A new general surgery residency is being launched by the Sanford School of Medicine at USD. The program will use facilities in Sioux Falls, Vermillion and Yankton.

Dr Gary Timmerman, Chair of the Surgery Department at the Sanford School, says they program officially starts next week at Avera Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton. He says they want to emphasize service to rural areas…

 

Timmerman says residents will rotate in and out of the Yankton facilities…

 

Timmerman says they had over seven hundred applicants for the six open slots.

He says there is a lot of tradition in re-starting the surgery program in Yankton, connected to long time Dr Chet McVay…

 

The program is primarily being funded by Sanford Health, although Timmerman is hopeful of landing federal funding.