The academic curriculum of the program was recently revised and offers residents an excellent foundation for a thorough understanding of surgical topics. Major teaching conferences are shared among the institutions in addition to conferences that are specific and unique to each institution. The major educational conferences by institution are outlined in the table below.

	RUSH	COOK COUNTY	RUSH NORTH SHORE
Mon			7:00am Tumor Board
Tues	4:00pm Tumor Board 5:30pm Reading Club	4:00pm Tumor Board at Rush 5:30pm Reading Club at Rush	7:00am M&M 5:30pm Reading Club at Rush
Wed	5:00pm M&M 7:00pm Journal Club (monthly)	12:00pm General Surgery Conference 5:00pm M&M at Rush 7:00pm Journal Club at Rush (monthly)	7:00pm Journal Club at Rush (monthly)
Thurs	7:30am Basic Science Conference	7:30am Basic Science Conference at Rush	7:30am Basic Science Conference at Rush
Fri
Sat	8:00am Grand Rounds	8:00am Grand Rounds at Rush	8:00am Grand Rounds at Rush

The didactic program includes courses in preliminary and advanced laparoscopic procedures, ultrasonography, and stereotactic needle biopsy.