UAB: Great program in Birmingham, Alabama. Program director Dr. Khoury has recently given the throne to someone else but program has solid leadership and offers excellent training. Chiefs were extremely competent in the OR and Birmingham is trauma central. Saw chiefs doing tabs and 3's looked extremely comfortable nailing, plating, etc. Interns on trauma sometimes get to go to the OR and are walked through cases by the upper levels. Peds and sports (andrews SMI nearby) seemed strong. No doubt that anyone here will be well trained upon completion of their residency. Not super research oriented but UAB is a massive facility with unlimited resources so If you want to do research you can definitely take advantage. As far as culture, the program was very laid back, for the most part great friendly residents, mostly married/serious relationships. Birmingham is a very small city with not too much to do but is expanding and is definitely on the upswing.
USF Tampa: Large trauma center in Tampa, FL. As a rotator you rotate on trauma/VA/Sports/Tumor. Tumor rotation was phenomenal, Moffitt cancer center is home to some huge names in tumor and you get to learn from some of the best. There is a tumor fellow and an Orlando PGY3 there so operative experience for the PGY2 resident isn't stellar. Sports rotation was very hands off, with Dr. Leffers (awesome resident advocate) operating less and less resulting in residents not getting to do much. VA seemed like ok operative experience although in typical VA fashion you could barely do 2 cases a day there. On trauma you work with Drs. Mir and Sanders who are big names in the trauma world. Unfortunately there are 3 fellows that seemed like they were taking all of the cases and this was clearly hurting the residents. After seeing some of the upper levels operate I am not convinced that there is enough hands on learning at this program. That being said, the program runs FIVE labs and seemingly has unlimited resources for research/cadavers/labs/etc, but operative experience is clearly lacking.
