UAB General Surgery Research Resident Kelsey Montgomery, M.D., has received the Outstanding Resident Paper Award from the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS) Annual Meeting during this year’s Surgical Education Week in San Diego, California.

 Dr. Montgomery is currently in the first year of her dedicated academic development time at UAB performing surgical oncology health services and outcomes research funded by the UAB Health Services, Outcomes, and Effectiveness Research (HSOER) T32 fellowship program under the primary mentorship of Division of Surgical Oncology Assistant Professor Kristy Broman, M.D., MPH, FACS.

With an additional interest in surgical education, Dr. Montgomery also works with Vice Chair of Education Brenessa Lindeman, M.D., MEHP, FACS, on research related to the assessment of surgical residents. Her paper presentation at the APDS Annual Meeting titled “Decision-Making Confidence of Clinical Competency Committees with Entrustable Professional Activities: Results from the American Board of Surgery Pilot Study” was voted as the best paper presented by a resident.

This paper is a collaboration with surgical education leaders from the American Board of Surgery (ABS) and analyzes how surgical residency programs incorporated entrustable professional activities (EPAs) in a pilot study of general surgery residency programs.

“Ultimately we hope that this work can help programs prepare for the upcoming national implementation of EPAs by the ABS this summer,” said Dr. Montgomery.