History of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency Program at Carle Foundation Hospital

In 1918, Margaret Carle Morris bequeathed $40,000 to the city of Urbana, Illinois to establish a hospital.   Her will required the hospital be located within the city of Urbana and be “open to and for the benefit of the public”.  The property was donated by the Simeon Busey family and in 1920 their homestead was remodeled into the Urbana Memorial Hospital.  During the 1920’s, the institution underwent continued growth and transition.  However, in 1930 the facility was forced to close its doors due to the lack of community funds to support the mortgage of ongoing expansion.  

In 1931, at the same site, the Carle Memorial Hospital Association was created under the direction of Dr. J.C. Rogers and Hugh L.D. Davison.  Dr. Rogers and Davison had recently completed their surgical training at Mayo Clinic and shared the vision of a multi-specialty group practice.  Their ideal stressed communication and interaction amongst the staff which would translate into better care of the patient.  They began with only two surgeons and two nurses to manage the patient care responsibilities. 

Dr. Rogers and Davison were joined over the following years by a radiologist Dr. Witting, an internist Dr. Austin, and an otolaryngologist Dr. Peterson.  All were Mayo fellowship trained and a partnership agreement was made based upon the principle of “all for each and each for all”.

In 1937, the Department of Oral Surgery was added under the direction of Dr. Edward C. Thompson.  His surgical skills in maxillofacial surgery and proficiency in the new technique of Sodium Pentothal anesthesia were valued and important additions to the Clinic’s services.

In 1948, Dr. Thompson established the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery residency program which was the first advanced training program established at Carle.  Dr. Thompson served as the program director until the 1960’s when he was joined by Drs. Robert Keen and Jack Jordan.  During the following years, each served as director of the residency program. 

In the early 1970’s the residency training program was expanded to three years.

In 1978, Dr. Michael Goldwasser joined Carle and became the program director of the residency training program.  He was joined by Dr. Stephen Sabol in 1988, upon completion of his training at Carle, who assumed the directorship 2 years later.  Dr. Jonathan Bailey joined the faculty in 2001 and was named to the director position in 2004.   At present, there are 3 full time faculty and one part-time faculty surgeon, Dr. Michael Ozment.  Dr. Ozment has worked with the residency program since completing his training at Carle in 1981.

The current four year OMFS certificate program admits one resident per year.  The first year of the program consists of ten months on the OMFS service and two months of anesthesia.  The second year consists of rotations on the Internal Medicine, General Surgery, ENT, Plastic Surgery, and Emergency Room services, in addition to time spent in OMFS.  In the third year the resident rotates two additional months of anesthesia and two months on the General Surgery Trauma Service, with the remaining 8 months on the OMFS.  The final year of the program is spent as the Chief Resident.

Today, Carle Physician Group  is one of the largest private physician group practices in the country and the second largest outpatient facility in Illinois, serving more than one million patients in 42 east central Illinois and western Indiana counties.  This environment has produced an extremely busy oral and maxillofacial surgery clinic.  On a daily basis, residents are paired with attending surgeons in the outpatient clinic gaining experience in outpatient dentoalveolar surgery, implant surgery, as well as intravenous and general anesthesia techniques.

Carle Foundation Hospital is the primary teaching hospital for the University of Illinois, College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign.   This association with the University allows the OMFS residents to incorporate biomedical sciences and portions of the medical school curriculum into the didactic and clinical OMFS training.  Additionally, basic and clinical research programs exist with faculty of the Departments of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, and Bioengineering.

As the only surgical residency program at Carle Foundation Hospital, the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery service is the sole provider for all skeletal and soft tissue injuries to the head and neck.  This opportunity provides the residents with in-depth exposure to the surgical management of complex craniomaxillofacial trauma.  Coordination of care with the Trauma, Neurosurgical, Orthopedic and ICU services reinforces the residents understanding of the complex care of patients with multi-system injuries.

Within the hospital, the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery service has formed a close working relationship with Carle’s Neonatology Service.  The Hospital’s Level III Perinatal Center provides care for high-risk mothers and babies and the OMFS division is consulted for nearly all craniofacial anomalies, often after in-utero ultrasound diagnosis. With this opportunity, the OMFS residents gain in-depth clinical and operating room experience in the management of primary and secondary cleft lip and palate surgery.  This is a unique and valuable aspect of the residency program at Carle Foundation Hospital and Carle Physician Group. 

Since coming to Carle, Dr. Bailey has been appointed the Chairman of the Hospital’s Head and Neck Tumor Board.  After completing a two-year fellowship in Maxillofacial Oncology and Microvascular Reconstruction, Dr. Bailey has made the care of the head and neck cancer, the focal point of his clinical practice.  This contribution has been recognized by the institution with the development of the Carle Head and Neck Cancer service.  The residents now receive didactic instruction and clinical experience in the diagnosis, management, surgical care of head and neck cancer patients.  With the expanding scope of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, this element of the training program has helped to keep the Carle residency program on the leading edge of the specialty. 

Over the last 90 years, Carle Physician Group and Carle Foundation Hospital have grown to a 320 physician multi-specialty group with more than 50 medical and surgical specialties and sub-specialties.  This unique environment has allowed the OMFS residency program to thrive.  The program provides residents with training in the full scope of the evolving specialty.  The close working relationship between residents and attendings typically provides a one-on-one interaction which benefits the patient, trainee, and mentor.  This training paradigm upholds the ideals of the institution’s primary benefactor and founders.