Name: Kimberly Kirkwood
Career Advisor for: General Surgery, esp. academic
Title(s): Assoc. Professor
Best way to contact (e-mail, phone?): kirkwoodk@surgery.ucsf.edu Undergraduate & Graduate Degrees/Institutions: Reed College, Portland, OR BA, Univ. of Penn, Medical School, Mass. Gen. Hosp. Surgical Residency, UCLA Research Fellowship
Clinical Interests/Duties: Pancreatic and upper abdominal Surgery
Research Interests/Duties: Mechanisms of inflammatory pain in pancreatic disease

Career Information

1. What can students do in the 1st and 2nd years to explore and/or prepare for this career? Summer research, Surgery Interest Group

2. What common variations exist in the length/content of residency programs for this career? For general surgery, it's 5 clinical years, +- 2 years of research.

3. What common variations exist in this career after training? 70% do 1-2 year fellowships.

4. What is a typical work day for you (or someone else representative)? 6:30 am - 6:30 pm

5. What is the "culture" of this career? Academic surgery attracts thoughtful, action-oriented people who want to make people better through clinical care, research and education.

6. How compatible is this career with raising a family? How is this different for men and women? Independence is valued; so you can find positions where you chart your own course to a considerable extent. Need to sequence the commitments to research, clinical volume, admin in say, 5 year blocks rather than doing it all at once.

7. How important, individually, are each the following for admission to a competitive program:

a.Extra-curricular/volunteer work? Not important, unless nationally ranked/other evidence of serious commitment/achievement
b. Research/publications? Highly (best is 1st author, good impact factor)
c. Honors in third year? Highly
d. AOA? Common
e. A sub-internship? Highly
f. An externship? If there's a place you want to go, an away rotation there usually helps.
g. (Other important elements to the application?) Identify a mentor/advocate.

8. What are the most important qualities or character traits for a person in this field? Passion for it, humility

9. How competitive are the residency programs in this field? Wide variety; almost everyone matches somewhere, as long as the list is long enough, with appropriate backups. The top tier programs are highly competitive.

10. How competitive is the job market after residency? Everyone gets a job.

11. What programs would you consider to be in the 1st tier, 2nd tier, and 3rd tier? UCSF, MGH, Brigham, Hopkins and Michigan are all top tier.

12. What resources (web, books, etc, besides the AMA and AAMC sites) would you recommend for students interested in learning more about this field? Talk to residents, faculty, other students. Email UCSF alumni who've gone to other programs.