The Department of Surgery provides state of the art diagnostic and therapeutic services for most surgical disorders, including specialized surgical expertise in the areas of Trauma and Critical Care, Endocrine Surgery, Surgical Oncology, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Laparoscopy and General Thoracic Surgery.

Our surgeons are available to assist in the management of patients with complex oncologic diseases of the breast, providing comprehensive diagnosis and treatment. Our surgical faculty are also extensively involved in treating diseases of the esophagus, gall bladder, pancreas, stomach, colon/anorectal and endocrine organs, as well as hernias, sarcomas/melanomas, and burns.

The Department of Surgery, in cooperation with Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, has an approved Level I trauma facility (Shock Trauma Center), which is one of five such facilities in the Commonwealth. Level status (I, II, or III) is assigned to each facility by the Commonwealth based on the standards adopted by the American College of Surgeons. A Level I facility is a regional center that offers comprehensive services and has a broad commitment to educational research.

The Shock Trauma Center, which admits more than 1,800 patients annually, is primarily responsible for patients sustaining blunt/ penetrating trauma and electrical or thermal injury. Multiple specialties and services interface with each other to assist in providing optimal patient management. In the effort to achieve this goal, educational objectives are invariably met and research pursuits achieved.