment to excellence in Residency Education, our faculty and our current and past residents. We have also tried to give you an insight into the Surgery Resident's life in and out of the hospital, specifically emphasizing the resident's collegiality and strong personal relationships between faculty and residents. We offer a five year ACGME accredited General Surgery Residency Program graduating three Chief Resident's per year. Our educational philosophy can best be summarized in the Residency Program's Mission Statement. To achieve these goals we have instituted a comprehensive five year educational experience with broad exposure to all the major areas of the specialty. Currently all rotations are within the University Medical Center so the residents do not have to travel to complete their education.
All of us in the Department of Surgery, both faculty and residents, have a common mission to strive towards excellence in patient care and encourage an environment that emphasizes maximum benefits from all educational opportunities. To achieve success, the faculty and residents work together to gain knowledge, experience and implement plans for improvement from all clinical experiences. The basic and clinical lecture series, clinical conferences and other educational activities are structured to strike a balance between theoretic and practical knowledge.
The strength of this program is the broad exposure to various aspects of General Surgery, early operative experience, and congeniality among the residents and faculty. We continually look for ways to improve the residency by continuously exploring and developing new innovations in medical education. The leadership of the Department of Surgery has made excellence in resident education their number one goal and aim to make this program a leader in surgical education.
Ari Halldorsson, M.D.
Program Director
I began my surgical career here at Texas Tech University, and as the years go by, I become more and more convinced I will end my surgical career here as well. Lubbock and Tech both have this strange way of growing on you until you cannot remember what your life was like before them. When I travel out of town to larger cities, hospitals, and universities I love it; for about 72 hours, then I just want to come home. Our department is like a family and I find myself missing them nearly as much as my husband and two young sons.
Why should someone come to Texas Tech University to learn the discipline of surgery? The answer is simple; a place where you and your family are happy is a place you can learn. I and the entire residency program believe this in everything we do. The bonds I see formed and those I have formed with colleagues and residents are as close to a sibling as you can get. I truly believe a surgeon can receive adequate training anywhere, but a happy and healthy surgeon will become a role model of excellence in leadership and patient care wherever they may ultimately live. This is the type of surgeon we strive to educate.
Melinda D. Banister, M.D.
Assistant Program Director
