Faculty

The Ascension Saint Joseph - Chicago General Surgery Residency welcomes interested candidates willing to continue our tradition of producing motivated, well-trained, board-certified surgeons who contribute to the specialty.

The Department of Surgery maintains a large general surgery service as well as surgical oncology, minimally invasive and bariatric surgery, vascular, thoracic, otolaryngology, plastic and reconstructive surgery, and urology services.

A state-of-the-art surgical skills laboratory allows practice of technical procedures with a wet lab, conference rooms and fully equipped simulation laboratories, including animal lab. A progressive educational and technical development course is provided. The hospital has modern integrated surgical suites with PAC and endo/minimally invasive systems. A new surgical residents' office provides individuals with a personal work space/computer access. As the former program director for more than 30 years and the current chairman of surgery, thank you for your interest in our program.

Mark Connolly, MD, FACS

Chairman of Surgery

Our program seeks to attract self-motivated and diverse individuals with a passion for care of their fellow human beings. We strive to provide an educational platform with didactic instruction, surgical mentorship and practical exercises in critical thinking to expand on the scientific curiosity of our trainees.

As Ascension Saint Joseph - Chicago is a community-based program, it allows us to give our residents a broad-based exposure to not only general surgery, but a host of other specialties managed by the classically trained general surgeon. With no surgical fellowship programs at our main hospital, trainees are able to expand their operative experience by participating in subspecialty cases performed by our attending staff. To give our residents a global perspective of surgery care, we encourage and support our senior trainees to pursue international surgical missions, if they wish.

Despite the many changes in surgical practice over the decades, our program’s unwavering educational philosophy has remained focused on the needs of patients as individuals, and teaching our residents how and when to operate, rather than simply how to do an operation.

Francis J. Podbielski, MD, FACS, FICS

Program Director

One of my passions is surgical education. I am on staff at several teaching hospitals, where I have the privilege of training our future surgeons. I currently serve as an associate program director for the Ascension Saint Joseph - Chicago General Surgery Residency. Although it is important to adhere to the rules and regulations set forth by the ACGME as part of my responsibilities, I also find that it is extremely rewarding to contribute to the development of the operating style of our future surgeons while helping them to develop an innate sense of safety, clinical judgment and compassionate patient care.

Maria Osipova, MD, FACS

Associate Program Director