The philosophy underlying all aspects of surgical training is that surgery is best learned, taught, and practiced as applied clinical physiology. Operative techniques and applied anatomy receive appropriate attention. Major portions of clinical experience, teaching, conferences, research, and patient care are oriented toward understanding and correcting disordered human biology. The surgical specialty involves more years of training than other medical disciplines due to the breadth of diseases and complexity of pathophysiology involved in surgery. The Department offers residencies in general surgery, plastic surgery, and urology.