Podiatric Medicine & Surgery Training Program
Department of Podiatry
Residency Program
Telephone: (602) 344-5601
Podiatric Medicine & Surgery
36 Month Residency Program Overview
Postgraduate training in podiatric medicine and surgery at Maricopa Health System provides the challenges you might be looking for. Very few podiatrists ever get the opportunity to work at a level one trauma and burn facility. Our podiatry residents are PGY-1 general surgery residents during their first year of training. After establishing a strong base in surgical principles, our residents begin podiatric medicine and surgery, but continue in medical subspecialties and pertinent surgical subspecialties to further enhance the educational experience and skills. Our podiatry clinic emphasizes wound care and reconstructive surgery, including Charcot reconstruction. We maintain close relationships with our affiliated and integrated institutions to provide our residents with a diverse patient population in the private and public sectors. Specifically, residents work with community practitioners who have demonstrated excellence in practice to provide a wide variety of preoperative, operative, and postoperative care, as well as private practice pearls that can be gained.
While not working, residents often take advantage of Phoenix’s 360 days of sunshine. There are a multitude of outdoor activities including golf, tennis, mountain biking, climbing, and numerous public parks. Phoenix also has the Wildlife Zoo and Phoenix Zoo, Desert Botanical Gardens, Opera, Concerts, and Broadway plays. Professional sports for all seasons are available for enthusiasts including football, baseball, basketball (NBA & WNBA), hockey, arena football, and indoor lacrosse.
The Podiatric Medicine & Surgery 36 month residency program is sponsored by Maricopa Medical Center, which is a 555 bed acute care hospital located near the heart of downtown Phoenix. Maricopa Medical Center is a tertiary referral center for ambulatory care and long-term care within Maricopa County, as well as the state of Arizona. Maricopa Medical Center’s primary mission is providing care for the poor in the community. The hospital sees a large case load of Level I Trauma, and the 20-bed burn unit serves as the statewide Burn Center. In addition to the main hospital, there are 12 Primary Care Centers.
Meet the Department
Stephen Geller, DPM, FACFAS
Director, Podiatric Medical Education
Chairman, Department of Podiatry
J. Timothy Harlan, DPM
Associate Director, Podiatric Medical Education
Ken Rowe, DPM
The Teaching Plan
The PM&S 36 Program at Maricopa Medical Center is currently approved for 6 residents, two per year for the three years. All first year residents are assigned as first year general surgery residents rotating in various surgical specialties including burn, neurosurgery, ED, trauma, anesthesiology, orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, vascular surgery, and surgical intensive care. Other rotations podiatry residents participate in include internal medicine, pathology, diagnostic imaging, and research. Each service is supervised by an attending surgeon or physician chief who provides continued guidance for that service. The attending chief makes frequent inpatient rounds with his or her team. On operating days, the assigned service schedules its largest operating load and ordinarily its more complex operations.
On clinic days, each service has a clinic where newly referred patients are evaluated and established patients are seen for follow-up.
Conferences/Didactic Learning
While rotating in surgery or internal medicine the residents will attend that service’s educational conferences. Podiatry holds a mandatory educational conference every Monday evening with pre-assigned topics. The scheduled topics include a monthly journal club. Friday morning radiology rounds review the interesting in-patient cases from the week and are used to discuss the surgical cases scheduled later that day.
Other conferences depending on PGY level and rotation include:
- Tumor board
- Burn conference
- Trauma Morbidity and Mortality Conference
- Pediatric Lectures
- Cameron Conference
- Trauma/SICU Lecture
Residents are invited to be members on many of the surgery committees, including the Conference and Curriculum Committee and the Research and Publications Committee. These committees provide our residents with an opportunity to openly express their views and make recommendations concerning the teaching program.
Curriculum by Post-Graduate Year
Our residency program is a little different from others. Our PGY-1 trainees are first year general surgery residents; therefore, are not really working in podiatry, although several rotations do provide foot related exposure and surgery. These residents are treated at the same level as allopathic and osteopathic residents with the same case load and requirements. Please refer to general surgery PGY-1 for more details. Research is a supplemental curriculum during this year so that residents involved in research projects can publish before graduation.
The PGY-2 trainees having completed all medicine and general surgery requirements during the PGY-1 year can now return to podiatry. Rotations this year include a core curriculum of Podiatric Surgery, Podiatric Medicine, and Orthopedic Surgery. While on the podiatry service at Maricopa Medical Center, the residents are responsible for inpatient consultations, outpatient podiatry clinic, all podiatric surgery, and assigned lectures to be provided to our rotating students. To enhance the learning experience, a supplemental curriculum consisting of Infectious Disease, Behavioral Sciences, and part 2 of research is included. The supplemental rotations are required, but each resident is responsible for coordinating their own time with the clinical faculty for that rotation.
The PGY-3 trainees function as chief of the podiatry service and are the senior residents on all rotations. These residents coordinate rounds with junior residents nd perform major operations with an attending surgeon who will supervise and/or assist. The residents rotate on Podiatric Surgery, Orthopedics, and Podiatric Medicine. A supplemental curriculum of practice management has been added to better prepare the residents to enter private or other practice setting they choose.
Benefits
PGY I and II residents receive three weeks paid vacation. PGY III residents receive four weeks paid vacation. Salaries for the 2007-2008 academic year are:
PGY I $44,000.00
PGY II $45,474.96
PGY III $47,933.08
Integrations & Affiliations
The podiatry service and clinic at Maricopa Integrated Health System is growing rapidly, but since we are new our residents are fortunate enough to have the support of community physicians who allow residents to participate in surgeries. For this reason, we have affiliations with many of the surrounding hospitals and surgery centers listed below.
Canyon Surgery Center
Banner Desert Surgery Center
John C. Lincoln Hospital, Deer Valley
John C. Lincoln Hospital, North Mountain
Paradise Valley Hospital
Phoenix Baptist Hospital
Tempe St. Luke’s Hospital
Warner Park Surgery Center
Application Process for Academic Year 2007-8
The podiatric medicine & surgery training program participates in CASPR. The residents are interviewed through the West CRIP, which is being held December 15-17, 2006 in Los Angeles, California. There is currently no application fee.
Candidates are judged on the basis of academic background and interview performance. The performance on clerkship is taken into account for those students who participated. The Department strictly follows CPME guidelines.
We accept two residents per year with all positions being filled through the CASPR match process.
Required materials for a complete application:
- Submit application through CASPR
- Letter from your Dean or Bursar stating your cumulative GPA and good standing.
- NBPME part 1 score
Last updated on
July 3, 2008
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