Advanced Education Program 

Chairman: G. E. Ghali, DDS, MD, FACS
Residency Program Director: D. David Kim, DMD, MD, FACS

The Advanced Educational Program in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center at Shreveport is a six-year residency program designed to fulfill the educational requirements of the Council on Dental Education of the American Dental Association, the American Board of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery and the American Medical Association. Each year, three applicants are selected to begin a 72-month training schedule.

Biomedical Science instruction is incorporated throughout the six-year residency program. Regularly scheduled conferences consist of Preoperative Surgery Conferences, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Teaching Seminars, Journal Club, Morbidity and Mortality Conference, Oral Pathology Conference, Head and Neck Tumor Board, and Orthognathic/Dentofacial Deformities Conference.

Enrollment in the LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport will follow an initial twelve month clinical Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery rotation. During the first year, the residents will take a four-month course entitled Patient Evaluation which includes history taking and physical diagnosis. This course is fostered through video conference with standardized patient examination. Each resident must take the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Basic Sciences Exam by December of their intern year. Upon achieving a satisfactory score of greater than 200, the resident will then have to prepare for and take the USMLE Step 1 Exam by February of the intern year. Advanced standing in the LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport requires successful completion of Step I of the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) during this time. The resident then completes the third and fourth years of the medical school curriculum. Upon graduation, the residents will spend one year as a general surgery intern, which is divided into 6 months of General Surgery rotations (divided between Burn Unit, Surgical Intensive Care Unit, General Surgery, Pediatric Surgery, Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Surgical Oncology, and Trauma), 5 months of Anesthesia rotations, and 1 month of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery. At the completion of this year of General Surgery, the residents return to the Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery service for 24 months to complete their training as senior and chief residents. The USMLE Steps II and III are completed during their last year of medical school and their first year of post-graduate medical training, respectively. Throughout the course of the residency program, the residents will spend time at our various hospital affiliates including the LSU Shreveport main hospital campus (including the LSU Children’s Hospital), the Ambulatory Care Center, the Feist-Weiller Cancer Center, the Willis-Knighton Hospital System, the Christus-Schumpert Hospital System, E.A. Conway Medical Center, and the Overton Brooks V.A. Hospital. 

The goal of the Advanced Education Program in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery at LSUHSC Shreveport is ultimately board certification of its graduates. Each resident, once matriculated from the program, is monitored for their performance on the certification examinations of the American Board of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery and the program director contacts each individual to discuss the programs adequacy in preparation for this exam.