Training & Capacity Building

Our training reflects our commitment to sustainability in providing surgical care in communities with little to no access.

We partner with the world’s top medical and academic institutions, connecting surgical teams in low-income countries with surgeons, anesthesiologists, pediatricians, nurses, and therapists who serve as medical training volunteers in our host countries.

Additionally, we virtually connect with surgical teams worldwide through live video lectures, smart glasses, WhatsApp, and partner mentorships to provide case-based training and guidance.

Surgical Team Training Trips

Hands-on learning is an essential component of any surgical training program. During a Surgical Team Training Trip, ReSurge Medical Volunteers travel to training hubs and work directly with their local counterparts. On these trips, our local partners direct us to potential teaching cases so that our travel teams can help them fill in gaps in capacity while training the entire surgical team to ensure patient safety at every stage of treatment. We facilitate around 20 teaching cases per week and focus on providing intensive training — all while supporting the local team with the most complex cases. This program also operates virtually through remote pre-screenings and patient follow-up visits.

Telementoring & Virtual Training

Many colleagues in low-income countries are geographically isolated from their peers, and we work to bridge this gap via our telementoring programs. By leveraging technology, we can virtually connect with isolated surgical teams to provide crucial training. This program is constantly evolving, and we offer live virtual lectures from our expert medical volunteers, along with a database with hundreds of free lectures. We also work with Ohana One International Surgical Aid in providing augmented-reality smart glasses to our remote surgical teams, allowing mentors to instruct in real-time during procedures in the field.

Curriculum and Partnership

Sub-Saharan Africa has the most acute shortage of reconstructive surgeons. One of the ways we are changing this is by partnering with the largest surgical training institution in the region, The College of Surgeons of Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa (COSECSA) to create a new reconstructive surgery curriculum.This initiative promotes the standardizing of learning, testing, and certification processes across 14 countries. ReSurge also establishes long-term partnerships between hospitals in the United States and partner institutions across Africa. These efforts allow us to champion equity by connecting the world’s best and brightest directly to local surgical teams in low-income countries.

By the Numbers

We are working to improve the global surgery deficit by educating the next generation of reconstructive surgeons and growing capacity in low-income countries.

Here’s how our training programs impacted the world in 2024.

Medical Volunteer Hours

Medical Volunteers

Medical professionals Trained

Surgical Outreach Partners

% of Surgeries by Local Surgeons

Patients Impacted by Training

Meet ReSurge's Scholars and Partners

We are training the next generation of reconstructive surgeons who will change the world and impact their communities. Discover their life-changing stories below.