General Surgery Residency

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Welcome

The MAHEC General Surgery Residency Program is in collaboration with Mission Hospital. During the five-year residency, residents will complete a number of surgical rotations including rural hospital surgery, wound, breast, burn, acute care surgery, pediatric surgery, trauma surgery, vascular surgery, endocrine surgery, minimally invasive surgery, oncology and colorectal surgery, and hepatobiliary and pancreas surgery.

  • Mission Hospital is a Certified Level I Trauma Center
  • Mission Hospital is licensed for 853 beds with 47 operating rooms and a new critical care tower
  • Mission Children’s Hospital includes 130 beds with 60 board-certified pediatric subspecialists providing care in 23 different specialties
  • Mission Hospital's emergency department has over 100,000 patient visits per year, the trauma center admits 5,000 patients per year, and the helicopter transports more than 1,000 patients per year
  • Faculty includes critical-care-certified acute care surgeons, subspecialty surgeons, pediatric surgeons, and vascular surgeons
  • At more than 35,000 surgical procedures each year, Mission Hospital is one of the busiest surgical hospitals in the state of North Carolina

Our Team

Courtney Sommer, MD, FACS Courtney Sommer, MD, FACS
Program Director, General Surgery Residency
Trauma Surgery Faculty
Department Chair


Kristin Gee, MD, FACS Kristin Gee, MD, FACS
Associate Program Director, General Surgery Residency
Pediatric Surgery Faculty


Elaine Chan, MD, FACS Elaine Chan, MD, FACS
Director of Wellness & Mentoring
Trauma Surgery Faculty


Contact

Amanda Espinel Amanda Espinel
Residency Program Administrator
email surgery@mahec.net

MAHEC Logo

The NC AHEC Program provides and supports educational activities and services with a focus on primary care in rural communities and those with less access to resources to recruit, train, and retain the workforce needed to create a healthy North Carolina. Located in Asheville, MAHEC is one of nine centers in the NC AHEC Program and serves the western part of our state.

MAHEC was established in 1974 and serves a 16-county region in Western North Carolina. MAHEC is the largest Area Health Education Center in North Carolina and evolved to address national and state concerns with the supply, retention, and quality of healthcare professionals. MAHEC’s approach to caring for patients is based on an advanced care team model. Our general surgery residency program is located on the same campus with family medicine, internal medicine, transitional year, obstetrics/gynecology, psychiatry, pharmacy, and dental residencies.

MAHEC's Biltmore campus is also home to UNC Health Sciences at MAHEC, a vibrant academic health center that includes the UNC School of Medicine Asheville Campus, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Asheville Campus, and an innovative educational and research collaboration with UNC Adams School of Dentistry.

Mission Health Logo

Tracing its roots back nearly 120 years and based in Asheville, NC, Mission Health is the tertiary care referral center for the western part of the state and the adjoining region. Mission Health has been recognized as one of the nation’s Top 15 Health Systems by Truven Health Analytics. Mission Health is the only health system in the nation to receive this recognition four years in a row, and the only health system in North Carolina to achieve Top 15 recognition.

Our mission is to improve the health of the people of Western North Carolina and the surrounding region.

Our core values, “MERIT,” are the foundation of our workplace and culture:

  • Mercy: We work to create a caring and compassionate environment responsive to the emotional, spiritual, and physical needs of all persons.
  • Excellence: We strive to meet and exceed our patients’ and consumers’ needs, and work collectively to improve every aspect of our care and services.
  • Respect: We value the innate dignity of all persons, respect their uniqueness, and enable the development of each person’s full potential.
  • Integrity: We are consistently open, honest, and ethical. We abide by our Corporate Compliance Program and integrity statement to always do the right thing by being honest in our interactions with one another, our patients, and our business contacts.
  • Trust/Teamwork: We say what we mean and do what we say, and work collectively to improve every aspect of our care and services.

4th Year Medical Student Rotations

MAHEC offers a variety of student rotations in Family Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, General Surgery, Rural Medicine, and Psychiatry for both in-state and out-of-state students interested in our residency programs. Learn more about our 4th year medical student rotations

Our Culture & Values

  • Excellence: We are committed to delivering high-quality, evidence-informed services and activities that meet the evolving needs of our communities and partners.
  • Belonging: We actively foster environments where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to thrive.
  • Integrity: We lead with transparency, fairness, and a strong ethical foundation in all our decisions and actions.
  • Collaboration: We embrace partnerships across professions and communities to drive collective impact.
  • Innovation and Growth: We remain agile and forward-thinking, continuously improving through learning, creativity, and responsiveness.
  • Civility: We uphold a culture of mutual respect, empathy, and professionalism in all interactions.
  • Empowerment Through Accountability: We cultivate ownership, engagement, and shared responsibility in fulfilling MAHEC’s mission and stewarding its resources.

Our Commitment

MAHEC is committed to inspiring and equipping the next generation of healthcare professionals and expanding access to care for all. Our vision is to create a healthier community in Western North Carolina and beyond.

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