graduate medical education at scripps mercy trauma

Scripps Mercy Trauma prides itself on being a leader in GME and providing exceptional training opportunities to several residency and fellowship programs throughout San Diego. Residents and fellows expand their skills with firsthand experience and close mentorship from attendings.

The General Surgery residency program at Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) has been integrated with Scripps Mercy Trauma for over 30 years. General surgery residents from NMCSD complete rotations in trauma at Scripps Mercy Hospital as a PGY1, PGY2, and PGY5.

Scripps Mercy also hosts Emergency Medicine residents from Naval Medical Center San Diego and Kaiser Permanente San Diego, Transitional Year, Orthopedic Surgery, ENT, and Urology PGY1 trainees as well as Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellows from Rady Children’s to complete rotations in trauma.

More recently, Scripps Mercy also hosts students from the Navy’s Physician Assistant program as well as core surgical clerkship and sub-interns from the Uniformed Services University for the Health Sciences (USUHS). Our broad range of trainees rotating on the trauma service creates a learning environment full of unique backgrounds and perspectives that enhance the excellent care of our trauma and surgical patients.

RESIDENT EDUCATION

Mercy Trauma prides itself on a thorough educational experience for all residents from several different training programs. The reading list for residents is currently being updated but rotating residents should become familiar with the service through available materials that can be accessed via the link below.

 

SCRIPPS MERCY TRAUMA PRACTICE GUIDELINES

Current practice guidelines for Scripps Mercy Hospital Trauma Services are outlined and accessible for all residents and staff.

San Diego Day of Trauma - November 14th 2025

The San Diego Day of Trauma is a nationally accredited continuing medical education annual meeting tailored for all healthcare providers. In attendance are trauma surgeons, nurses, medical students, researchers, EMT service providers, and law enforcement. Esteemed speakers from across the country will share the latest advancements in managing life-threatening emergencies frequently faced in the field. The conference will feature experts in prehospital care, trauma surgery, and critical care. Through lectures, real-life case presentations, and interactive sessions, attendees will be actively engaged in novel ways to improve patient outcomes.

The 2025 San Diego Day of Trauma will take place on November 14, 2025 in Downtown San Diego. Discounts well become available when registration opens for next year’s conference.

The 2024 San Diego Day of Trauma occurred on November 1st at the Coronado Marriott in San Diego. Attendees may claim EMS credit, ACCME credit, or nursing CME credit, as applicable.

Journal Club

Monthly journal club is hosted by the Trauma Resident Education & Research Director once a month. Topics vary from evaluations of surgical methodology, outcomes research, epidemiological investigations, and introspection of current practices.

Clinical Research Fellowship

Surgery residents from the US Navy are eligible for a one-year research fellowship.

RESEARCH FELLOWS

2024-2025: Margaret Mericle, DO

2023-2024: CASEY ERWIN MD, BENJAMIN HAVKO DO, LAURINDA JACKSON MD

2022-2023: Bryan Campbell DO

2021-2023: BENEDICT CAPACIO MD, CHRISTOPHER GOLJAN MD, ALEXANDER MARROTTE MD

2020-2021: KRISTINE PARRA MD

2019-2020: DEREK BENHAM MD, MATTHEW CARR MD, JOSEPH DIAZ MD

2018-2019: KYLE CHECCHI MD

2017-2018: JASON BOWIE MD, W. JASON BUTLER MD, LyNDSEY WESSELS MD

2016-2017: KATHLEEN CANNON MD

2015-2016: JASON BRILL MD, JAMES WALLACE MD

2014-2015: PAUL LEWIS MD, VICTORIA MCDONALD mD, KIMBERLY THOMPSON MD

2013-2014: ERIC OLSON MD, j. MICHAEL VAN GENT DO, ASHELY ZANDER DO

2012-2013: JESSE BANDLE MD

Trauma Research Internship

The Trauma Research Internship is designed for active students with an interest in public health, epidemiology, trauma and injury prevention, biomedical statistics, and health policy. This internship, in an earlier form, began in 2005 as a post-baccalaureate research internship in collaboration with the Johns-Hopkins Post-Baccalaureate Premedical Program. In 2016, the trauma research program began accepting Master's of Public Health students from San Diego State University's Graduate School of Public Health to provide practical experience in a research setting. In 2018, this program was expanded to include students in the University of California, San Diego Masters in Clinical Research program. All researchers have subsequently received authorship for publication in leading academic journals.

Students are provided with hands-on training towards conducting research. Students are exposed to all aspects of the study development process that includes:

  • Hypothesis generation

  • Literature review

  • Study design

  • Institutional review board (IRB) submission

  • Data collection

  • Data processing

  • Analysis and interpretation

  • Scientific writing

  • Manuscript review and submission

This internship allows for the application of clinical and public health knowledge towards the development of guidelines for implementation in the clinical setting. This program runs concurrently with the Clinical Research Fellowship and provides for an innovative and multidisciplinary approach to applied research.

Mercy Trauma supports the development and completion of a Master's thesis (or manuscript option) for graduation. Studies designed during the internship may be used for this purpose, pending approval by both an academic student advisor and the Mercy Trauma administration. While not required, a Mercy Trauma research member may serve as an external committee member. Authorship of any manuscript resulting from the internship must include an attending physician and a member of the research staff.